The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-03-17
Ex-senator Tabor's No.
The Companion and Eelpmate Of His
Early Struggles.
chicago Intereocean.1

Senator Tabor has had a remarkable mat
rimoGial experience, and its sensational de-
nouement only recently gave great deal of
material to the public tongue He married
In Maine when young man, and in 1859
was seized with the Pixies Peak fever and
went to Colorado in a prairie schooner, ac-
companed by his bride, who shared with
him the perils and exposure of that long and
tedious journey. They camped for time
at the present site of Denver, which was
then bleak prairie, where he kept sort of
eating house and supply store, in which
Mrs. Tabor participated as his chief assist
ant and cashier to the establishment.
He then moved on to Pixies Peak, joining
the innumerable caravan in search for gold.
he settled at Colorado City, which is now
town of deserted shanties at the base of the
mountain. He there opened supply store,
which his wife kept while ne Joined the
prospectors in the gulches of the mountains
hunting Cor treasures. When the Pixies
Peak excitement died out Tabor took up the
line of march and went over the mountains,
following the prospectors, his wife driving
one team of mules and he another. After
twenty years of drifting about from one
mining camp to another, enduring all sorts
of hardships, even reaching the lowest ebb
of poverty, and sometimes threatened with
starvation, he settled down in log cabin
near the present site of Leadville, where he
kept store and boarding house for miners,
his vile acting as cook, clerk and postmis-
tress for the camp. Tabor's cabin was a ia
nous resort in those days, and was the
scene of many incidents that are now a part
of the history of mining life in the Rocky
Mountains.
Mrs. Tabor was sort Of daughter of the
regiment among the miners, being the only
woman for miles around, and possessing the
confidence and regard of everybody. She
was sort of bank of deposit for the rusty
old fellows who did not spend their dust as
fast as they washed it out, and it is said
that she often carried many thousand dol
lars in gold dust in her bosom wrapped in
little buckskin bags with the names of the
owners attached. During all this time, and
up to 1875, her husband was prospector,
meeting with little or no luck, while she
kept the wolf from the door selling supplies,
keeping boarders and acting as aundress in
general for the camp at Carbonate Hill
Good luck came at last, and fortunate
strike made Tabor one of the richest men in
the West. His name was one of the first of
the famous group in Corbert Hill, and he
soon became the possessor of others quite as
rich from which he has taken millions of
dollars. He now owns In LeadvilIe and
other portions of Colorado more productive
mining property than any other man, and
from some of his mines his income is as
high as $4,000 month. Others pay nearly
as much, and it is estimated that his annual
income from his mining property cannot be
less than 100000, AMI his entire fortune is
Ae4tt1 koI TIL
used his money in buying real estate in
Denver and erecting upon it the handsomest
business blocks west of the Mississippi.
His opera house, which cost $750,000, is
no doubt, the finest in the country, and is
surpassed in its appointments by few in the
entire world. His residence in Denver is
one of the most conspicuous and costly in
that city, and it is one of the sights for tour
lists who visit his buildings as a sample of
Western enterprise.
Several months ago Senator Tabor, having
tired of the companion of his poverty ard
humble life, endeavored to secure divorce
from her Ia one of the back counties of Col
orado, using methods which the papers of
Denver claim were not strictly honorable.
Mrs. Tabor went into court and asked for
division of the property and a separate
maintenance. As a compromise her hus.
band offered her S250,000 and his residence
in Denver provided she would consent to the
divorce. This she refused to do for some
time, but finally the divorce was granted on
terms that were much more advantageous
to her and appeared to be satisfactory to
him. This family difficulty affected his
candidacy for the United States Senate very
seriously, occurring as it did dnring the can
vass before the Legislature, and he was COM
PEELED to content himself with short term
Of thirty days in that distinguished body,
bnt secured the title of Senator and now has
honorable written before his name.