St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-14
John E. Burton, the Boomer Who
Blew in 100000 in Twenty
Months.
Lake Geneva, Wis, Letter.

go 6S Johnny" Although
Burton has trans
formed deserts into Furnishing towns,
raised worthless sand dunes to valuable
real estate and made and unmade fort
uneS for scores of people, no person
ever accused MIN of dishonesty or breach
of trust. He is simply man of won
derful capacity for cOnceiving gigantic
schemes, raising vast amounts of capt.
tai, and then. for lack of a balance
wheel, pu hing the whole thing to de-
structiOn, along with his own fortune.
Burton has been a resident of Wis
consin all his life, and has long had all
idea of consolidating the iron mines on
the Gogebic range. While bordering
over this scheme the versatile Burton
bought the Herald, local paper, and
proceeded to boom local realty. In
this he succeeded reasonably we'll,
ana, wishing to branch out,
became interested with several
others in working up the Washington
Heights scheme, a circumstance remem-
bered well to this day by many Chicago
people. In this venture he evidently
accumulated some money, returned to
his first love, bought the steamboats, on
Lake Geneva, built a handsome resi-
dence. and for a time appeared to pros
grew beautifully less and the great act
of his life was played.
In 1887 Mr.. Burton succeeded in con-
solidating the mines mentioned, and as
ISOLATED with him Charles E. Coons. for
long time assistant secretary of the
treasury and now banker in New
York; DE Witt q. Wheeler, Stephen w.
Dorsey and Jesse Grant. The corpora
ton was known as the consolidated
Bessemer Iron and Steel Works." and
the capital stock was placed at $780,
900, the certificates being marvels of
the engraver's art. Dazzling word
pictures were painted of the ineXhausti-
BILE character of the mines, and after a
season the stock began to float. 1t did
not swim with any degree of buoyancy
in New York, but hundreds of pur-
chaSerS were found in Milwaukee and
Chicago, among the lumber kings of the
great Northwestern region, and
particularly in the neighborhood of
Lake Geneva. Mr.. Burton was
and neighbOrs and evinced a great
willingness, even at the risk of some
personal sacrifice, to let all in on the
ground floor. If man were so unfort-
innate as to be short on money but long
on home, he would trade stock for
the property, and perhaps add a modi-
cum of ready cash. In this way he Sc
cured dozens of houses in the village
and also nine of the best farms in the
county.
The capital was so easily raised, and
so much did he have from all sides, that
he seemed to lose his head. He pushed
the development of the mines in man
ner that showed he had lost all appreci-
alton of the value of a dollar. The
most expensive machinery was bought
and an army of men put to work.
Aside from those employed on the
mines proper he pushed to completion
a $4,000 hotel at Hurley, built some
thirty or forty fine cottages and thir-
teen firSt-claSS stOre-rooms, the latter
being afterwards destroyed by fire and
were never rebuilt. The houses of his
foremen were as nicely furnished as
any in this town. Then he
branched out still further and put
up $4,000 block for manu-
furiug purposes in Chicago. He
stocked his farms with the most expen-
sive horses and herds of imported cat
tie. and bought 400 lots at place called
Finney. on the Wisconsin Central road,
spot fifty miles from anywhere, on
the word of some railIoader, and paid
$40 each, for land that is not worth S.
per acre.
Finally the end approached. There
were no dividends and the pay-rolls be-
gan to get behind. To pay off the accu-
mulating debts Burton had to sell all
his property and in twenty months ran
through S2,00O,0O0. Nearly all of his
friends who were caught by Burton's en-
thusiasm lost what they had, and things
are now dead that a few weeks ago were
booming. Burton is at present figuring
on a wildcat scheme to manufacture
paper out of fiber of the cactus or some
other worthless New Mexican weed.