The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-11-07
M1LL1oNAIREs UNAwAREs.
They Owned the Site of Cripple Creek
and Sold It for a Song.
From the Chicago Record.

From the Chicago Record.
The site Of Cripple Greek was for ten
years COW pasture OF two long-limbed
old Kentuckians Of the names Of Bob"
and BIZ womax. who took up a section
Of land here under the desert land act
here about 1876. In the early days of the
gold excitement in Colorado. when people
] crossed the plains with pixies Peak or
Bust" painted on their wagons. some little
gold was washed out here, but not enough
( to encourage any one TO stay. So the
/ prospectors passed on into the mountains
and left the land for the Womax brothers
. to feed their cattle on.
They didn't dream that gold was there,
/ and, becoming tired Of the place, about
/ seven years ago sold ii to Bennett & My
/ ers. a firm Of real estate agents in Denver
! who loaned them money. There were 100
/ or 800 cattle on the place, and several hun
I dred miles Of fencing, which enclosed
about $1,000 acres of government land. For
+ ali this Bennett & Myers paid $4,000, and
( when they got the title they organized the
7 Pixies Peak Cattle Company with a capt.
/ tai of Sl,U-O,C00. But before they got ready
to put the stock on the market President
7 Cleveland issued his proclamation order
ing the cattlemen TO tear down all the
fences they had erected upon public land.
That practically deprived the new COM
pany of $1,000 acres of pasturage and
/ knocked the profits out OF ranching in
Colorado. With the depression in cattle
and land coming on about the same time,
the company was abandoned and the
owners left the herd they had purchased
to Craze there under the care of a few
| men.
In February, 1891, Bennett & Myers got
a letter from their foreman at the ranch.
saying that gold had been discovered
there, and the prospectOrs were digging
holes all over the place, which made il
dangerous for the cattle. Several cows
had already fallen into these excavations
and broken their legs, and he asked for in
structtons. They wrote back to him to
run the miners off the place, but he re-
piled that they were already several hun
dred in number. and it was fclly to think
of disturbing them. He followed his letter
to Denver a few days after and gave his
employers description Of affairs. So they
went up to make an inspection, which re-
suited in the transfer Of the cattle to a
less valuable pasture, and the plating OF
town on eighty acres of the pasture
That sold off like hot cakes and the town
of Cripple Creek was born.
The man who discovered gold was
drunken blacksmith of Colorado Springs
of the name of Dick Wooten, who had
been hanging around the ranch for months
at time, and of course found it by acct
dent. He at once advertised the fact
among all the proSpectors and mining men
in that part Of the country and they
came up in sWarms to scrape over the
beds of the streams and rake out the grass
roots. A man Of the name of Frisbee was
the first to discover gold quartz a few
weeks after Wooten's find. In less than
six months there were a thousand PROS
pectors at work in the valley, and now
more than 1900 miners are employed in
the hundreds of mi Ifo
ranch alone. They have taken out more
than $1,000 COO or 100000 in gold The
yield for the first year was about $500, 900
in 1892 1t reached 81 500 900, and in 1898 81
100000. The miners strike last spring put
things back enormously, but notwith-
standing between four and five months
that were actually wasted, the yield this
year will average 100000 a month, or a
total OF $500, 900. During this month they
expect to reach the $1000,000 mark and
next year the output will be doubled.
Ontil recently very few of the miners
had been working with improved machin-
cry Cripple Creek has been emphaticaIly
poor mans camp; that is. the owners of
most or the mines were men without cap
ltal to develop them, and they were com
PEELED to putter along with the most
primitive apparatus until they had made
enough to buy modern machinery.
The Independence mine, which Is re-
garded as the most valuable in the Cripple
Creek district, is a good Illustration. 1t
was discovered and is owned by a man
named w. 5. or "BHr' Stratton, a carpen-
ter at Colorado Springs, who came up TO
the camp to spend the Fourth Of July in
1872, Wandering over what is known as
Battle Mountain near the site of the pres
ent town of Victor he said in a jocular
way to his companion that he was going
to throw his hat down the hill and locate
a claim where it fell. EIe drove his stake
filed his papers and worked his assess
ment' according to law, and after
| while he struck a vein of gold that is
/ said TO be richer than any other that has
/ been discovered here. He had no money
and was very shy of partners. \ Denver
/ syndicate offered him 81, 100000 for the
| property and at first thought they were
! joking. Little by little, as he got out the
/ ore, he was able to make his improvements
! and upon the reputation of his mine he
/ succeeded in persuading a Chicago firm to
! furnish him a $4,000 plant that runs by
/ electricity and is said to be the best in
! the Cripple Creek camps. He gave notes
/ in payment, and within twenty days after
/ his machinery started was able to take
them up with his profits The mine is
now paying $4,000 a month net, the bank
ers here say, and there are millions of dol
/ lars in the ore in sight.
They call Bill Stratton "the king of
Battle Mountain"
CITY BREVITIES