The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-02-16

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| The plucky little woman opened bakery.
made pies and cakes and bread for the
camp. and kept few boarders while her
husband prospected.
Afraid of the rigors of a winter in such y
place. they came back to Denver in the fall.
after Mrs. Tabor had made enough money
from her bakery to pay for their farm in
Kansas.
In the spring Tabor went back to Idaho
| Springs and found that his claim had been
jumped by the man who had advised them
to leave before winter set in. He returned
to Denver and prepared to start for the
newscamp up at the headquarters of the
Arkansas. His wife was sick, but he put
her into the old covered wagon and started
anyhow. Nothing permitted delay in
those days.
This was the 18th of february, 1860. They
went to the place where Manitou now is
ana stayed a short time. and then began
cutting their way over Ute pass. After
two weeks of toll they reached South Park
on the other side of the mountains.
:" shall never forgot my INST vision of the
park" Mrs. Tabor wrote once. The sun
was just setting. can only descr ibe it by
saying it was one of Colorado's sunsets.
| Those who have seen them know how glori-
| Gus they are. Those who have not can
never imagine anything Sc gorGeously
beautiful. The park looked like a cultlvat-
| ed field with little streams Coursing through
and herds of antelope in the distance. We
| camped on tie bank of clear stream and
the men went fishing. We had fine brciled
| trout that evening for supper, and game
of cards afterward by he campfire
Bnt they had hard work and cold weather
| and hunger before they traversed the broad
level depression in the mountains which is
called park. by reason OF its sheltered
and beautiful character.
They came to the Arkansas and spent six
hours crossing it amid the ice in the swift
| current. They made fire. dried their
clothes and nursed the famished cattle.
knowing that if provisions got lower they
would have to be eaten. Having revived
| somewhat they prepared to camp there for
while. The men made sluIce boxes and
began washing gold out of the sands of the
stream.
1t was very fine gold. and after four
weeks labor they had only small amount
| of the precious metal
One morning man came to the camp and
| told them how to reach the new diggings.
for which they had started when they left
Denver. In attempting to cross the river
at place which seemed shallow they got
into deep channel. The wagon bed. with
the woman and her child in it, was lifted
off the wheels and foated down the stream.
Mrs. Tabor managed to cling TO some will
lows with unnatural strength till the men
came to her assistance. They got out safely
and that WAS the last serious adventure.
In a few weeks more they reached Cali
fornia gulch. The first thing they did after
going into the little mining camp was to
slaughter the oxen which had brought
them from the Missouri river. The meat
was divided with the other min rs in the
camp. who had none too much to eat in
their wintry snowbound homes.
Happy once more in a ca bin of green logs,
and rough. homemade furniture, though
with nothing to eat but poor beef and
dried apples. Mrs. Tabor prepared for a
new start in life there on the top of the
mountains.
Within few weeks from that time there
were 10000 people at California gulch, and
the amassing of riches began.
Tabor worked his claims, and his wife,
possessing the only pair of scales in the
upper part of the camp, was busy most of
the time weighing gold for the miners, the
majority of when would go to Leadville at
The end of every ''clean up. have a biz
spree and come home broke to go to work
again.
They prospered rapidly and the young
mother was happy. On the Goth of Septem-
Der she took $1,000 in gold dust and started
to visit her old home in Maine, travelling
by mule train that was going to the Mis-
souri,.
She bought 100 more acres of land in Kan
sas with part of her gold.
Mr.. Tabor" she has said. 'sgave me one
fifth of what was made that summer when a
left. The other $1,000 he sent to Iowa and
bought flour. and in the spring we opened a |
store i'll our cabin. He worked in the
mine all day while tended the store. fee! |
that in those years of self sacrifice, hard
labor and economy. laid the foundation |
TO Mr.. Tabor's immense wealth; fer had | |
not stayed with him and wol ked by his side |
he would have become discouraged, re- |
turned to his trade, and SO lost the opportu- |
nifty which has since enriched him.
The pathos of this declaration can only be |
felt by thuse who know the whole miserabl |
story of their separation. the marriage of |
Tabor to another woman, the great place |
he came to take in the thoughts of the |
people of Colorado. and the humble place TO
which he as now fallen by the loss of all
his millions.
The whole story cannot be told. It can
only be limited at-how he became infatuat-
ed with woman CT the glittering prodigal
mining camp. known as 'sBaby Doe;" how
he secretly procured a divorce decree in |
the far distant town OF Durango, and how
Mrs. Tabor. when she to her sorrowful sur
prise discovered this. had it set aside be-
cause 1T was obtained fraudulently.
Later, when he secured divorce in the |
Denver courts. it was with and by consent |
of his wife. and this time she required that |
he settle upon her small part of his i'm |
mense fortune. All she asked was the COM |
paratively small sum of $500, 900, principally |
represented in real estate. With this agree |
ment. although she still loved dearly the
man with whom she had struggled through |
poverty to wealth. she allowed him TO Sc |
cure divorce ON the grounds of incompati- |
bility. At this point he left her to seek sor- |
rowful seclusion while he foated high upon |
the tide of popularity. fame and luxury.