Omaha daily bee., 1895-12-09
HAILED FROM CRIPPLE CREEK.
No Impcdimcnt In His Tongue when
Attacked by Reporters.

Day before yesterday, says the Buffalo
Express, there was man at the Mansion
House fresh from the lively scenes at Cripple
Creek where they have been mining
81 900 900 worth of gold month. This man
was Thomas Mcnamara, one of the Oldest
pruspectors of the west Twenty years ago
he was wandering from place to place through
the Rockies looking for gold, and all those
years he has been looking for 1t in vain.
But he has never swerved from his pur-
pose. Once prospector, always prospec-
tor is the rule in Colorado, and when man
once sets ont to look for gold he usually
keeps at II for the rest of his life, even though
he meets with not the slightest success to
encourage him This has been the case with
Mcnamara. He is quite well-to-do now, but
not because he has found gold. He has made
his money by specializing in cripple creek
stocks He had some interesting things to
tell an Express reporter about the booming
mining camp. He went there as soon as the
rush set in, four years ago. He has been
there ever since. He has seen the growth
of the wonderful little town from its be-
ginning. When he went there, there were
only a few scattered houses. Now there are
hotels, banks, theaters, electric lights, rail-
| roads and everything that belongs to any
| other thriving town. q .|.
81 knew a woman during my first few
| months there said the old prospector,
who had three small children on her hands
| to support and hardly dollar to buy food
| for them. Her husband had died a short
| time before and she had been left up in that
lonely country without anyone to look to
| for help. Her little pile Of money got lower
and lower, and she began to wonder what
| was to become of her. 1t was a hard posi-
| tion for a woman to be jim in that place.
| Everybody around hsr was making money.
| Half the poor people who had come there
| with hVr husband were getting rich. She
began 10 wonder if there was not some way
| for her to make money too. One day, when
| a ct a
| children came running into the house with
| a handful of glstenng dirt She looked 1t
| over carefully and she found that the dirt
| was full Of specks of gold. Sheogot the child
| to show her the spot where he had got II
and there she found that the ground was full
of specks of gold. She went back to the
| house and found a shovel. Then she began
to dig. She washed out the dirt and found
that she had a small handful of gold, enough
| to pay her months rent and to buy food for
| weeks to come. She set her children to dig
| gng. They kept it up day after day. They
| found enough gold TO keep them in comfort
and in three or four months she had about
| 5000 saved up. That was at the beginning
| Of the placer mining In the place where
her child found the gold there are scores
! of placer holes, and an enormous amount OF
| gold Is being washed out. The land Is all
controlled by certain investors, who have
| Their machines at work on IL, but awhile
ago anybody in town could go there and
|
ing very hard. So it was impossible for any
able bodied person to be out of money then
| II knew Stratton, the owner Of the Inde-
pendence mine, when he had hardly cent
to his name. That was only four years ago
| used to leave my shoes with him to be
| fixed. Stratton is making 100000 a month
and he owns the richest mine in the camp
| He has so much money that he doesn't
know what to do with 1t. He is a man OF
| simple habits, not used to spending much
money and ii simply worries him to know
| how to dispose of any part of his income
| or even how to invest it. The Colorado
college people are after him to get him tc
| give some money to the college, and he
| doesn't know whether to give them anything
or not. He is the most puzzled man | ever
| saw. 1t is just as If tramp should sud
| denly come into possession Of million. This
tramp might blow his money foolshly, but
| Stratton is a conscientious, business-llke
| man, and he wants to use his money TO the
bast advantage. Four years ago he used to
| live down on one of the little side streets
of Colorado Springs, over his shoe-shop
| in two or three dingy little rooms. Today
| he has one Of the finest houses in the town
| up in the millionaires' district.
-Four years ago knew dozen poor young
| men in Colorado Springs and the surround
| ing towns, who were struggling along on
| a few dollars week, all of whom are now
| rich. They went to the camp just when the
| boom began"