Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1896-09-24

$4,000 a day for the
past year, and In
which 1t Is estimated there are from
four to seven million dollars of gold
in sight. 1t 10 one Of the richest gold
mines Of the world, and the man who
owns 1t was working five years ago at
a carpenters bench. Up to that time
he would have been glad to have netted
from the work of his hands $50 a
month. His mine last year, 1t is said,
produced 100000, at cost Of about
10 cents on the dollar, and the ore Is
so rich that he has to keep back his
workmen for fear that he will not be
able to invest the money which he re-
celves from, the gold which they get
out. So far he has spent his surplus
in buying other mines, and he has to-
day properties which make him the
largest individual owner OF gold mines
in the world. Mr. Marshall Field and
other Chicago capitalists offered him
100000 for his Independence mine
alone, and long ago he refused an offer
of 100000 for it. He does not like to
talk about 1t, and an offer Of $40 ,000,.
600 wouldn't tempt him. He says that
the gold is in the mine and can't run
away. 1t is safer there than in the safe
deposit, and the best bank for him is
Old Mother Earth.
| Millionaire Stratton is only AZ years
Of age, but he looks to be more than so.
His hair is as white as the driven
snow, and his naturally dark. complex
ion has been changed to mahogany
brown by the hardships Of his labo-
rious career and the anxiety for his
hunt for gold. He is nervous in the
extreme, and he has little capacity for
happiness. The story Of his life is that
of man who has devoted himself to
finding a mine, and who, after twenty
years Of failure, has at last succeeded.
He has succeeded by luck and work
more than by any special ability, and
though he is man of good common
sense, you might find 80 men quite as
good out of any 100 carpenters that
you could select. Aipf
Born in Indiana, having learned the
carpenters trade, he drifted out to Col
orado Springs when he was along about
20 years Of age. He began at once to
prospect for gold. He worked at his
trade in the winter to get the money
necessary to keep him alive in the
mountains In the summer, and day aft
er day and year after year he climbed
the rocks and wandered over the hills
looking for the mines. At one time he
had saved $4,000. He invested this in a
mine and lost it. He is a man of few
amusements and of little intellectual
resource. He failed again and again,
and up to 1891 he was worth practic-
ally nothing. He had at this time a
house in Colorado Springs, which was
mortgaged, and it was in May of that
year that he, rendered almost desper-
ate by his repeated failures, went to
prospect about Cripple Creek. He real
lied that there was some gold in the
powders or float which lay on the
grazing lands Of this region, but up to
this time no one had considered the
rock to be worth much AS Mr.. STRAIT
ton walked over the fields he noticed
one stone, the corner of which some
former prospector had Clipped off. He
picked up the broken piece and sent it
to Denver to be assayed 1t yielded
over 5000 to the ton. This surprised
Mr.. Stratton. He at once gathered a
wagon load of other stones lying about
the place and sent these to the assay
er's. They told him that the last was
worth only $40 a ton. This, however,
showed Mr.. Stratton there was gold
there, and he staked out claim about
the big bowlder and went to work. 1t
was the Fourth of July when he be-
gan to mine, and he named his prop
erty "The independence" in honor of
the day.
He found gold almost from the grass
roots. The ore grew richer as he dug
down, and after short time he found
pockets and assures filled with gold.
The gold did not run regularly. Some
times there would be a pocket as big
as the average parlor, and sometimes
the rock containing the rich ore would
extend only to the size of a tumbler.
He sunk his shaft, however, and ran
out laterals from 200 to 300 feet on
either side. He soon began to find gold
everywhere. Even the rocks lying on
the surface of the ground netted him
a fortune. There were some great
powders near his shaft. He had these
broken up with dynamite, and from
them alone he got 100000. 1t was not,
however, all clear sailing. At one ting
the gold seemed to have played out,
and he offered to sell the mine for
$15O,OO0. His offer was refused, and
within a few days after this he made
another rich strike, and for 25 days
he took out about one thousand dollars
day. At present he has gone between
500 and 700 feet down into the earth,
and there is no doubt whatever but
that there are millions of dollars worth
of gold between the levels which have
been already mined. The mine seems
to be growing richer as it goes down
ward, and his refusal to sell it for
81. ZOO, 900 was, in the minds OF many
here, good business decision, A man
whose income has been about SO a day