The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-16
GREAT PROFIT In MINES
CRIPPLE CREEK STORIES sURPAss-
ING THAT OF MONTE CRIsTO.
Stratton. the Indiana Carpenter. Who
Men of the Gold Region.

CRIPPLE CREEK. Cot, Aug. 13.-Thou-
sands fail in mining. Hundreds make a
living. Tens amass a competency, but it
is only now and then one who, by a lucky
stroke of the pick. finds an enormous for
tune and keeps ii. David Moffat. the
mining king. says the failures are not so
great as i'm other businesses. 1t is certain
that the successes are more phenomenal. l
write to-day not of the failures, but of the
successes. the millionaires of Cripple Creek.
Out of this gold camp. within five years.
has come sl3. 900 600. The gold dug out last
year was worth $500. 00D. and this year
the output promises to he fully as large.
The stories 1 hear of gold dug out and gold
in sight make my avaricious mouth water.
and. like the hungry. ragged newsboy on
the street outside the confectionery store,
l press my nose against the glass and long
fer the riches within.
Take, for instance. W. S. Strstton, who
owns the great Independence mine. which
has been turning out nearly $1,000 a day for
the past year. and in which il is estimated
there are from four to seven million dol
lars of gold in sight. How would you like
to own that? 1t would be enough for your
self and your family for ages to come. Il
is one of the richest gold mines of the
world. and the man who WINS it was work
ing five years ago at a carpenters bench.
Up TO that time he would have been glad,
/ venture, TO have Melted from the work Of
his hands $50 a month. His mine last year.
il Is said, produced $3.50. 600, at a 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 receives 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, l am
told, make Linn the largest individual owner
of gold mines in the world. l doubt wheth-
er he knows himself what he is worth. I
know that no one can figure upon his posi-
bilities. / am told that Marshall Field and
other Chicago capitalists offered him ST.
co., 900 for his independence mine alone, and
long ago ne refused an offer of So. 600, coo
for it. He does not like to talk about it,
and 1 doubt whether an offer of So 600. 900
would tempt him. He says that the gold
is in the mine and can't run away. IL is
safer there than in the safe deposit, and
the best bank for him is Old Mother Earth.
HOW S~TRATTON STRUCK 1T.
And still 1 would not like TO be Winfield
Scott Stratton. / would not exchange
places with him for all his millions. This
luOu5nl CdfHt lOIClDiy upon me as l. sat
with him in his little office over a bicycle
store in Colorado Springs the other day
and watched him closely as 1 listened TO
him. He is only forty-eight years Of age.
but he looks to be more than sixty. His
hair is as white as the driven snow. and
his naturally dark complexion has been
changed to a mahogany brown by the
hardships of his labor.oes career and the
| anXiety of his hunt for gold He is nary-
Gus in the extreme. and he has, | believe,
little capacity for Happiness. The story of
his life is that of a man who has devoted
himself TO finding a mine. and who after
twenty years of failure has at last sue
ceeded. He has succeeded by luck and
work more than by any special ability, and
though he is a man of good common sense.
L judge you might find ninety men quite
as good out of any one hundred carpenters
that you could select. Born in Indiana,
having learned the carpenters trade, he
drifted out TO Colorado Springs when he
was along about twenty years of age. He
began at once TO prospect for geld. 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 .af-
ter day and year after year he climbed the
rocks and wandered over the hills looking
for mines. At one time he had saved three
thousand dollars. He invested this in a
mine and lost it. He is a man of few
amusements and of little intellectual re-
source. He failed again and again, and up
until 1891 he was worth practically moth
ing. He had at this time a house in Colo
RADIO Springs, which was mortgaged, and
it was in May of that year that he, rem
dered almost desperate by his repeated
failures. went to prospect about Cripple
Creek. He realized that there was some
gold in the powders or float which lay up
ON the grazing lands of this region. but up
to this time no one had considered the
rock to be worth much.
As Stratton walked over the field he no.
ticed one stone, the corner of which some
former prospector had Clipped off. He
picked up the broken piece and sent it to
Denver 10 be assayed. 1t yielded over $500
to the ton. This vas a surprise to Stratton.
He at once gathered n wagon load of other
stones lying about the place and sent these
to the assayer's. They told him that the
last was worth only so a ton. This, how
ever, showed Stratton that there was gold
there, and he staked out a claim about the
big bowlder, and went to work. 1t was the
Fourth of July when he began TO mine, and
liz oAAN0 hN0 ~ 1'S 0tAa
ence,'' in honor of the day. He found gold
almost from the grass roots. The ore grew
richer as he dug down, and, after a short
time. he found pockets and assures filled
with gold. The geld did not run regularly.
Sometimes 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
two TO three hundred feet on either side.
He soon began TO find gold everywhere.
Even the rocks lying on the surface of the
ground Melted him a fortune. There We're
some great powders near his shaft. H
had these broken UP with dynamite, and
from them alone he got $4,000. 1t was not,
however. all clear sailing. AT one time the
gold seemed TO have played out, and he
offered to sell the mine for $50. 600. His
offer was refused. and within a few days
after this he made another rich strike, and
for twenty-five days he took out about
81 200 a day. At present he has gone be.
tween six and seven hundred feet down
irto the earth, and there is no doub: what
ever but that there are millions Of dollars
worth of gold between the levels which
have already been mined The mine seems
TO be growing richie as 1t goes downward
and his refusal TO sell it for $1,000. 900 was
in the minds of many here a good business
decision.
n - 4 a I'LL Il InA-