The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-02
MINING KING
DAVID H.. MoFFAT TALKS OF THE
NEW GOLD AND SILVER REGIONS.
Mining n Legitimate Business-Men
who Have Made and Lost Money
Colorado the Richest State.

interview mere WITH liz tIllnilS hlf5 vi
the United States. His name is David
H. Moffat. He is said to be worth twenty
millions of dollars. He has made fortunes
out of gold and silver mining. and he has
to-day some of the most valuable properties
of the West. He sold a gold niue last
month TO parties in France which netted
himself and his partners a cool million in
cash. His silver mines at Leadville have
miles of underground tunnels and he is
the largest owner Of stock in the big cyan
ide mill ait Florence, which turns out for
him every month a gold brick worth $4O,-
600. He is developing valuable mines to-
day in different parts of Colorado and
among his great works at Cripple Creek
is an immense tunnel, which he is fore
ing through a mountain. in which vast
quantities of gold are supposed to lie. Mr..
Moffat was for years president of the Den
yer & Rio Grande railroad. He built the
Denver Pacific from Cheyenne to Denver.
He now practically owns the Florence &
Cripple Creek road. which does an enor-
nous business, and he is also the president
of one of the biggest banks of the West.
This is the First National Bank of Denver,
which has a capital of only $500, coo, but
who's deposits amount to more than $S,-
900, 900. 1t is now thirty years since Mr..
Moffat entered the bank as cashier, and
to-day, / venture, he considers himself
more of a banker than a miner. He began
his business career in a bank. He was fff-
teen years old at the time and started life
as a messenger boy in the New York Ex-
change Bank, of New York. A year later
he went to Iowa to act as a bank clerk in
Des Moines. and at twenty he was cashier
of the Bank of Nebraska, at Omaha. This
was Just about the time of the Pixies Peak
gold fever, and Dave Moffat got a wagon
and a mule and came out here to find his
fortune. Denver was then too small for
bankers, and Moffat started a book and
stationery store, selling, as an old miner
told me the other day, an envelope, a sheet
of paper and a stamp for a nickle. A few
years later the First National Bank was
founded, and Moffat was made its cashier.
He soon became president and it is through
him that the business of the bank has so
increased that it now amounts to more
than nine millions a year.
HOW MR.. MOFFAT LOOKS.
1t was at the bank that 1 met Mr.. Moi
fat. He watches over the interests of the
institution very carefully, and you may
find him in the presidents office any day
between 9 and 5. 1 passed through a crowd
of business men, who were engaged at the
windows of the bank proper, and asked a
policeman in uniform standing by the tele-
ler's desk where / might find Mr.. Moffat.
He pointed TO a sort of cubby hole at the
back of the building, and told me to &C
right in. There was no red tape, no mes
senger nor watch dog about the office of
this millionaire. l knocked at the door,
entered and presented a letter of introduce
ton which / had from Senator Teller TO a
tall, well-formed man of about fifty years
of age, who sat at the desk within. He
looked more like a New York club man
than a Western mine owner, and 1 could
hardly associate his clear, rosy COM
plexion, his bright eye and his unwrinkled
face with that of one of the hardest work.
ers and shrewdest capitalists of the West.
1t was, however. David II. Moffat. He
asked me TO he seated, and chatted will
me for an hour about gold and silver and
the wonderful mining development which
is going on throughout the West.
Mr.. Monat knows perhaps as much
about mines as any man in the West. He
Is a miner. not in the sense Of being a
prospector or of going out into the mines
and working them. He is a mine owner
rather than a mine digger. He. has the
SnftWQtSl OL tAptElS CO1Uecleu WITH MIN.
His prospectors are always on the march.
and he relies upon their judgment as to
his properties. With all the millions that
he has In works below ground. he seldom
goes into a mine. He buys mines and de-
velops them on the judgment of his ex-
perts, and his credit is such among the
capitalists of the world that he can COM
mand any amount of money at any time
for almost any entprprica which ba uyiebac
to undertake..
During our chat I asked some questions
as to the new mines of Colorado. He re-
piled:
I'VE have never had so many miners al
work here as we have to-day. More mines
are now being developed than ever before,
and the prospect is that there will be a
steady increase in our gold output. Ir
1889 we produced less than $4,000, 900 worth
of gold. Last year our output was more
than SIS, 900, 900. and I believe that we will
run these figures up to at least s25, 600, OO
this year. This gold comes from all over
Colorado. There are good mines in twenty
different counties. and we are by no means
dependent upon any one region. such as
Cripple Creek, for our output"
THE CRIPPLE CREEK MINES.
How about the Cripple Creek gold.
Will 1t last?''
81 don't like to predict as to the futur,
of any gold mining region" replied Mr.
Mofat. "One is apt to give either too
high or too low an estimate, but the indi
cations are that there are enormous guam
titles of gold about Cripple Creek. This
properties in which 1 am interested an,
with which L am familiar show that tn,
camp has a great future. The fact tina
the Cripple Creek mines produced some
thing like $1,000. 600 worth of gold last yea
is a strong argument as to their richness
Many prospects are being opened which
promise well, and profitable mining will b,
done in that camp for years to come"
There has been a great change in min
ing in recent years. has there not?'
Yes" replied Mr.. Moffat. Il came ou-
here in 1850. when the motto of every one
was Pixies Peak or bust Denver wa:
the mining done was placer mining. Gol(
was first discovered near Pixies Peak. anC
every one was crazy for gold. Silver wa:
not much thought Of. That came later
Now we are having another great golC
era. This era. however, is not one o.
placer mining. 1t is almost entirely ;
smelling and a milling proposition. /
comes 10 some extent through the fall o
silver, but more from the new method,
of the reduction of ores. Until lately (!
hardly paid to mine gold that was wortl
less than SIC a ton. Now we could educ,
gold that rms e. a ton and stfu nav