The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1897-11-06
ROMANCE OF CREEDE.
& BuRRo's STUMBLE ON A MOUNTAIN
SIDE MADE HIM A MILLIONAIRE.

He WAS a Typical NkAhAHS
Great wealth Came to Him After Long
Career of yicissitudes-A Scout In Eariy
Life-Unhappy Married Life.
Tn a letter from Denver, Col, the
New York Herald correspondent says
that through the stumbling footsteps
of a burro Nicholas G. Creede, who re-
Gently committed suicide, was eleVatea
to prosperity and notoriety he nao
never aspired to anything further than
the daily fare of a mountaineer and
nrospector. He seemed to have no
ambition higher than the food
for the morrow, and lived q life that
was impenetrable to even the. few IN
Inmates who gained an insight into his
confidence.
His strike at the site of what was
afterward called the camp OF Greece
was simply case of luck. Creede was
out ON one of his daily prospecting
tours. Like all others of his class,
he was accompanied by burro for
facility in carrying tools and specl-
mems. The humble quadruped, whose
name is synonymous for safety and
surefootedness in climbing a NIL,
missed his footing, and in the struggle
to regain his balance dug his hoofs
deem in the hillside. The effort tore
hole in the surface. A huge piece
of rock was dragged from its mornings.
and as it received the full rays OF the
sun metallic glitter caught the eye OF
Creede. 1t was silver of such rich
quality that he at once realized that
his fortune was assured If he traced
the lode and succeeded in making
location. This was not difficult, ow-
ing TO the fact that he was without any
rivals in that district. A little work
opened up what was decidedly the rich
est body of ore that had ever been dis
covered since the great find of carbon
ates at Leadville.
Creole was born in Fort Wayne,
| Ind, in 1916, and was taken to what
was then the Territory of Iowa by his
parents when but four years of age.
Hostile Indians still roamed the plains
| west of the Mississippi, and the boy was
| brought up amid surroundings which
I taccentuated the daring and intrepidlty
: which afterward characterized his life
r as a scout and frontiersman.
e In 1862 the scouts were ordered to
3 Dakota. This was the turning point
i. In Creede's life 1t was while on this
t expedition he first saw the Rockies.
!. A few years after, when Creole was
a mustered out of service and had gone
o home to Iowa he remembered the
e mountains, and, firing of the monoto'
j nous plains of Iowa, once more set his
Il face toward the setting sun, and this
time to go further than he had ye
gone and to realize fortune OF
greatness he could not then have be
a lieved had he been told.
W In 1886 Creede and his partner
1t George L. Smith, went to the head o
n West Willow creek and began to pros
{. pect. The result of their work wa
Of The Holy Moses mine, the first In tn
N now famous camp. Creede found tn
er vein alone, his partner having gone
another direction that day. Havin
IN driven a stake, Creole sat down t
IA think of a name. He never professe
Ok to be a Bible student, but he though
e. of s'Holy Moses" and dubbed his lin
s. after the man who struck terror to tn
r Egyptians. The story of the rlc
th strike spread like wildfire, and anon
others whom it interested was d. 1
al Moffat of Denver, who is probably I'll
:" largest owner of mines in Colorado
be He and several other gentleme
ad visited the spot, and were so muc
as interested in It as to take bond ar
n lease on it-that is, they would lea
It'll the property for certain time and
If they cared to buy it at the end OF tn
"a time would pay for it at price stipl
ut lated at the time the lease was mad
on A lease was made, with the bond
oct $40. 600. and from that day the fina
in ,ial troubles of N. G. Creede we
ar over.
he SO implicit was the faith OF the
les vestors in the good Judgment OF Cree
nat that he was hired as prospector at
ION salary and with the stipulation that
he would hold one-third of the propertl
L discovered by him. The first pla
ind to attract him was Bachelor mountal
vas near the Holy Moses mine, and
>" far from where the town of Cree
now is. While. toiling about
mountain his little burro stumbled a
nov displaced large piece of rock.
ooi Creede turned away from it the $
and caught it full and showed its glitt
INV ing under surface, now turned for
rbe first time in ages. 1t was rich W
,ort Indication, aud at once Creede stall
.re- the claim, which he called the Al
inn thyst, and which made not only /
in but a number of others rich.
,rm Amethyst Mining company was form
hot in 1892, and out of it Creede took o
bev million dollars as his share OF
lion mining operations.
,are Creede was never free from the
in fractions of the fair sex. After
for made his ''pile" he was the obJee
ON. numerous onsets from the army OF
yenturesses who swarm about n
the ing camps, but he was never succ'
one fully made a victim. Part OF this
tbs be due to the fact that "Nic' ha
few protector in the person of woman
nod whose name and antecedents hai
mo- any one is familiar-the woman
HING married. Creole was very i'll at
aded time, and the woman nursed
L