The Washington bee., 1899-04-15
RICHES WITH WINGS. II
Fortune of the Three Original Owners of q
Mine That Produced Millions.

Fortune of the Three Original Owners of a
Mine That Produced Millions.
The story of the luck of August
Rische, once known as the Dutch cob
bier. is interesting. Before thn war he
came to this country from the north
of Germany and settled for a time ut
Pittsburg. Pa. later moving to st.
Louis. While living there he went out
enc Sunday TO Belleville and consult
ed an old German fortune teller. He
was i'm love with his employers daugh-
ter, and wanted to know how his suit
i was going to result. He got no en-
couragement from the cards in that
j direction. but his disappointment was
tempered by the statement that he
! would marry some one else and be the
father of a fine family. Before that he
maker of Fairplay Il mining camp a
the far West and make lot OF money
in the mountains. This he would lose,
but he would gain another fortune in
the same way and would keep it,
Sure enough. when the war broke
out he enlisted and served all through
without u wound. and at its close
freighted across the plains to Denver.
an dthen up into the mountains. where
discoveries of gold were being made
After spending all his money in vain
search for the precious metal, he got
out his tools, built him bench and
established himself as the leading shoe
| maker OF Fairplay, mining camp Il
tlOZen miles from Leadville. 1t wasn't
! such bad blIsineS TO be in, for Il pair
/ of new boots were worth from $40 TO
SD. and patches cost in proportion.
| But it cost a lot to live. In the same
town was another shoemaker, George
L. Hook. also afflicted with tht mining
fever. The two cobblers formed
partnership to hunt for gold when not
sticking TO their last. The great tr0II-.
hle with them was that they could
never get enough together to pay their
expenses while out prospecting for any
length of time. Out in California
iiulch there was stOrekeeper named
Horace a. w. Tabor who had done
pretty we'll i'm business. and was in the
habit of grubstaking prospectors. The
Shoemakers applied 10 him for "A sup
ply of provisions to take out with
them. which was given with the un-
derstanding that he would have Il
third interest in any mineral they
should find
Weary of going over tha ground
around the gulch. the shoemakers
went further back into the bills \
mile from the gulch and about the
! same distance from the future location
of Leadyille. on what is known as Fry
or Hill, they found surface indications
which seemed promising. and they
started sinking n shaft. For days and
r.. Ii.,,.
kind of yellow rock that had the ap-
pearance of decOmpoSed limestone. 1t
was something new to them and they
attached no value to the stuff. but
kept digging deeper in the hope of
striking quartz containing rich miner
al. When they had reached twenty
six feet without Il sign of pay ore they
were prepared To quit and seek IL new
location.
Before | throw it up." said Rische.
I'm going tn find out what this yellow
stuff is we have been working through
and what's in it,
Every miner knows the result of the
assay which made known ,hr discov-
cry of enormous riches in silver in the
form of sand carbonates. RiSche
named the mine the Little PittSburg
The first wagon load of mineral taken
out netted 5000. and in short time
the mine was producing from - to 100
tons of ore week. yielding a profit of
$4,000. The fame of the mine became
so great that thousands rushed to the
new fields from all over the country
and Leadville sprung up as if by mag
ic. Having realized considerable
money from the sale of ore the eau
tious Hook sold out to RiScfe and Ia
b0r for $4,000. netting him total of
S125.0O0. Rische held on willie long
ar. and then sold his half to j. h. Chat
fee and ID. Il. Moffatt for S2G2. 1000. His
whole profit was S:s00.0uO in round fig
ureS. Tabor was the last To sell and
t Chaffee and Motfatt paid hlm cool
million dollars for the other half.
Tabor invested his money in Lead
vile land and mining properties. At
the time he was divorced fro n his first
wife his property as scheduled in court
was valued at S9.000.000. In January.
1897. the last piece of his property
; was sold TO satisfy a mortgage. Mil
lonaire W. s. StrattOn Staktd him to
the extent of $1,000 to develop some
mining property in boulder. Col and
he was working this property when
t Senator z. o. Wolcott had him ap-
pointed Postmaster of Denver. Hook
!, purchased 100000 Government bonds
: and has $4,000 invested in Il 160-acre
ranch near Loveland, Col. He lives Oh
the interest of his money. Rsche'S
2 fortune disappeared in wildcat schemes
and confidence loans.
The Old Miners Tale.
! Il notice bY reading the nnWSnannrS