The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-24

with reformed desperadoes and pretty
women, grass widows, red-haired adj
venturesses and women Of refinement,
all wild and hungry for Leadville,
where the streets assayed silver and
gold.
And what a town 1t was! A mad
roaring maelstrom of fortune hunters;
it's altitude two miles above the sea.
1t was California days over again.
1t is a singular fact. by the way
that the gold discoveries of the West
came at the end of observation-disclosures
1919, Pixies Peak 1859. Nevada and
Montana groups 1869. Leadville 1879
or thereabout.
Senator Tabor who not long before
had offered million dollars worth of
mining stock to square a butchers bill
and was turned down with sneers and
abuse from the butchers. was now king
of the town. His Little Pittsbufg,
Chrysolite and other great mines had
made him a man of power. He was
president of the national bank, was
building operahouses finished in cary
ed mahogany, putting up high build
ings in Leadville and Denver, while
Leadville poured out wealth by tens of
millions. The gambling houses never
closed. The barber VINO skinned you
with a dull razor took a half dollar
and shouted Next" while a boy
BACKED your boots and took all your
loose change.
walsh the LendvifIe Focus.
The life and style of everything at
Leadville focused around the Grand
Central Hotel. Thomas f. Walsh was
the landlord. He was hustler, and
was always looking after the comfort
of his guests. Tall, smiling confident
and ever at ease, he seemed to make
money without even turning over his
hand He bought mines and knew ev-
erybody in the country.
When a friend was short of money
he said, Never mind pay next time"
the bookkeeper smiled, said he hoped
to see him soon again, and Mr.. Walsh
continued doing business with the null
titudes thronging the hotel. Senator
Tabor erected palaces In Denver and
finally went to the United States Sem
ate.
To-day Tabor is dead and Mr..
Walsh, landlord of the Grand Central
Hotel, has risen to worldwide fame,
with more. than Tabor's millions be-
hind him. His income is estimated at
$4,000 a day, and his ready cash above
$50,000,000, but this is not all. Society
has opened her golden gates to his
family, and a king is his side partner
In vast mining operations in the Con-
go country In Africa.
The story of Mr.. Walsh's life Is an
other of those Arabian Nights" tales,
which is on record and true Like the
late Mr.. Mackay and the Duke of We'll
lington, he is of Irish birth, was born
in Tipperary in 1851, reached Worees-
ter, Mass, as a wheelright at the age
Of is, tried his hand at sewer con-
tracts and made money, went to the
Black Hills after Clusters gold report
in 1873, made a hundred thousand dol
lars there and FASTENED to Leadville
when the discovery of carbonate sill
yer ores created panic of joy through
the West.
While at Deadwood and other places
in the Black Hills, Mr.. Walsh began
the practice of grub stalking miners,
which led to his fortune. When a
prospector ran out of provisions he
gave him the necessary supplies, TAX
ing a share of the mines for his pay.
In this way he was almost sure to find
himself part owner of now and then q
valuable property at the end of the
season.
Reaching Leadville with considerable
ready money, he opened the Grand
Central Hotel. 1t proved a bonanza
and enabled him to get control OF good
mines. In few years he was rich
and happy. He had invested in i'm
portant properties and become an atI-
thority on mining, and particularly on
the new ores being discovered from
time to time.
Master stroke of His Ventures.
Then came his master stroke in min
ing ventures. Going outside the Lead
vile district to the lofty mountain re-
gion of San Juan, where the canyons
are stupendous. the peaks Of Alpine
proportions and avalanches working
havoc with mines every year, he made
the town of Ouray, nesting In the
heart of the Rockies. his headquarters
for the San Juan district.
Seeing some ores from mines at an
altitude Of 1900 feet, he was greatly
impressed with their richness. Experts
warned him that practical mining could
not be done on the mountain tops: that
already fortunes had been squandered
on similar projects, and besides ava
lanehes, or snowslides as they are call
ed there, would eventually sweep away
houses and machinery and fill UP
shafts and mines.
So much snow was then massed over
the old mines that it was a year or
two in melting. Finally he got into the
mines and was shown where the rich
est samples came from but he insisted
on looking around for himself, and in a
discarded portion of the mine he saw
on the neighboring wall evidences of
rich ore, which the experts declared
worthless. He was struck with it's pc
culiar appeara nce--dark spots and
markings on white rock.
Selecting samples, he had them as
sayed and found a bonanza in pros
pect. He bought adjoining properties,
and kept his men busy prospecting and
buying until he had a large mining ter
ritory absolutely his own.
For years II had been his ambition
TO be the only owner OF a group OF
mines. Now he was master of the sit
uation. He ordered expensive maehin-
cry on a large scale, erecting smelters
for reducing ores and proceeded sys-
teTnatically 10 develop his mines. Such
was the beginning Of Camp Bird and
It's millions.
after wealth Comes Fame.
Mr. Walsh Is now a famous man Of
the world. II came about in this way
lie was appointed commissioner from
Colorado 10 the Paris Exposition IN
1899. There he began a series ~ enter
tainnents that were the talk Of Fu-
rope He chartered a steamboat on the
River Seine turned II into a floating
palsce and gave a $4,000 dinner, with
distinguished men az his guests. His
mines could not b. surpassed. The
muflc vas furnished BY artists from
49,. 49, 49,