Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-25
STORIES OF srRATToN.

Persons who are fond Of discovering the
dramatic element in things have often
pointed at w. S. Stratton, the Cripple
Creek millionaire, as the most remarkable
example OF luck in the latter part Of the
nineteenth century. It has been their way
to say that he rode out Of Colorado Springs
almost penniless one summer morning and
came back so rich he himself couldn't tell
how much he owned.
Specifically, there seems to be som
truth in this picture Of STATIONS sudden
change of fortune. Actually. however, It
is most misleading.
The fact is that no man ever worked
harder. thought more earnestly or overcame
more dif1culties to attain wealth than did
Stratton. The great merchants who have
built up vast businesses from small begin
nings have had plain sailing compared
with the long and stormy voyage that
finally brought the Croesus OF Cripple
Creek safe into port.
There is a tradition that as a young man
in Jacksonville, Ind, Stratton was wild
and unamiable, and that when he went
west in 1872 he left a bad name among the
Hoosiers. Be that as II may, he had
learned to be a good carpenter and when
he struck Colorado Springs he found plenty
Of work at his trade, which lasted as long
and came as often as he cared to have it
during the next nineteen years.
1t wasn't many weeks after Stratton
struck the Springs before the gold fever
marked him for its own. It's a lingering
disease at the best-or worst. according to
the way you look at it-but there are many
who catch It, suffer scutely for q while and
then recover.
Not so with stratton. The longer he had
it the more malignant It became, until
along in the sos folks got to calling him
Crazy" Stratton. That was because his
faith In what other men regarded and aban-
doned as worked-out pockets and barren
claims persisted and led him on through
multiplied failures and disappointments.
The FIRST Investment In mining property
which has been laid to Stratton was the
$4,000 that he planted in the Yretaba mine
at Cunningham Gulch. 1t isn't likely that
he had $4,000 to drop there all at once. but
whatever he had he began to put into the
Yretaba in 1873, less than a year after his
arrival in Colorado.
He got a lot Of good schooling in that
venture. but nothing more. For ten years
he spent q large part Of every summer
working the claim for the gold that never
| came, ana IN the WDnIe1S ne plleu .Ine NAM
mer and the saw to earn money with which
to feed himself and lay in material for the
next warm-weather campaign in the gulch.
when the Yretaba scheme had petered
out Stratton made up his mind that he
ought to have more scientific knowledge, so
he took a course in metallurgy at Colorado
college, and thereafter he carried a blow
pipe in his wanderings among the bleak
hills that were to yield up their treasures
TO him, When he wished to test a specimen
Of ore he had both the implements and the
knowledge with which to do It.
Years afterward when his ship had come
In he gave Colorado college $50, 900 as a
mark Of his appreciation Of what It had
done for him. This college training is a
point that the opponents Of the luck theory
ought not to overlook.
Certainly a man who will pursue a forlorn
hope for ten years and then go in for a
scientific education to help him in the fur
Their prosecution OF the same purpose isn't
altogether a child Of fortune II after years
more Of patient toll and careful thought he
finally comes to his reward.
His college course completed, Stratton set
out again on the old quest. The Yretaba was
a vanished dream, but there were other
fields to prospect, and In some OF them he
was sure he would find the means that
would enable him to put away the carpen-
ter's kit forever and a day.
In the meantime, however, he didn't
despise his trade. Colorado Springs saw
him intermittently and gave him work when
he wanted 1t. Then when there was a
little money in the stocking It saw him
no more for a time and the %neighbors knew
that the carpenter had become a gold hunter
again.
A good part OF the time Stratton was
spending his own money in the quest for
pay dirt, but whenever he could find any
one disposed to grubstake him and divide
with him on the chance that some day his
dream would come true he took up the part
nership gladly.