Bisbee daily review., 1907-04-28
The Romance of Some
 Rich Mining Strikes

I away probably one hundred and twen- | ty-five million dollars in that worth
 less black sand. The placers were finally exhausted and the camps of
 California Gulch were all deserted, ex-
 cepting four or five log cabins that never became tenantless In 1876, the first ton of carbonate ore was haul
 ed by oxen to St. Louis; and the year
 following three hundred tons made
 the long journey across the mountains
 and plains Then smelters were built at Leadville, and the greatest
 carbonate camp in the worlds history l, was fairly launched upon Its remark.
 able career.
 l In 1866, a shallow prospect hole on
 Mount Pisgah. Teller county, Cobra
 do, was salted, and an attempt made
 to unload it on bunch of tenderfeet frCm New York and Pittsburg. It | didn't work. If it had, the tender
 feet would have had wealth thrust
 upon them, for that saited prospect hole is now the mine shaft of one of the biggest producers of the well | known CriDDle Creek district.
 l Forty years ago Levi Welty squatted
 on the land where Cripple Creek now stands, and for a quarter of a centu- i ry the site of the famous gold camp
 was a COW pasture. Welty was
 bought out by the Womach family,
 who perfected the title. but who sold
 out to others about 1888 to 1889. How,
 ever, Bob Womach, known as Lucky
 Bob, had taken up a tract in Requia
 Gulch, where he continued in the cat
 tie business, putting in his spare mo
 ments, when not riding the range,
 prospecting. He was a typical cow
 puncher, riding like a centaur and
 drinking Taos lightning" by the gal
 lon. Finally he built himself a cabin
 in Poverty Gulch. and dug prospect
 hole on what is now known as the Fl
 Paso lode of the Gold King mine. He
 liked the looks of it. and went to Col
 orado Springs. where he succeeded in
 inducing Dr. J. P Grannis to gc and
 see what he thought of 1t.
 [ Not many days later, five men wan
 dered into Poverty Gulch. They look
 ed at the holes the others were dig
 ging; said the place was no good; and
 started for other fields. They had
 gone only short distance when one
 of their burros suddenly became lame;
 so they decided to go into camp until
 the beast got better. One of the men
 went to the creek and began banning 1 dirt He didn't get much color; but 1 it doesn't take much to encourage a 1 prospector. so the party decided to re main. Then they set to work to build a cabin During it's construc- 1 ton. one of the men fell from the l roof, alighting on dog, and breaking his own arm and the dogs leg. Colnt- | ing the burro. that made three cripples [ xa-uG ga1 nm. ed Cripple Creek.
 It became the fashion for Colorado Springs and Manitou people to go out to Cripple Creek and stake claim. | One who went because everybody else was going was Winfield Scott Strat- ] ton. Not having three dollars and ! fifty cents for stage fare, he walked. He picked out claim that suited him, although practical miners said it was no good. He was a carpenter by trade, tramp by occupation, and drunkard by choice. So his shaft ad- vanced slowly. One day he vent to Senator Wolcott, told him he had a good prospect but no money, and of fered to deed an undivided one-hat and to spend every cent of the money in developing the claim. The Sens- tor was a practical mining man, and regarded Stratton'S Independence mine as a huge joke. My dear fel- low" he said, I'm sorry for you: but I wouldn't give three cents for -lIe whole thing"
 Stratton worked little, and held to his claim. Finally his landlaly turn | ed him out, because he had never paid yer a cent. But for the good nature of two Irishmen ~.'l0 took him in and | hared their caG- ...i food with him,
 is hard to que. s rdat would have
 become of him.
 | At last, pay dirt was struck in the i Independence, the ore runI.ilg ali the | way from five thousand to thirty-eignt !, thousand dollars ton. In two weeks | more a train load Of ore was shipped
 to Denver smelters, for which Strat- ] ton received four hundred and eighty | thousand dollars. Inside of another | month he refused an offer of eight
 million dollars from an English syndi- cate. Five years later, after taking | millions from his mine, he sold out for ] ter million dollars.
 Knows Another Bonanza.
 About the only person who got in
 before the wild days of the Cripple Creek borfn started, who failed to reap a fortune, was Lucky Bob Wo-
 mach, the real discoverer of the
 camp. He is poorer today than he was when he punched cows in PoveT- ! ty Gulch; but he says he knows where
 there is second Cripple Creek. and | that he is going to make sure that he is in right before divulging the se- ere
 Not many months before the dis covery of Cripple Creek, N. C. Creede began prospecting in the King Solo
 mon district, in company with c. L.
 Smith. of Salida. They found chunk of loose f1oat that looked good fo them; but instead of looking for
 the ledge from which the float had
 been broken, they began to dig on
 the spot where it lay. It would be
 just as logical to dig for diamonds in
 3 street corner where one happened to pick up a diamond ring. However, they had not dug very deep when Creede saw something at the bottom ] that caused him to ejaculate Holy Moses and the Holy Moses mine
 was discovered. for which a few months later two and a half million dollars was refused.
 The first rush of fortune seekers to the new mining camp of Creede gave
 the district a black eye. No other important discoveries were made, and it seemed as though the Holy Moses