The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-01
BALDWIN's CAREER.
Incidents in Life of Man Who Died
Today.

Los Angeles. Cal, March MANY
stories are told of Lucky Baldwin,
VINO oled today. Here are a number
me tide turned a few years ago, and
nlls1ortunes came not singly. A
! shflhkage IN land values carried away
! large part of his once princely for
| tune. His racing stable fell from its
| once high pinnacle of success to the
| place OF the 'also rams" The Bald
win hotel in San Francisco burned to
| the ground one night in November
1898, with comparatively small in
! suranee to protect it's owner. Legal
troubles pursued him, as well as do
| mestic difficulties
In the face of all his reverses Bald
win retained his courage, and made
| bold bid for another fortune. Post
| ponlng for the time the settlement of
his legal troubles, he set sail in 1899
| for Cape Nome, Alaska, there to trv
once more his hand at fortune build
| ing. But an old man cannot make
headway against the strength of the
| young Baldwin failed in Alaska.
| Broken in health, though vigorous in
| spirit, and hopeful of the future, he
returned to California, sold the site of
| the old Baldwin hotel for a comfort
able sum over and above the mort
gage, closed out other holding and
settled himself on Santa Anita ranch.
Outwitted His Financial Enemies.
Baldwin's most brilliant play, and his
bitterest flight, occurred in connection
with the development of the Ophir mine.
The Ophir was one of the Comstock
lode properties. and the par value of
its stock was $100 per share. A certain
clique of bankers and mining men op-
Grating in San Francisco and Virginia,
sought to control the mine by fair
means or foul.
With this object in view they caused
to be made an assay of Ophir ore
which showed a very poor grade. Ophir
Nakr ia
holders, and all sorts of false rumors
were put into circulation to force down
the price of the stock. Baldwin did not
credit the assayer's report, nor did he
give any heed to the discouraging re-
ports of Ophirs poor showing. He very
quietly employed an expert assayer and
smuggled him into the mine under the
guiSe of a laborer.
The reports of this man confirmed
his suspicious. Ophir was found to be
one of the richest bodies of ore on the
Comstock Then Baldwin set about, in
a quiet and unostentatious way, to buy
every share of Ophir stock that was be-
ing unloaded
Before his enemies awoke to the
real situation, Baldwin held a con-
trolling interest in the mine. He made
known to the world the true value of
Ophir ore and the vastness of its ex-
tent. The stock Immediately scared
skyward. He squeezed without mercy
those who had tried to ruin him. Out
of this contest he emerged with the
self-satisfaction of a great financial
victory and more than three millions
in profits.
Twenty millions of dollars was the
sum of Ba1dwin's reward from the
vast mining enterprises in which he
engaged during the boom on the Com
stock.
Investments in California.
Being a true son of the soil, when
riches came to Baldwin his mind turn
ed to the soil, and he bought a vast
tract of land in the beautiful and fer
tile San Gabriel valley, in southern
California. This he named Ell Santa
Anita Ranch, a name since become IA
nous wherever thoroughbreds are
raced, and equine beauty and bravery
are admired.
Forty-two thousand acres are within the
boundaries of this magnificent property
almost a principality in extent But this
did not satiate his appetite for land. He
purchased large tract in San Francisqui-
ia canyon, and another in Merced county.
in the great wheat-producing San Joaquin
valley. In Los Angeles, in El Monte, and
in San Francisco large holdings of real
estate were placed in the name of E. J.
hotel in San Francisco, the destruction of
which is the tragedy well remembered by
San Franciscans to this day. He i'm
proved Santa Anita ranch, and stocked
it with the finest of thoroughbreds, and
engaged in stock breeding on a scale SO
magnificent that even California had
never seen anything like it before.