The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-06-25
HOW lunches HAVE
FOUND BIG MINES
STATIONS FAMOUS iNDEPEND.
ENcE At CRIPPLE CREEK
Is EXAMPLE.


high average of education among min
ers' children, and the high fees paid
mining engineers. still there are a
number of pet superstitions few min
ing men can resist. One Is tender
foot's luck and the other Is the super
stitious regard for lunches" In seek
ing ore bodies.
This Is how w. s. Stratton struck
the independence mine. 1t is story
of an overwhelming "hunch."
Bob Womack was and Is an indus
trious miner. In the early '9Os he
took up prospect near the Bennett
& Myers ranch, near the foot Of Mt.
Pisgah.
| Womack's only capital in those days
was a level head and a strong body.
With his own hands he drove tun-
mel 200 feet long on a big iron sui
phide vein. Eventually this vein
crossed the Gold King vein, which was
one of the true Cripple Creek veins,
and many claim that the day that he
shot into the junction Of the two veins
was the real discover of Grippe
Creek.
Womack knew Stratton as an ex-
perienced prospector who could al
ways get a little money, so he asked
him to join him In working his pros
pect.
| About the last Of June, 1892, STRAIT
ton yielded to Womacks pleas and
went to Cripple Creek to see the pros
pect.
| Stratton was very much taken with
the showing. The vein was wide and
strong and we'll mineralized through
out. Samples were taken and crushed
in mortar and PANIED. The show
ing of gold was such that Stratton
thought the vein would average abou.
$40 per ton on the plates. This was
just what he was looking for. Some
thing that he could equip and operate
| himself
| With his ability as carpenter, his
good credit and a few savings, he fig
ured that he could buy and erect
small stamp mill to treat free milling
ores. He had been frozen out of
good mine once because it required so
much money to equip 1t, and he was
much opposed to going into a deal
again with wealthy men, but here was
mine which he and Womack could
equip and operate between them
selves.
, Having reduced his samples and
loaded them on his horse. he set out
for Colorado Springs. Womack went
with him a couple Of miles, and fin
ally they came to the quartz outcrop
of big vein.
I Womack and Stratton sat down on
the big boulder Of quartz discussing
their plans for the future Finally
Womack asked Stratton what he
thought Of the big outcrop they were
sitting on. Stratton cracked a boul-
der or two and said: ut Is nothing but
bull quartz; the San Juan is full of
that kind of stuff and it's worth moth
thought Of the big outcrop. Strattor
went on to Colorado Springs, and Wo-
mack went back to his cabin in Pow
erty gulch.
1892 They were very low, showing
only 81 per ton instead of So
He was much cast down. Early on
the morning of the Fourth he awoke
with the irrepressble feeling that he
had missed the chance of his life by
not locating that big bull quartz vein.
He tried to go to sleep again, but the
bunch would not let him sleep, so he
tried to drive 1t away by celebrating.
First he went out with the little
boys and celebrated with firecrackers
and then he went with the big boys
and celebrated with fire water. But
all to no purpose. The bunch was
still there, driving out all other
thoughts but the mental vision of that
big outcrop.
Finally Yields to the Hunch.
Finally he quit fighting against it,
went to a livery stable, hired a horse
and set out for Cripple Greek. 1t was
night when he reached the vicinity Of
the Bennett & Myers ranch, and in
the calm, silvery moonlight he began
to feel like fool for riding 35 miles
into the mountains at the dictates of
an entangling bunch. So, at Grassy
he took short cut for Womack's i
cabin and made the excuse that he I
had come up to deliver the assay re-
turns.
Womack warmed up the coffee and |
bacon, and after Stratton had had a
bite to eat the bunch came back agar
and he asked Womack If anyone had /
located that big vein. Womack said
no. and that there wasn't much dan
ger of it, either, because it was no
good.
Stratton said he thought he would
put stake on it anyway. and do q
little digging, and Womack said he
would help him.
So they took Womack's AK and the
two friends went over the hills In the
moonlight and located two claims in
STATIONS name. One was called the
~ In 49,