The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1915-01-15
How Stratton Became One of the
Great MilIionaireS of
the West.
UNLUCKIEST OF PRoSPECToRS
His Mine Was Joke in Colorado for
Years, Until He Found the
Trunk Vein and Sold
for $15,ooo,ooo.
Rv RICHARD sPILLANE.

no matter how they dodge. 1t was so
with Stratton. Out in Colorado he
was a joke for years. He wandered
about the hills prospecting whenever
he had grub enough for a trip and,
when his supplies ran low, or winter
overlook him, he went to work at the
one thing for which he was fitted
carpentering He could use plane
or a saw as well as any ordinary jour
neyman and might have settled down
in Gunnison, Buena Vista, Ouray,
Leadville, or any one of q dozen
towns. and made comfortable living.
He had the lust of gold, however, and
no matter how bitter his experience,
or how many times he determined to
abandon his wanderings, each spring
brought back the fever.
Surely he had reason to know his
limitations as prospector. Several
times he went over ground which to
him gave little or no promise. Other
men came along year or two later,
saw what he couldn't see, located
claims and developed fairly good
mines. His i'll luck was proven
bal. Those who knew the things he
missed used to say he would not know
a gold mine if he tumbled into one.
Stratton was forty-eight, gray, a
bit rheumatic and altogether down
on his luck, when one July 8 he spread
his blankets on the ground and pre-
pared to sleep on the hillside six
miles from Cripple Creek. He could
see the lights of the camp in the dis
lance. They spoke to him of COM
partnership, merrymaking and some
thing better to eat than he had been
having for many days. He had hoped
to make the creek that night, but had
stumbled and fallen, and had gone
bit lame He didn't have pony or
burro-nothing but his pick, his
blankets, little grub and few cook
ing utensils. When Stratton awoke
on the morning Of July 4, his leg
ached so much that he didn't think
it would be wise to tramp to town
burdened with his pack. He had said
a few harsh things the night before
about his i'll luck and he repeated
them with interest in the morning.
After breakfast he moved around a
bit, just to take some of the stiffness
out of his leg.
Located Two Claims.
Naturally, as a prospector, he ex-
amined the ground. He didn't see
anything promising. There was
streak of prudence in the man. how
ever, and, knowing. that some good
strikes had been made at Cripple
Creek; he thought he might as well
locate a claim or two right there
where he was laid up. He did so,
AS a patriotic American and in re-
spect to the day, he named one of his
claims George Washington and the
other independence. The next day
his leg was better and he padded
along to Cripple Creek.
The camp was bustling. Stratton
had no truuble in getting job He
did little carpentering and little
mining. He got good pay, especially |
as a carpenter, for the little camp |
was growing. New strikes were be- |
ing made, and there was an urgent |
demand for buildings. After a while |
there came a lull Stratton, who |
didn't have a lazy bone in his body, |
went back to the hill and did just |
enough work to hold the two claims |
he had located In doing this assess
ment work, he ran across little vein
of silver 1t was so very thin that it
didn't amount to much more than a
basis for him to have hope. He tried
to follow it, but it ran out. In an
other place he encountered vein of
gold. That, too, was very thin.
In many instances the bodies of
precious metals that are in the earth
are fashioned after the forms of
trees. There is one main body like
the trunk. Then there are lot of
branches. From these branches there
are stringers. Usually the trunk is
deep in the earth. Generally the
branches spread out over a wide
stretch of territory. In the majority
of cases, it is one of the stringers, or
small veins, that miner runs on in
his work near the surface. He fol-
lows this stringer, or vein, in the hope
of finding the trunk. His quest of
the trunk would be comparatively easy
but for the fact that these trees of
ore are broken in many places. These
breaks are called faults. In a con-
Vulsion of nature, the great tree was
shattered. A branch was thrown here,
a stringer there, and maybe the trunk
itself ripped apart. Sometimes the
fault only extends for a few feet.
Sometimes it extends for hundreds or
maybe thousands of feet. When
miner runs on to stringer and is
able to follow it to the branch and
runs along the branch until he finds
The trunk, he has a bonanza. What
Stratton had come across was
stringer from the tip of branch.
Veins Seemed TO Peter Out
The carpenter worked on his mine
1T odd times. The streaks of gold