The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-08-07

/ lorna gold, $Wnen% every prospect
or's pan and pick were carried py
] a potential millionaire. and where
wealth untold might lie Just be-
meath therroadside rock Denver be
| came the Mecca in those days for
the SOS and 7O's for adventures Of
every kind and sort without re-
gard to sex, creed, color or apparel.
Those We're tn days when any
thing seemed possible and almost
anything likely.
! Up and Down
Mi1lionaires OF today we're the
penni1ess Elaborers or adventures OF
yesterday, but many who went up
like rockets came down like sticks
Among the spectacular early
Denverites the name OF Horace
Austin Warner Tabor looms large
Tabor was a Vermont Yankee
stonecutter by trade, a wanderer
on the. face of the earth by choice
He came to Denver when h was 20
and Denver was one year old, viz,
in SO, but soon after hiked to.
ILeadville, another mile nearer the
sky where he proSpected and
'played seven-up, and gene@l lily en-
joyed himself in the well-earn ed
obscurity of wild minig camp H.
900 feet in the air.
Then Tabor struck a vein OF sill
yer big enough to sink a battle,
ship, and his troubles began. Sell
ing out for a million. he began a
wild carer OF speculation and
found he just couldn't lose. Ten
years later he was mayor OF Lead
vile and worth $40. 100000. He
gave Leadville 100000 opera
house (Which has since burned
down, i believe-and scattered his
dough in every direction. finally
becoming lieutenant governor of
Colorado. In February of IS he
got the appointment of sU. s. SEN
tor, which he held for month
till the regularly eletced H. NJ
Teller got on the job.
$1,000 For Niahties
Being senator seemed too much
for Tabor It is said he spent
$1,000 for flock of wonderful
nightgowns. Anyhow, he lost all
his money faster than he made 1T,
and died broke in '99, while his
widow. her mind c1ouded, is a
hopeless invalid, depndent Jpn
public charity
They don't all go up so fast or
come down 50 suddenly as Sen
ator" Tabor, but the early story Of
mining regions is pretty much the
samoa little group of big-he arted'
free-spnding, destinations multi
millionaires and vsSt horde Of
folks dreaming Of a rich strike.
1t No kind Of precious metal min
ing tends to make homes upon the
soil and if Colorado had possess
ed no asset but goId. silver, lead
and copper, she would today be
another-even ifrmore beautiful
M other Lode Of Nevada, a re-
gion Of tin cans and buried hopes.
But Colorado has something else
far greater than all her mines, al
though they produce S60,O00,0005
annually in precious and semi-pre-
c1ous metals. She has som ethinS
far less romantic than frontier
gold camp or even a win Of silver
and lead-but something infinitely
greater and more va1uable-the
Platte river. You wouldn't think
much of the Platte if you first saw
it merely as a stream of water, for
as Horace Greedy said of some
news papers which have great cir
cu1ation and mighty little influ
ence. the Platte is mile wide and
a foot deep.
The Glorious Platte
But watr in a, semiNaird land
such as eastern Colorado is a
stream Of purest gold, which
means homes OF comfort and even
luxury for the people, schools and
church and clubs and baseball
parks and uplift societies and pool
halls and Fords at every cross
roads. #
Left in its original bed, the
Platte would never have added
much to the landscape other than
Frightening the lives Of a fey by
brid willows. Taken out by divert