W. S. Stratton
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Winfield Scott Stratton (July 22, 1848- September 14, 1902). Discoverer in 1891 of the Independence Lode near Cripple Creek, Colorado, one of the richest gold mines ever located on earth.
Born in Indiana, he had come earlier to the Colorado Springs, Colorado area and worked as a carpenter, then set out following the gold and silver rushes in Colorado, but had never been successful. But on hearing word of gold on the south slope of Pike's Peak he made his big strike.
He had a hard time getting started developing his mine, but once going it was like an underground bank. Not only was Stratton rich, he was generous. He wrote a check for $5,000 to “Crazy Bob” Womack, the prospector who first discovered gold at Cripple, but was down on his luck. And he gave $15,000 to Horace A. W. Tabor when Tabor was busted. Soon, however, folks began hitting on him and he became reclusive and eccentric. He drank and read a great deal, but almost never had guests or went out socially.
When he died he left the bulk of his estate for the establishment of the Myron Stratton Home, for "the aged poor and dependent children." Myron Stratton was his father. This bequest was not popular in the reactionary climate of the times. After extended litagation from many adverse claimants only 6 million was finally available; but the home was established successfully.
[edit] Further reading
- Midas of the Rockies, Frank Waters, Swallow Press, 1946 ISBN 0-8040-0591-5 (Trade Paper). Earlier editions exist from 1937 and 1949 in hardback
W. S. Stratton carried this book in his saddlebags when he was prospecting: Plattner's manual of qualitative and quantitative analysis with the blowpipe. From the last German edition, revised and enlarged., Author: Carl Friedrich Plattner, Translated by Henry Bedinger Cornwall, D. Van Nostrand, New York, 1888. Many other editions exist. .
