When the hand of death struck down W. S. Stratton, the Cripple Creek district lost a friend, whose faith in the future of deep mining was so strong and firm that he spent millions in the acquirement of acreage, and had started the most gigantic projects to prove his theories ever conceived in the mind of a scientific mining man.

Winfield Scott Stratton

The late W. S. Stratton was a man of action not of words. He saw and believed, and was always willing to back his belief with money. It is such men who are beneficial to a locality.

They upbuild. Their improvements are of a character that are lasting, and serve for an indefinite time for the welfare and betterment of all man­kind. At first the improvement is not so noticeable, or the effect as great, but in time they are felt and appreciated.

In the years to come the late W. S. Stratton's projects will all have been carried out, and then, and not until then, can any one fully appreciate the magnitude of the undertakings he started.

The desire and dream of the late millionaire was to demonstrate that in the northern end of the district there was to be found, with development, just as rich and great ore bodies as was found in the southern area of the camp.

His conclusion was not reached on the say-so of any person or number of persons. Close study, along scientific lines, was his guide. Many a day he tramped over Gold, Globe, Ironclad and Bull hills, studying the geological conditions. This place and that place were prospected.

His practiced eye saw everything; nothing escaped his keen scrutiny.

After the sale of his famous bonanza, the Independence, on Battle mountain, he began to buy north-end acreage. Property he sought, and, while many ran the price up, he went steadily ahead until he had expended about $4,500,000 of the $10,000,000 he had just received.

His especial favorites were Gold, Globe, Ironclad and Bull hills. On those hills he acquired hundreds of acres of territory. Then he formed the Stratton Cripple Creek Mining and Development Company, in which all the acreage was included.

In September, 1900, he started active operations, and for a period of ten months he expended the enormous sum of close to $500,000, all of which came from his private purse.

A half a million dollars!

Few people would put up that sum without anything coming in, but Mr. Stratton was demonstrating his theories. He knew that he would open wondrous ore bodies and that the money was being wisely spent.

That sum does not include the vast amount he spent in equipping the various shafts with machinery, or the development performed prior to forming the big corporation.

GLOBE HILL Mines, From Ironclad Hill.
Deerhorn and Summit Mines in 1895.

Deep mining, he thought, would prove profitable to the man who had the nerve to go ahead and not worry about what he was spending. His hobby was Globe hill.

The geological conditions were perfect there for the opening of great ore bodies. He figured that the granite of Poverty gulch was dipping in the hill at such a rate that it would be cut at a depth varying from 1,800 feet to 2,000 feet.

When the granite was encountered, he theorized, great ore bodies would be encountered.

With that theory well in his mind he projected the Lady Stith shaft, and gave orders to commence sinking and go to the depth of 2,000 feet. The shaft is the largest in the district, being 4½ by 15 feet 4 inches in the clear. No one, aside from W. S. Stratton, would ever have had the nerve to even project such an undertaking, much less start it and pay the expenses of such a gigantic operation.

The shaft contained three compartments. One was equipped with a cage, for the cars ran in the levels extended for exploitation. Another one was used for a bucket, so sinking could be carried on without interruption, while the third one was used as the man-way and for air pipes.

The shaft was started in an extinct thermal spring that has excited much mental speculation on the part of geologists and mining engineers. Many mistake the place as the seat of volcanic action or an old crater.

Mr. Stratton recognized what it was, and studied the conditions long and carefully. Whether the late Mr. Stratton figured that from the porous and barren condition at surface and just below, that the values had been leached out by the thermal waters and deposited below was never learned from him, but certain it was that his theories were that water played a most important part in the ore deposits of the hill.

The leached condition of the veins near surface show that the ascending, descending and circulating waters robbed the veins of the values, but where they were afterwards deposited is hard to tell. It would be natural to believe that the descending waters removed the values to great depth, and it was along those lines that development work was pushed.

On the surface there is a great mass of thoroughly oxidized ore that averages $20 to the ton. W. G. Rice, the present general manager of the Stratton company, is now figuring on installing a huge cyanide mill on the hill and treating the mass of ore, which will mean an enormous saving to the estate over the present manner of shipping to the mills.

There is little doubt but that the mill will be a great success, and for the very reason that other parts of the hill yield rock that is thoroughly adapted to the cyanide process.

General Manager W. G. Rice is striving hard to make of the Stratton properties an estate that will fully justify the dreams of the late owner. Mr. Rice took charge of the company as general manager on the first of June, 1901. His business ability soon won for him the respect and admiration of every one. After a personal examination of the properties Mr. Rice started the work of the mines, and from the first month the great corporation was on a paying basis.

Logan Mine

That the late Mr. Stratton had abundant faith in the future and believed in deep mining was evidenced by the amount of work he did on Bull and other hills.

The American Eagles shaft is an example. The floor of the bottom level is 1,500 feet below the collar of the shaft. Drifting and cross-cutting to the number of 15,080 feet has been performed there.

The John A. Logan shaft is 1,400 feet deep, while the drifting and cross-cutting exceeds fifteen thousand feet by 330.

The Abe Lincoln, that had been closed, was taken up and a producer made of it. To-day the Abe Lincoln has a large force of men, and is yielding a handsome profit to the estate.

In the Deerhorn shaft, which is 567 feet deep, 8,720 feet of lateral work has been done.

The work of extending and completing the Chicago-Cripple Creek tunnel was started and carried forward. The main tunnel, at the point it connects with the Plymouth Rock shaft, is 4,170 feet, while the laterals extended off total to 3,520 feet.

The now Plymouth Rock shaft, better known as the Lady Stith, is 655 feet deep, while there has been performed a total of 2,315 feet of drifting and cross-cutting.

In the Six Points and Longfellow shafts considerable lateral work was done.

On the Zenobia a new three-compartment shaft was sunk. It is now 530 feet in depth, while the levels have been pushed a total distance of 510 feet.

In the old Orpha May the greatest amount of drifting and cross-cutting has been done, a total of 20,210 feet of work.

It will be seen by these figures that Mr. Stratton was always busy, and still he did not accomplish as much as he desired. His ambition was to open a great bonanza, greater than he opened on Battle mountain.

From June 1, 1901, up to the close of the year, there has been shipped from his property close to $800,000 worth of gold-bearing ore. The policy of the late millionaire was to develop and block out.

He had plenty of money. He did not have to take any out of the ground to keep himself going. So long as he knew the development was of a satisfactory character he went ahead, just as he did when he was putting up $50,000 a month to meet the pay roll.

Mr. Stratton believed in development. He believed in the great north end and he backed his belief by spending his money, and that is why the Cripple Creek district lost its best friend when death struck him down and forever stilled the hand that was directing and demonstrating the future possibilities of the north end.

A complete list of the mining property owned by the Stratton Cripple Creek Mining and Development Company follows:

Poverty Gulch, Cripple Creek District, Colo.

The Abe Lincoln Mine about 1895
Marinette Mining Co., Poverty Gulch

A view of Bull Hill, showing Mines such as
the John A. Logan, Blue Bird & the American Eagle

Golden Circle Ry. Suburban Train
Rounding Battle Mountain, Bull Hill in background

Battle Mountain, Showing the Blue Stocking,
Independence No. 2, Black Diamond, Portland,
Scranton and Anna Lee Mines Marked Out

Rhyolite Mountain From Summit of Bull Hill

View at the Boarding House at/of the Deerhorn Mine

Summit Mine,
(might also be known as Gold Crater Mine)

The Favorite Mine on Bull Hill about 1895

Trolley in Poverty Gulch about 1899,
Passing the Ore House of the Chicago Tunnel

Poverty Gulch Scene 1901-1903

1908 View of the John A. Logan Mine

Snapshot Poverty Gulch, from Short Line
with Midland Terminal Trestles Down In the Gulch

1900 View of Bull Hill Mines
Seen From the Portland No. 3 Shaft

East Bull Hill Mines and Early Altman view.
"Pharmacist Town, Bull Mt." April 20th, 1893

Cripple Creek District Railway Trolley No. 2,
Named "Grace" Climbing Globe & Gold Hill
High Above Poverty Gulch & Cripple Creek.

Bull Hill Mines as Seen From the Nightingale Mine

Gold Hill Mines as Seen From Globe Hill slope

People Roaming Around the Half Moon Mine,
of Matoa Co., on Gold Hill in Early 1900's

Delmonico Mine on Bull Hill in 1895