W. S. Stratton
Encyclopedia : W : WS : WSS : W. S. Stratton
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. 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.
Further reading
- Midas of the Rockies, Frank Waters, Swallow Press, 1946 ISBN 0804005915 (Trade Paper). Earlier editions exist from 1937 and 1949 in hardback
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.