HISTORY OF MINING DEVELOPMENT. 
131 
intervals, at Colorado Springs, he exhibited pieces of float (surface ore) as evidence of his discoveries; but 
having a reputation for honesty rather than shrewdness, his statements made little impression. For many 
years he worked on a hole in Poverty Gulch without staking a claim in proper form. There seemed no need 
to do so; no one came to disturb him; the whole hill country was at that time fenced in so as to serve as a 
summer range for cattle. The cowboys and herdsmen looked good-naturedly at Bob’s digging, but did not 
consider it of any moment. In December, 1890, E. M. De la Vergne and F. F. Frisbee came up from Colo¬ 
rado Springs to prospect. George Carr, who was in charge of the ranch belonging to Bennett & Myers, showed 
them around the district. The hills were under snow, and only a few bare spots permitted of any prospecting. 
On Guyot Hill, in Eclipse and Poverty gulches, they found evidences of gold veins, and samples were taken 
away. These averaged about 2 ounces of gold per ton. Encouraged by their first visit, De la Vergne and 
Frisbee returned early in February, 1891. They found Bob Womack at work in Poverty Gulch. He had 
sunk a shaft to a depth of 48 feet, and encountered good ore. The claim he had pegged out was called the 
“Chance,” and a number of stakes indicated that he had relocated it six years in succession without record¬ 
ing the fact or complying with the conditions of the mining law in regard to the amount of assessment work 
required annually. When he found the newcomers were making inquiries he relocated the claim as the “El 
Paso,” and De la Vergne, finding another lode, heavy in iron pyrites, to the west of Womack’s vein, located 
a claim which he called the “El Dorado.” It was recorded a few days later, and in the certificate the district 
was called for the first time by the name which it still hears, Cripple Creek. Although these locations had been 
made, little actual mining was done upon them for some time afterwards. Womack absented himself. Fris¬ 
bee saw that there was a good deal of surface ore which could easily be removed, so while Womack was away, 
he sent 1,100 pounds by wagon to the Pueblo Smelting and Refining Company, who gave returns at the rate 
of $200 per ton. This was in August, 1891. Frisbee induced Womack to give him a bond and option on 
the El Paso for $5,000. Shortly afterwards it was transferred to Messrs. Lennox and Giddings, who still own 
it, as a part of a very successful mine, the Gold King. 
In May Frisbee and De la Vergne happened to be at Colorado Springs and met W. S. Stratton, to whom 
they showed certain assays of ores brought down by them from Cripple Creek. Stratton was a house builder 
and carpenter by trade, but in the intervals of his regular occupation he had been prospecting for fully twenty 
years previous to this date. He had learned the use of the blowpipe and was familiar with the outlines of 
mineralogy and geology—in fact, an energetic, well-informed man, thoroughly equipped for prospecting work 
of any kind. At that time he had been searching for cryolite, a mineral from which the metal aluminum is 
obtained, and had a camp on the Little Beaver, on the Cripple Creek side of Pikes Peak. After the meeting 
with De la Vergne and Frisbee he went to Cripple Creek and camped there. Stratton met Bob Womack and 
went around seeing the little work done by the latter and his associates. Among those who were prospecting 
in the vicinity was Dick Houghton, an old mountaineer, prospector, and specimen hunter whose labors have 
enriched many museums. One day Houghton brought down a piece of rock from the Lone Star claim on 
Gold Hill, and, meeting Stratton in Poverty Gulch, he told him he had found some galena (the sulphide of 
lead). Stratton examined it with his magnifying glass and expressed doubts as to its being galena, and in 
looking at the ore he saw little cubes of rusty gold, one of which had been scratched by being carried in 
Houghton’s pocket so as to expose a bright surface. They went down to Stratton’s tent, and he pulled out 
his blowpipe and made a test which proved that it was gold. Neither of these men knew at the time that the 
bright silvery mineral, which Houghton thought to be galena, was sylvanite—the telluride of gold and silver. 
Stratton went up and located the claim adjacent to Houghton’s; it was named the Gold King, and is now a 
part of the Gold and Globe property. On the 5th of June Stratton, accompanied by Fred Troutman, went 
to the ridge above Battle Mountain, and, seeing the willows at the head of Wilson Creek (where now the town 
of Goldfield is situated), they inferred the presence of water. They descended the hill and got a drink; then 
climbing the hill behind the spring, they found loose pieces of rock, one of which was broken open and found 
to be smothered in gold. The owner of the Independence says that this was the only time he got really excited. 
Camp was moved from Cripple Creek next day and pitched close to the spring. A search was begun for the 
lode which had shed so goodly a float. Trenches were dug; but Stratton had an idea at this time that veins 
with a north and south direction were the ones which carried rich ores, and so his trenches were dug at right 
angles to this course, with the result that they paralleled the veins actually existing there, and since developed 
into the Legal Tender, Lillie, and Vindicator mines. They found nothing. An old ranchman, Billy Fernay, 
came along about this time and brought some float which he had found on the hill below, now called Battle 
Mountain. Stratton liked the look of it, so Fernay located it for Stratton, Troutman, and himself, calling it 
the Black Diamond. It is now one of the claims included within the territory of the Portland mine. Next 
