History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 51

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

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stores to him. He had been a hardy pros- pector and miner himself, and knew how to sympathize with that class-one moment elat- ed with sanguine hopes, the next depressed by bitter disappointment. No sober, indus- trious man ever asked him for a " grub stake " and was refused. He gave liberally of his money when he had it, and his store was the outfitting point for scores of expeditions- consisting each of two men, and a burro laden with provisions and blankets-that scoured the mountains, valleys, gulches and passes in all the country round, like the Argonauts of old, in search of " golden fleece," and, in the majority of instances, instead of gathering precious wool, they came back sheared. His books to-day will foot up thousands of dollars of unpaid accounts which Gov. Tabor long ago consigned to " profit and loss," never ex- pecting nor even attempting to collect. If these mining ventures resulted in profit, he knew he would be reimbursed; if not, he would pocket the expense. He was one of your "pick-your-flint-and-try-again " sort, never complaining, never despondent, accept- ing the merciless snubs of coquettish fortune with an imperturbable serenity of temper.

But the reward for his patient " watching and waiting" was at hand. The story is too familiar to render a repetition of details nec- essary. One investment of a $60 outfit in Hook and Rische-with the inevitable burro- bore fruit. Those experienced prospectors found and noted the surface outcroppings of the Little Pittsburgh. Systematic labor, as it progressed, broadened and deepened the area of mineral. The carbonate treasure seemed in- exhaustible as it was rich. Reports of "the great strike" spread abroad. Men of capital came to verify or disprove them with their own eyes, and went away dazzled by visions of un- limited wealth; Finally, after enriching the discoverers, Gov. Tabor's interest netted him nearly $1,500,000.

This was but the beginning of judicious in- vestments which have since amplified his cap- ital, profits and sources of income tenfold. Confident of the unexplored value in contig- uous properties, he boldly expended large sums in their purchase, paying $125,000 for nine-sixteenths of the New Discovery alone.

Strange as it may seem, he made no mistakes, but coined "a mint of money" with every deal. Like the fabled Midas, everything he touched seemed to turn into gold. He holds at the present time large interests (and of some he is the exclusive owner) in the following mines, the majority of which show a splendid record of tonnage, producing richly in silver: The Matchless, Scooper, Dunkin, Chrysolite, Union Emma, Denver City, Henriett, Maid of Erin, Empire, Hibernia and May Queen. All of these properties lie in the immediate vicinity of Leadville, and detailed accounts of them may be found in the historical department of this work.

Gov. Tabor has not restricted his mining investments to one locality. Appreciating the future of Southern Colorado, and the perma- nent strength of its massive fissure veins, he has not hesitated to expend $127,000 in the purchase of six claims in the San Juan country.

Gov. Tabor's acquisitions are in worthy hands. Prosperity has not upset his equipoise. With him, business caution has not shrunk into miserly meanness, nor a generous nature de- generated into the loose prodigality of a spend- thrift. "In medio tutissimus ibis." He has not misused the bountiful gifts of fortune. As an almoner of private gratuities and public good, he has liberally shared their benefits with others.

In the fall of 1877, Leadville was a seeth- ing, surging, struggling mass of humanity, containing many elements fraught with dan- ger to the safety of persons and peace of so- ciety. Gov. Tabor, as the first Mayor, brought form and order out of this rudimentary chaos. He organized municipal law and found means for its enforcement. He put the wheels of conservative progress in motion, and steadied them in their course. His administration, though brief, was eminently creditable. His successor found a camp rapidly maturing in metropolitan size and strength, with a police system, and streets and pavements and water and gas works, and the other concomitants of a city-if not perfected, at least well under way. Gov. Tabor then found time to devote more attention to the realization of other plans he had determined upon. A good theater, sacred to the legitimate drama, is the safety-

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valve for a heterogeneous, amusement-loving people. The completion of the Tabor Opera House, the most beautiful brick structure in Leadville, satisfied a growing popular want. Its interior is elaborate and ornate; its audi- torium, roomy and convenient, seating 800 people; and its stage depth and appointments ample for the production of the best works of classic art. Its cost was in the neighborhood of $78,000.

The Bank of Leadville was another prompt response to urgent financial and commercial needs. The necessity for a safe depository and medium of exchange for Eastern capital had become urgent.

Gov. Tabor, like another Hamilton, was the Moses who " struck the rock of our torpid re- sources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth."

The danger from fire to a city largely com- posed of wooden buildings and surrounded by combustible pine forests was for a long time imminent. Gov. Tabor called the special elec- tion which authorized the Town Board to de- vise an effectual remedy for apprehended con- flagrations, and he was the chief promoter of our magnificent system of water works, at a total cost of $100,000, which was the result of their action. To the Tabor Hose Company of Leadville he presented a $1,200 carriage and 1,250 feet of hose, reeled. To the entire fire department he has proved himself ready at all times to provide whatever would most contrib- ute to their efficiency as firemen and their comfort as individual members.

Anticipating another requirement of city growth, Gov. Tabor came to the front, in 1879, as one of the leading incorporators of the Leadville Gas Company. Works were built of the best design and construction, with the latest improvements in machinery, and with a capacity for producing 80,000 feet per day. The total cost was about $75,000. Since then, miles of mains and pipes have been laid, and the illuminating fluid furnished our streets, stores and dwellings is of a quality fully as good as any manufactured in the oldest East- ern cities.

The Tabor Milling Company is another en- terprise in which Gov. Tabor invested $100,- 000. Its importance as an economical factor

in the output of bullion from dry ores is highly appreciated by miners. Its machinery is of the best, and it can treat to advantage 100 tons of ore every twenty-four hours. The small percentage of lead in dry ores (the rich- est in gold and silver) renders them unsuitable for smelting. Hence the erection of a large stamp-mill supplied a general want in this and adjoining camps. The success of this venture (in which Gov. Tabor still holds a half interest) is indicated by the fact that the stock is at a premium and none of it for sale.

It would be impossible to list the private benefactions of Gov. Tabor, for he is one of those " who do good by stealth and blush to find it fame." It may not be improper, how- ever, to state in this connection that the Tabor Light Cavalry (a body of fifty men) was equipped throughout at a cost of $10,000 by him. But this act may have been prompted quite as much by a regard for the public interest as from an impulse of personal generosity. Without particularizing, we can say that his donations to churches, schools, hospitals, and worthy objects of charity, aggregate $10,000 a year.

Denver, the charming " City of the Plains," began to feel the electric shock of the great Leadville boom about the time Gov. Tabor first invested therein building and real estate. Then, lots that had for years vainly sought a purchaser, suddenly assumed an abnormal value. Dwellings doubled in price, brick and lumber grew scarce and dear, beggarly rents became princely avenues, and the wages of laboring men-especially of carpenters and masons-advanced to an unprecedented figure. The magnificent Windsor Hotel, complete in all the appointments of a first-class caravan- sary, rose like a " proud exhalation " before the gaze of astonished spectators. Nothing west of the Missouri River had before been seen to equal it. Gov. Tabor is a heavy stock- holder, and his son is one of the managers in charge of this hotel. As much of his time is spent at the capital in the discharge of official duties and superintending the execution of business projects, Gov. Tabor purchased from H. C. Brown his residence and spacions grounds, covering an entire block, at a cost of $40,000. This dwelling, though in the heart

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of the city, stands on a picturesque site, gently sloping westward, and commands a fine mount- ain view extending from Long's Peak on the north to Pike's Peak, that looms up, shadowy but distinct, at the southern terminus of the Snowy range. He has since expended $20,000 more on it in improvements.

The Tabor Block is by far the finest and most perfect structure of the kind in Denver, or anywhere else west of Chicago. It is a five-story brick, with mansard roof, the fronts being of gray-colored cut stone brought from Ohio. It is imposing in size, and elegant in finish to the minutest detail. Its interior is fitted up with every convenience for the uses for which it was designed. It is heated by steam; its oc- cupants are hoisted to their offices or rooms by elevators, and none of the "modern improve- ments" are omitted which could add to its comfort and security. The building complete, including ground, cost its owner $200,000.

The Tabor Opera House is another fine specimen of architectural beauty, of which the citizens of Denver have just reason to be proud. Costing fully $200,000, it gives them a dramatic temple not surpassed in beauty of design, elegant finish and acoustic properties by any in the country, East or West.

Not content with investments involving the outlay of such vast sums, Gov. Tabor bought 890 of the 2,000 shares of the First National Bank of Denver, of which he is now Vice President. He is consequently the largest single share-holder in that concern. His con- nection with this bank would of itself alone give Gov. Tabor a high status in the financial world.

In politics, Gov. Tabor has always been a straight Republican. There need be no beat- ing about the bush to find out precisely where he stands. He is a stanch party adherent and honorable opponent; a partisan without prej- udice, an enemy who, when the battle is over, never sits down to nurse with implacable re- sentment his political sores.

When elected Lieutenant Governor of the State by a handsome majority, he did not be- gin to be so universally known and liked as he is now. As an executive officer, he has given general satisfaction. As President of the State Senate, he surprised even his most

partial friends by the dignity of his bearing and his apt construction and application of rules of law to the decision of points of order.

Gov. Tabor is now in the very prime of manhood, having reached that period which Victor Hugo exults in as the "youth of old age." He is genial, affable, accessible, unaf- fected, flaunting no parvenu airs in the faces of old comrades, generous to a fault, and aims to deal justly by all men. His past experi- ence as stone-cutter, miner, merchant, and in all positions of life a worker in the hive of human industry has given him physical stam- ina and mental grasp. His remarkable suc- cess is in part attributable to habits and methods induced by early business discipline. His quick perceptions, sharpened by adversity, his sound sense and unerring judgment ac- complished the rest.

GEORGE W, TRIMBLE.

G. W. Trimble, the Cashier of the Miners' Exchange Bank, of Leadville, was born in Pike County, Mo., in September, 1850; re- ceived a good commercial education in his youth, and at the age of eighteen, removed to St. Louis, where he engaged as book-keeper in the Broadway Cattle Yards. After staying there a short time, he came to Colorado Springs, and was engaged in the banking business, and then came to Leadville, in April, 1878, and assisted in starting the bank of which he now holds the position of Cashier. For a number of years he has been interested in mining operations, being Treasurer of the Highland Chief and Glass-Pendery Mines; also had large interests in the Winnemuc Mine. Mr. Trimble is married, and has a handsome residence in Denver.

HON. A. K. UPDEGRAFF.

This gentleman was born in York County, Penn., in 1842. He received a common school education in Ohio. At the age of eighteen, he moved to Iowa, and at the breaking-out of the war, enlisted in the Second Iowa Infant- ry, serving three years. He read law, at, Knoxville, Iowa, was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession in Iowa until 1877, and then came direct to Leadville. He was the first lawyer to hang out a shingle in the

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then small mining camp; in 1879, he was appointed County Judge, and in the fall of that year elected, on the Republican ticket, for the yet unexpired term. In the fall of 1880, he was defeated for the same office. He is largely interested in mining, which, at pres- ent, occupies his whole time and attention.

THEODORE F. VAN WAGENEN.

Foremost among the able managers of the leading mines of the California Mining Dis- trict, of Lake County, way be mentioned Mr. Theodore F. Van Wagenen, who is duly cred- ited with the success which attended the Leadville Mining Company during certain portions of the years 1879 and 1880, when he acted as their manager. Mr. Van Wagenen is now holding the same position in the Amie and Climax Mines, which he accepted in Sep- tember, 1880. Through his unremitting activ- ity and natural business capacity, in that direction, he has been successful in placing these properties on such footing as they were wont to stand in earlier days. He was born in the city of New York on the 15th of 'Sep- tember, 1849, and removed, with his parents, to Chicago when seven years of age. He was educated in the Columbia School of Mines, in New York, where he graduated in 1870. In the spring of 1871, he arrived in Colorado, and settled in Georgetown, where he remained until 1874; during the years 1873 and 1874, he held a position under Prof. Rositer W. Raymond, in the United States Mining Com- mission. In the last year mentioned, he re- turned East, where he married, and returned to Georgetown, moving to Denver, in 1875. He came to Leadville, in 1878, and took charge of the Leadville Mining Company's property, as before mentioned. Mr. Van Wagenen spent the summer of 1880 in Mex- ico and Arizona, and since then he has spent most of his time in charge of the property under his management. He is a gentleman who has made numerous friends through his pleasant and affable manners. Although of ripe experience in mining matters, he is un- pretentious in manner, never heralding or proclaiming his knowledge. He is largely interested in mining property throughout this section, and is one of the principal owners of

the large hydraulic mining property at the south end of the county, known as the Twin Lakes Placer Estate.

W. P. WOODRUFF.

Mr. Woodruff was born at Poland, in Mahoning County, Ohio, in 1853. He resided in that State, where he received a common school education, until 1874, when he came to Denver, Colo. He there learned the butch- er's trade, following the same time, at Colorado Springs, in partnership with his present part- ner, at Leadville. He also engaged in busi- ness at Lake City. In October, 1878, he came to Leadville, where he has resided ever since being in the confectionery and stationery bus- iness, with L. D. Spaulding, starting with but little, but has since acquired a competency, and is on the road to wealth and permanent prosperity.

HON. GEORGE G. WHITE.

The subject of this sketch was born in Nel- son County, Ky., December 3, 1845, where he resided, with his parents, until about six years of age, when he removed, with them, to John- son County, Ark., where he remained about ten years, being engaged, during a portion of that time, in farming, receiving a common school education. At the breaking-out of the war, he moved into Texas and lived there about two years. In 1863, he joined the Con- federate service, remaining one year; was cap- tured by Federal troops, near Fort Smith, and held as a prisoner for about six weeks. Tak- ing the oath of allegiance to the United States, he did not return to his regiment, but went to Leavenworth, Kan., and soon after to Liberty, Mo., where he attended William Jewell Col- lege for the next four years. For two years more, he read law with Merriman & Paxton, at Platte City, Mo. Was soon after admitted to the bar, and practiced at Liberty. In 1870, he came to Colorado and located at Golden, where he practiced for five years, then went to Georgetown. He next moved to Leadville, in the spring of 1879, where he has successfully practiced his profession. He is a gentleman of untiring efforts, is well versed in the prac- tice of law, and has held numerous positions of trust and responsibility. He was the Crim-

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inal Judge of the city of Liberty, Mo., when but a boy; has held the position of the Dis- trict Attorney for the First Judicial District, of Colorado; was a member of the Constitu- tional Convention, of Colorado, in 1876; was twice elected County Attorney, of Jefferson County, City Attorney of Georgetown, and is now County Attorney of Lake County, a posi- tion to which he was appointed, in the fall of 1880, by the County Commissioners, and re- appointed, in the spring of 1881, to hold for one year. Such positions are of themselves sufficient attestation of Mr. White's ability and success as a lawyer.

EDMUND H. WATSON.

During Mr. Watson's sojourn in Leadville, since the winter of 1878, he has seen none other than official life, for shortly after his arrival here, he was appointed Deputy Sher- iff by Mr. Tucker, and acted as Under Sheriff. The night that Frodsham and Stewart were lynched, Mr. Watson was acting Sheriff, and the Vigilantes captured him when he was on his way to his cabin. He was elected Mar- shal of Leadville, in the spring of 1880, and served one term; he was appointed City Col- lector, in the spring of 1881. During the time that martial law prevailed in Leadville, in the spring of 1880, Mr. Watson was a Lieutenant General and an officer of the Pro- vost Guard. He has made a brave and ready officer at all times, when necessity demanded. He was born at Portland, Me., November 28, 1846; received a common school education and entered the army, in 1861. After three years' service, he was mustered out, and re- turned to his old home, in Maine. He was one of the so-called famous Neal Dow liquor Sheriffs, of Maine, in 1876, which office he held until the time of his coming in Colorado.

J. W. WIST.

Mr. Wist is a member of the dry goods house of Boesch & Wist, who have done bus- iness on Chestnut street, in Leadville, since July, 1878. He was born in Hamburg, Ger- many, in 1855; received a common school education, and came to this country in 1873. He located in St. Louis, and engaged success- fully in the grain business. He arrived in

Leadville in 1878. He is largely interested in mining, and is the owner of some very promising properties, situated in the Ten Mile District.

JUDGE A. S. WESTON.

There are persons in every community whose names become household words, and Leadville, notwithstanding its recent and un- precedented growth, is no exception. The many thousands of people who flocked there a few years ago, hailing from every section of "the Union, were mostly strangers to one an- other. But as soon as this community was formed, and the city of Leadville arose and was expanding, the names of the men who were fitted to influence, sway and lead this people, became familiar. Among the few who have attained to such honor in Leadville, there is not one whose name is more esteemed than that of Judge A. S. Weston. The sub- ject of this sketch was born in Skowhegan, Me., on the 22d day of July, 1828. He re- ceived a good common school education in his native town. Afterward he attended the Bloomfield Academy. In the year 1845, at the age of seventeen, he settled in Wisconsin and engaged in the lumber business; after a sojourn of eight years in that State, he re- turned, in the year 1853, to Maine, and there engaged in the lumber business with his fa- ther. Again, in the year 1858, he left his native State, on account of failing health, and settled in the town of Sumner, Kan. The Pike's Peak excitement breaking out the fol- lowing year, he set out for that supposed El Dorado, but returned, in the fall, to Sumner, Kan. The following spring he removed from Kansas, and conveyed his family across the plains with an ox-team, and arrived in Califor- nia Gulch on the 14th day of July, 1860, and there, and in that vicinity, he has lived ever since. During the first eleven years after his arrival in California Gulch, he devoted his time to mining. In the year 1871, he removed to his ranch, seven miles below Leadville. In 1872, he was admitted to practice as an attor- ney at law, in the courts of the Territory, and, for a number of years, he was the only prac- ticing attorney in the county of Lake. When Leadville was beginning to bid fair to be the city she has since become, he removed there

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and opened a law. office. The noble qualities that Judge Weston carried always with him into his business relations, soon acquired for him in the rising city of Leadville, an im- mense practice. The few early settlers that remained in California Gulch, after the ex- citement of 1860, who, by patience and indus- try, disclosed to the world the wondrous car- bonate formation, that underlay the hills ad- jacent to their gulch, were his constant and steadfast friends. To these few pioneers the stranger would naturally turn, when difficulties arose respecting the working of his newly ac- quired mining property and could it be other- wise than that these new-comers, under such circumstances, would be referred to Judge Weston, by his early associates? Judge Wes- ton, if he has not attained that worldly pros- perity that some of his early companions in California Gulch have succeeded to, yet he has acquired that which is more abiding than wealth-a good name. His nomination by his party as a candidate for the State Senate, and his triumphant election, was an evidence of the high estimation in which he is held by his fellow-citizens. While the Democratic party, the opposing one, carried their National ticket, in the county of Lake, by over 400 majority, Weston carried the same county by 117 majority, and thereby polling considera- ble over 500 more votes than his own party's candidate for the Presidency of the nation. This compliment was paid Weston at a National election, when party lines are strongly drawn, but for that fact his majority would have been still more complimentary. Judge Weston occupies a leading position in the I. O. O. F. He and a few kindred spirits kept together a lodge in California Gulch, when there were few persons inhabiting that region of the Rocky Mountains. He is a true and active member of that brotherhood. Many a time has he been known, in the midst of his pressing and lucrative business, to lay it aside, for a little, in order to visit some brother, from a distant lodge, who lay sick and languishing in some cabin in or about Leadville; and numerous as were these ap- peals to Judge Weston, while presiding officer of Chloride Lodge of Leadville, yet they were never known to have been made in vain.

JOSEPH H. WELLS.

Mr. Wells is a man whose high sense of honor with his industry and strict integrity, has won for him a place among the promi- nent men of Colorado. He is one of her pio- neers whose spirit and generous disposition causes him to aspire to something more noble than mere personal gain and in consequence renders him a most valuable citizen. He was born in Bedford, England, January 30, 1842, and received the rudiments of a common school education until eleven years of age, when he came to America, stopping for a short period in New York, he came West to Kansas in 1854 and remained in that then young and growing State until 1860. In the fall of 1860, he came to California Gulch and engaged in mining and prospecting. He joined the Second Colorado Cavalry in 1862, and was in the famous pursuit after Quantrell, the guerilla, through the State of Missouri; also was in the last Price raid in 1864. In 1866, he returned to Colorado and was engaged in placer mining in California Gulch, and has some large interests in several of the leading mines in the vicinity of Leadville. Mr. Wells was elected Clerk and Recorder of. Lake County in 1875, and re-elected in 1877 and 1879. He also was Chairman of the Republican Central Committee for four years. He is married and has one child.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 51

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080