Guide to the Winfield Scott Stratton Collection at the Western Museum of Mining & Industry April 2021
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Guide to the Winfield Scott Stratton Collection at the Western Museum of Mining & Industry April 2021 Western Museum of Mining & Industry 225 North Gate Boulevard Colorado Springs, CO 80921 719-488-0880 www.wmmi.org 1 The Winfield Scott Stratton Collection is without a doubt one of the most important mining archives in the United States. Stratton was the first millionaire in the Cripple Creek Mining District and proved to be a smart, ambitious head of a company that survived into the 1970s. Winfield Scott Stratton Born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1844, Stratton arrived in Colorado Springs while the future city was yet an infant. A gifted carpenter, Stratton soon earned a comfortable living building houses. He was also interested in mining. Stratton took some courses in basic mining techniques and throughout most summers, roamed the Rockies searching for gold and silver. His efforts were in vain until 1891, when he reached the new Cripple Creek Mining District only two months after the district had been formed. On July 4, 1891, Stratton staked two claims–the Independence and Washington–on the south slope of Battle Mountain. Initial assays showed that there was gold in the Independence, but subsequent assays did not fare as well, so Stratton optioned the mine to another prospector. As he was cleaning out the mine, Stratton discovered that there was a rich vein of ore he had overlooked. He disguised the vein and sweated through the month-long option that was given back to him as worthless. Stratton got to work and within two years the Independence was steadily producing gold that earned him a continuing profit. By mid-1898, Stratton had taken close to $4 million from the Independence. He also owned substantial stock in the adjacent Portland Gold Mining Company and was widely regarded as a shrewd mine owner. In later 1898, one of Stratton’s acquaintances convinced him to listen to an offer from a British firm that wanted to purchase the Independence. After lengthy negotiations, Stratton sold the Independence in May 1899 to the Venture Corporation for $11 million. He received $10 million and Verner Z. Reed, the man who brokered the deal, was rewarded with $1 million for his successful negotiations. By the time Stratton sold the Independence, he had purchased some mines in the district that might prove useful for his plans. Now, with millions in his bank account, Stratton aggressively purchased mines on Bull and Globe Hills. He developed a theory that the veins of gold seemingly pointed to a huge mother lode deep within the district–his now-famous “Bowl of Gold” theory. The mines he purchased had veins that pointed in the same direction where that bonanza might be. In the fall of 1901, Stratton created the Stratton Cripple Creek Mining & Development Company to manage his growing mining empire. However, Stratton died in 1902 and never realized his dream of finding that bowl of gold. His managers continued to develop the best mines in the company but in 1904 decided to lease most of the property and receive royalties. Stratton’s will specified that the bulk of his fortune was to be used to create the Myron Stratton Home. Named after his father, the home would be a haven for orphans and other people unable to care for themselves. Profits from the Stratton CCM&D Company would go to the home. There were 2 numerous attacks on Stratton’s will and the home did not open until 1913. Stratton’s company continued to lease its properties, at first with some success but as time went on the quality and amount of gold ore declined and leasing became more and more difficult. Profits declined during World War I, rose again slightly in the 1920s and 1930s, but World War II spelled the end of any profits. After the war, there were very few leases and the Myron Stratton Home was continually loaning money so that the company could pay its taxes and few employees. The last entries in the cash books of the company date to the mid-1970s. The Stratton Collection The collection of papers was moved several times before being stored in the Myron Stratton Home. As a result, the original order of the collection was lost. In 1997-1998, the Home entered negotiations with both the Western Museum of Mining & Industry and Pioneers Museum in order to donate the Stratton Collection so it could be better cared for. In August 1999, the Home donated Stratton’s mining papers–essentially the records of the Stratton CCM&D Company –to WMMI, with his personal papers and records of the Home going to the Pioneers Museum. In order to process the Stratton Collection, WMMI obtained generous grants from the Home, Gates Family Foundation, and the H. Chase Stone Trust. Sister Sharron Uhler was hired as the archivist in charge of organizing the collection. During the eighteen months that the project lasted, Sister Uhler was assisted by Suzanne Segady, Sister Ann Walter, Sister Mary Jane Vigil, and R. Michael Booker. After Sister Uhler and her team completed work on the collection, a 246-page guide was completed in October 2002. The maps and ledgers were given catalog numbers that began with 1999.30. A few artifacts and some photographs and books were part of this donation; the books were integrated into the museum library while the photographs and artifacts were cataloged. Museum staff and personnel constructed an Archives Room in the museum’s Collections Building to house the Stratton material. The Stratton Collection was consulted by authors of two museum publications, A Concise History of Mine Hoisting from its Earliest Beginnings through Winfield Scott Stratton’s Independence Hoist (2002) and The World’s Greatest Gold Camp: An Introduction to the History of the Cripple Creek & Victor Mining District (2010). Otherwise, the collection seems to have been rarely used by researchers since that time. In the fall of 2012, Dr. Richard A. Sauers became the museum’s director. A professional historian, Sauers soon recognized the importance of the Stratton Collection. He closely examined the collection and realized that it needed to be reorganized to make it more accessible to potential researchers. Since the collection’s initial organization, the museum had received several boxes of additional papers from the Pioneers Museum as that repository organized its own Stratton collection and discovered mining-related documents that were transferred to WMMI. These additional boxes had never been processed and integrated into WMMI’s Stratton Collection. Also, roughly 1,000 Stratton maps had been received at WMMI after 2002; these maps were 3 described on catalog sheets but had not been summarized for inclusion in a future guide. With the assistance of volunteers and interns (Kaitlyn McGann, Elle Markley, Anna Kennedy), Sauers began the task of processing the additional boxes of Stratton papers and deciding where they would go in a newly-reorganized collection. Work on the reorganization intensified in 2019 and was completed in early 2021. This new 311-page guide to the collection is the result. All the maps are included, and each map has a simple, four-line brief description to assist researchers in determining which maps they might want to view in person. Work on the maps was pushed because the geologists at the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company visited the archives in early 2020 and realized that many of the Stratton maps would be useful in their project to create a 3-D underground map of the Cripple Creek Mining District. The company paid to have hundreds of the maps digitized. These maps are marked by asterisks in that section of the guide. Organization of the Collection Series 1: Stratton Cripple Creek Mining & Development Company General Records (1 box) This box includes annual reports, Board of Trustees Minutes, and other records associated with the Stratton CCM&D Company. Correspondence (9 boxes) Included is employee (primarily the lease managers) correspondence, as well as general correspondence that is divided into annual folders, followed by a section of folders containing correspondence from selected individuals and organizations. Insurance and Taxes (2 boxes) The insurance includes employee, liability, fire, and general, together with state and workmen’s compensation insurance. Most of the tax records are for the state of Colorado, with tax-related correspondence at the federal, state, and county levels. Property (1 box) The miscellaneous records here include lease and purchase options for the Stratton estate, property reports, and other related material. Financial Records (29 boxes) Records include Cancelled Checks (12 boxes), Deposit Books (1 box), Checkbook Stubs (8 boxes), Bank Statements & Deposit Slips (1 box), Financial Statements (4 boxes), and Invoices & Vouchers and Payrolls (3 boxes). The most important material here are the four boxes of monthly and annual financial statements that range from 1900-1970. Leasing (12 boxes) Included here are dump permits, lease agreements, lessee ore production statements, 4 prospecting licenses, and lessee reports. The lessee reports are standard Stratton company forms that were filled out by lessees during the years of the leasing program (began in 1904). Ore Processing (19 boxes) This section includes Advice of Shipment records, a standardized form created by the Stratton company; Ore Settlement Reports (forms created by the milling companies that purchased gold); and Ore Shipment Reports, a Stratton company standardized form. Lessee Card Files Included in the donation were two wooden card files that contain cards for lessees of the Stratton property, dated from 1904 to at least 1916. One file is for Globe Hill, the other for Bull Hill. Series 2: General Records Lawsuits (7 boxes) The lawsuits include a large number of suits involving dozens of mining companies, including many non-Stratton companies.