CHAPTER XIX.Here’s a land where all are equal,Of high and lowly birth;A land where men make millionsDug from the dreary earth.Here the meek and mild-eyed burrosOn mineral mountains feed,It’s day all day in the day-time,And there is no night in Creede.The cliffs are solid silver,With wondrous wealth untold;And the beds of the running riversAre lined with purest gold.While the world is filled with sorrowAnd hearts must break and bleed,It’s day all day in the day-time,And there is no night in Creede.CREEDE CAMP—THE NEW FIELD—INCORPORATION OF THE AMETHYST.
Here’s a land where all are equal,Of high and lowly birth;A land where men make millionsDug from the dreary earth.Here the meek and mild-eyed burrosOn mineral mountains feed,It’s day all day in the day-time,And there is no night in Creede.The cliffs are solid silver,With wondrous wealth untold;And the beds of the running riversAre lined with purest gold.While the world is filled with sorrowAnd hearts must break and bleed,It’s day all day in the day-time,And there is no night in Creede.
Here’s a land where all are equal,Of high and lowly birth;A land where men make millionsDug from the dreary earth.Here the meek and mild-eyed burrosOn mineral mountains feed,It’s day all day in the day-time,And there is no night in Creede.The cliffs are solid silver,With wondrous wealth untold;And the beds of the running riversAre lined with purest gold.While the world is filled with sorrowAnd hearts must break and bleed,It’s day all day in the day-time,And there is no night in Creede.
Here’s a land where all are equal,Of high and lowly birth;A land where men make millionsDug from the dreary earth.Here the meek and mild-eyed burrosOn mineral mountains feed,It’s day all day in the day-time,And there is no night in Creede.
Here’s a land where all are equal,
Of high and lowly birth;
A land where men make millions
Dug from the dreary earth.
Here the meek and mild-eyed burros
On mineral mountains feed,
It’s day all day in the day-time,
And there is no night in Creede.
The cliffs are solid silver,With wondrous wealth untold;And the beds of the running riversAre lined with purest gold.While the world is filled with sorrowAnd hearts must break and bleed,It’s day all day in the day-time,And there is no night in Creede.
The cliffs are solid silver,
With wondrous wealth untold;
And the beds of the running rivers
Are lined with purest gold.
While the world is filled with sorrow
And hearts must break and bleed,
It’s day all day in the day-time,
And there is no night in Creede.
CREEDE CAMP—THE NEW FIELD—INCORPORATION OF THE AMETHYST.
AS manager of the Holy Moses, Captain Campbell employed Mr. Creede, in whom he had implicit confidence, to prospect, on a salary, with the understandingthat the prospector should have one third of what was found. Creede had a world of faith in the country, and had imparted this confidence to the Captain.
An ordinary mortal would have been satisfied with thirty-five thousand dollars, but Creede’s dream had not yet been realized. The prophecy made in his last letter to his old partners had not been fulfilled. He had now enough to keep him when old age should come upon him, and laying his little fortune aside for a rainy day, he started out with the intention of wasting his grub-stake, his salary and his time.
As if he would lose all trace of the Moses vein, he passed over a low divide and began to toil up the steep, densely-wooded side of Bachelor Mountain. How many miles this man had walkedin the wilds of the mountains, alone with Nature and Nature’s God! The frosts of fifty winters have touched his face and there are streaks of gray in his soft, thin hair. At his heels is the faithful dog. He, too, has seen his share of service, and is as gray as his master.
The mountain gets its name from the Bachelor mine which was one of the first discoveries. This claim was located by a Mr. Bennett in the year, 1885. Mr. John Herrick, a jolly bachelor of Denver, formerly of New York, had been pounding away in this claim for several years; but not until the mountain had given up millions to others, did he wrest a fortune from her rugged breast.
Slowly up the mountain-side the lone prospector worked his way. Some float was found and traced along throughthe heavy forest. Now and then the great roots of the pine trees forced some rich-looking rock to the surface, and the prospector was tempted to stop and dig, but the float kept cropping out. There was mineral in that mountain and he would follow the outcropping until it disappeared.
Already the prospector began to dream day-dreams of fortune and fame. Slowly up the mountain he toiled, finding fresh signs of wealth at every step. Once in a while the temptation to stop was so great, that it was almost irresistible; but still he went on. When half-way up the long slope, the outcroppings disappeared and he turned back. His trained eye soon led them to the proper place and before the sun went down that day, Creede had laid the foundation for the fortune of not less than a half dozen people.
Mr. AllenbyMR. ALLENBY,Foreman of the Amethyst.
MR. ALLENBY,Foreman of the Amethyst.
MR. ALLENBY,Foreman of the Amethyst.
The new find was called the Amethyst, and upon this vein are located now the Last Chance, New York Chance, the Bachelor and a number of other valuable claims that are worth, or will be when silver is remonetized, from one to five million dollars apiece.
In May, 1892, the Amethyst Mining Company was incorporated.
Mr. D. H. Moffat was elected president; N. C. Creede, vice-president; Walter S. Cheesman, secretary and treasurer, and Captain L. E. Campbell, general manager. A tramway was built to carry the ore from the mine to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company’s track, which cost the Amethystcompany many thousands of dollars. Splendid shaft and ore houses were built at the mine, making almost a little city where Creede had walked through a wilderness of pines. The Last Chance, adjoining the Amethyst, owned by Senator E. O. Wolcott, and others, spent a fortune in development work; but the mine has yielded millions to its owners. To Mr. Jacob Sanders of Leadville is due the credit for having organized the Last Chance Mining Company, one of the strongest in the camp.
When the news of the incorporation of the Amethyst Mining Company went out to the world, many inquiries were made by brokers for stock; but none was ever offered for sale.
The capital stock, five million dollars, is divided as follows; Mr. Creede owns one third, Mr. Moffat one third, Captain Campbell one sixth, Mr. S. T. Smithand Mr. Cheesman, a twelfth each. When the statement is made that this mine for some time paid a monthly dividend of ninety thousand dollars, it is easy to figure the daily income of any or all of the gentlemen interested in the property. What a striking example for the monometallist who argues that silver can be produced at a profit at the present prices; but it stands as a well-known fact, that, taking the whole output of Creede camp from the date of the discovery of the Amethyst vein to the present time, every ounce of silver that has gone down the Rio Grande has cost the producers more than a dollar.
Of the army of prospectors who lose themselves in the hills every spring, nothing is ever heard, except of the very few who find a fortune. Among the gambling dens in a mining camp, the scores of men who lose from one to one thousanddollars every night keep their own secret; but let one man win a hundred, and you will hear the barber tell the city marshal that “Redy Quartz broke de bank at Banigan’s las’ night, too easy.” Mining and prospecting are only legitimate gambling, and it is the tens of thousands of little losers that keep the game going.
CREEDE’S COTTAGE AT CREEDECREEDE’S COTTAGE AT CREEDE.
CREEDE’S COTTAGE AT CREEDE.
CREEDE’S COTTAGE AT CREEDE.