Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1915 — Page 2

HE COULD NOT DODGE FORTUNE

How Stratton Became One of the Great Millionaires of the West UNLUCKIEST OF PROSPECTORS His Mins Wss • Joke in Colorado for Years, Until Hs Found ths Trunk Vain and Sold for $15^)00,000, By RICHARD SPILLANE. (Copyright, McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) Fortune forces itself on some men no matter how they dodge. It was so with Stratton. Out in Colorado he was a joke for years. He wandered about the hills prospecting whenever he had grub enough for a trip and, when his supplies ran low, or winter overtook him, he went to work at the one thing for which he was fitted — carpentering. He could use a plane or a saw as well as any ordinary jour* neyman and might- have settled down in Gunnison, Buena Vista, Ouray, LeadviUe, or any one of a dozen towns, and made a comfortable living. Re had the lust of gold, however, and no matter how bitter his experience, or how many times he determined to abandon his wanderings, each spring brought back the fever. Surely he had reason to know his limitations as a prospector. Several times he went over ground which to him gave little or no promise. Other men came along a year or two later, saw what he couldn’t see, located elsfms and developed fairly good mines. His ill luck was proverbial. Those wbd knew the things he missed used to say he would not know a gold mine if he tumbled into one. Stratton was forty-eight, gray, a btt rheumatic and altogether down on his luck, when one July 3 he spread his blankets on the ground and prepared to sleep on the hlllaide six miles from Cripple Creek. He could see the lights of the camp in the distance. They spoke to him of companionship, merrymaking and something better to eat than he had been having for many daysj He had hoped to make the creek that night, but had stumbled and fallen, and had gone a bit lame. He didn’t have pony or burro—nothing but his pick, his blankets, a little grub and a few cooking utensils. When Stratton awoke co the morning of July 4. his leg ached so much that he didn’t think It would be wise to tramp to town burdened with his pack. He had said a few harsh things the night before about his ill luck and he repeated them with interest in the morning. After breakfast he moved around a bit, lust to take some of the stiffness out of his leg.

Uoca*ed Two Claims. Naturally, aa a prospector, he examined the ground. He didn’t see anything promising. There was a streak of prudence in the man. however. and, knowing that some good strikes had been made at Cripple Creek: he thought he might as well locate a claim or two right there where he was laid up. He did sd. As a patriotic American and in respect to the day, he named one of his claims George Washington and the other Independence. The next day his leg was better and he paddled along to Cripple Creek. The camp was bustling. Stratton had no trouble In getting a job. He did a little carpentering and a little mining. He got good pay, especially as a carpenter, for the little camp was growing. New strikes were being made, and there was an urgent demand for buildings. After a while there came a lull. Stratton, who didn’t have a lazy bone in his body, went back to the hill and did just enough work to held the two claims he had located. In doing this assessment work, he ran across a little vein of silver. It was so very thin that it didn’t amount to much more than a basis for him to have hope. He tried to follow it, but it ran out. In another place he encountered a vein of gold. That, too, was very thin. In many Instances the bodies of precious metals that are in the earth are fashioned after the forms of trees. There is one main body like

the trunk. Then there are a lot of branches.. Prom these branches there are stringers. Usually the trunk is deep in the earth. Generally the branches spread out over a wide stretch of territory. In the majority of cases, It is one of the stringers, or small veins, that a miner runs on in his work near the surface. He fol-. lows this stringer, or vein, in the hope of finding the trunk. His quest of the trunk would be comparatively easy but for the fact that these trees of ore are broken in many places. These breaks are called faults. In a convulsion of nature, the great tree was shattered. A branch was thrown here, a stringer there, and maybe the trunk itself ripped apart. Sometimes thefault only extends for a few feet. Sometimes it extends for hundreds or maybe thpusands of feet. When a miner runs on to a stringer and is abb** to follow it to the branch and runs along the branch until he finds the trank, he has a bonanza. What Stratton had come across was a stringer from the tip of a branch. Veins Seemed to Pit sr Out. The carpenter forked on his mine n _at. streaks of gold

and silver were little more than threads. Occasionally, when he could afford it, he had an assay mads The report was not reassuring. Once he got out as much as a carload of ora. This didn't bring him a day’s wages. Then Instead of widening, the little veins of metal seemed to peter out the deeper he went Stratton worked for several months and then became convinced that the mine was of no account, or at least no account for a man who didn't have enough money to carry the shaft deeper into the earth than he could afford. He was about at tbe end of his resources. He bad to earn some money to pay debts he bad contracted and pay for bis daily fare. He did a little carpentering and Worked as a day laborer in other mines. Meanwhile he looked around to find some one to whom he could sell his hole in the ground. No one had much confidence in his property, but there is nothing like perseverance, and after a. weary search he finally dug up a person who agreed to pay 3500 for the two claims. The purchaser was very careful. He didn’t mean to get stung. He paid SIOO down and agreed to pay tbe other S4OO six months later. If the mine was all right, he was safe. If it wasn’t, all he could lose would be the SIOO and the work he put in. Stratton was very happy when he got that SIOO. It was a lot of money just then. The purchaser of the Stratton claims was not so happy. He proceeded to get what stuff he could out of the mine. He didn't get much. If he worked 24 hours a day he might get enough gold or silver to pay for one good meal, but not much more. He waa a dogged sort of individual and the more he thought about that SIOO of his good money that had gone

to Stratton, the harder he labored to get even. But it was no use. When the six months were up and Stratton called on him to produce the other four hundred, the man was angry enough to fight. He said he wouldn’t give four cents for a quit claim deed to the properties. Stratton offered to compromise, but there was no compromise possible. Reluctantly Stratton had to take the mine back. Stratton let the mine lie idle for eight or nine months, and then, having nothing better to do, he went back and worked it. He could just get out about enough to make him hopeful at times, but not enough to live on. Every time he found a stranger tfi Cripple Creek who was a likely candidate to buy a hole in the ground, Stratton went after him. He landed one person after , a long effort and managed to close a deal with him that seemed heavenly to Stratton. The stranger agreed to, take the mine for $2,000. He was to pay $250 down and $1,750 at the end of the year. This second purchaser did some earnest work. He had a fair amount of money and spent several thousand dollars in extending the shaft and opening the thing up. It was no use. The ore he got didn’t pay expenses. The threads didn’t widen beyond threads. There was only a streak of metal to be found and the outlook was hopeless. His year rolled around and when- the time came for him to pay the $1,750 he told Stratton to go hang. By this time the Stratton mine was a camp joke. Some of the old-timers qsed to say that at the rate Stratton was going he would make a good living. ' ■

Sold for the Third Time.

Stratton had been ridiculed for so many years that 'he was becoming used to it. He went back to his mine the following spring and took np the work where the second purchaser had left off. He hadn’t been at the job more than a month or two when the thread of gold suddenly widened into a pocket. It looked at first as if he had struck a branch, a big branch, of the tree of ore. There was some excitement when the news got out that Stratton, poor old Stratton they had laughed about so much, had really struck it rich. Men went up and looked - at- thet ore

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER, IND.

nodded their heads significantly. It looked good to them Stratton didn’t have to go hunting easy marks now to purchase or lease hia property. Experienced miners and men with money came after him. -They knew the hazards and the possibilities of the game. One of them, Bill Parish, offered $50,000 to Stratton. As usual this was not to be all cash. There was to be an initial payment of $5,000 and $45,000 was to be paid at the end of the year. Stratton accepted. He couldn’t lose either way. He had the laugh on the jokers who had been talking so much about him. ‘the $5,000 real money and the possibility of getting forty-five thousand more, made him feel almost plutocratic. Parish and his associates got cold feet in short order. The body of the ore they had been so much impressed by dribbled out to nothing. They were fully satisfied their $5,000 was lost. They were fully satisfied, too, that the mine was a bad property. They did some inconsequential work for the full 12 months, but the further they went in extending the mine, the poorer was the return in ore. Back to Stratton went the title to the mine when the year was up. Once more the jokers had an inning. They used to sing a song in Cripple Creek that was a parody on “The Cat Came Back." It wasn’t a Sunday school hymn by any means. That mine had been pretty good to Stratton. It had brought $5,350 in real money. There was no telling mow much more might come his way. It’s no wonder, therefore, that he went back to it He switched, however, in regard to his operation. He had been working the Independence claim. When he back he began working the George Washington. He made some money out of this, not enough

He Encountered a Vein of Gold.

to thrill him, but enough to pay expenses for a season. Then the ore ran poor again. The following year he decided the George Washington wasn’t of much account, so he returned to the Independence. Suddenly Struck the Trunk. He plugged away all season at the Independence, occasionally running on a little vein of gold, profitable ore, and then having: it lose Itself on him. He just about made expenses. He had his eyes open all the time for a purchaser. The purchasers were rather shy, however. Too many had been stung. The Independence and the George Washington had bad names. If Stratton had offered to sell the two properties outright for $2,000 it’s doubtful whether he could have found a purchaser. That was the condition when Stratton suddenly came on the trunk of that tree. It was rich ore. Within a few days the strike was known throughout America. Stratton no longer was a jbke. He had no trouble in getting money. He could take it right out of the ground. The more development he made the richer became the prospects. Day after day the trunk widened. Mining experts from all over the world came to see the property. All sorts of propositions were made to Stratton for the purchase of his holdings. He was pretty shrewd. He carried , his development along until he had eight or ten million dollars in ore in sight. Then he sold out for $15,000,000. There was no string tied to this amount. He had to get the money and he got it. He had been seven years selling that mine and he had gofcrqd of it three times before he finally sold it for good and for all.

That 000,000 made Stratton one of the great millionaires of the West. His home at Colorado Springs became a show place of Colorado. The Independence mifie is one of the richest the Cripple Creek region has known. Stratton has been dead some years and he will go down in history as a miner, his name linked with the Independence. Nine men out of ten who knew him intimately will declare he was a better carpenter than a miner, and that his case was simply an Instance of a man's inability to avoid a fortune when it"is his destiny to hare. nna mm# tn htmr" •

MAKE-UP OF A HORSE

Interesting Experiment Twenty-one Animals.

Data in Regard to Efficiency of Thraa Different Rations for Fattening Purpose*—Weight Not Controlling Factor in Making Gains.

(By W. A. COCHEL.)

The ability of a horse to lay on- flesh is largely a matter of individuality controlled by disposition, temperament, age, condition, digestive capacity and type. A most interesting experiment was made, with 21 horses, to obtain data in regard to the efficiency of three different rations for fattening purposes. The point to be discussed in this article, however, is merely that of the changes in form due to fattening. The average gains made by horses weighing over 1,450 pounds at the beginning of the experiment were practically the same as those of lighter horses, which would seem to indicate that weight is not a controlling factor in making gains. Mature horses, six or seven years of age, made more satisfactory gains than those four to five years of age. A record of the outline ,of the chest and of the middle of the paunch of each horse was made at the beginning and close of the experiment by means of an adjustable chain, for. the purpose of determining where the fat was placed on the body. Results showed that there was little change in depth of body, especially at the heart girth, but there was an apparent improvement in the spring of rib and a very material increase in the width of body throughout. It would seem from the facts obtained that the greatest change in form due to the fattening process is noted in those parts of the body where there is the heaviest covering of muscle and that in those regions where there is

No. I—Showing Average Line of Chest for Twenty Draft Horses at Beginning and Close of Experiment, No. 2—Showing the Average Outline at Middle of Paunch for Twenty Draft Horses at Beginning and Close of Experiment. little muscle the changes were insignificant. One very marked change in the form of the chest is noted in the location of the point of greatest width, which is nearly two Inches higher in the fat animal than one in thin condition. Theue is a smoothness in outline and rptundity of form after fattening whiohi is entirely absent before the finishing process is started. In the outlines of the middle x of paunch of thin horses there is a flattened appearance above the median, while the same measurements after fattening result in almost a perfect circle. While there is some change in the lower half of the middle girth, the greater change in the upper half eliminates from the jiat animal that degree of paunchiness ■frhich is displeasing and adds very much to the neatness of the individual. As a few of the horses used in the experiment were kept at heavy work immediately after the close of the experiment, it is interesting to note that as they lost in weight and condition they assumed a form similar to that which they had before the fattening period. These changes are so striking as to need little or no comment, but show that the horse at hard work may not only utilize his daily rations for the production of work but may draw upon the reserve energy which is stored up in the form of fat on his body. While additional data should be secured along these lines before final conclusions are made, the results here presented seem to indicate that the greatest change in fattening horses is one of width rather than depth, that

Changes in Cross Section of Chest of One Horse From Beginning of Experiment to Close, and After Six Months’ Hard Work. No. I—Horse at Beginning. No. 2—Horse at Close. No. 3—After Six Months’ Hard Work. \ . ... the smoothness, symmetry and general appearance are greatly improved by the “rounding out” process due to deposit of fat within the muscles, and. that the form of the, individual horse is largely a matter of condition, while the type is almost Entirely due to breeding.

Corn Is Fattening.

Professor Wilson of the department of agriculture says it has been dearly proved by experiment that corn should not form a very large proportion of the grain ration for laying hens. It is too fattening, especially for hens kept in. confinement ps-jgg

PICKED UP ABOUT THE FARM

When There Is Any Driving to Be Done Farmer Bhould Do It-^-Pna-ture the Sore-Footed Horse. (By E. L. VINCENT.) Sometimes we hear farmers say they are driven by their work. If there is any driving done on the farm the farmer should be the one to do it. Drive, not be driven. Just as easy, and a great deal more satisfaction In it I had an old horse a few years ago that was quite flat footed. His feet got real sore and tender when on the road.” After haying and harvesting one year I took his shoes off and turned him out in the pasture. It was better than medicine for him. He really renewed his youth. Try it with your horses troubled that way. Hold on! Don’t you know that pouring potatoes into a bin, letting them drop several feet, will bruise them so that they will be far more apt to decay? Pour them in carefully. It hard work to grow the crop. Don’t waste it by carelessness at the last end. Clean out the well before the winter rains come. Do it thoroughly, too. The harness looks like sixty, somehow. When did you clean it? Take some rainy day and get at that You will feel a great deal better about it than you do now, I am sure. Every fanner ought to have an honest pride about his appearance, not only away from home but when about his work from day to day. How about that note? Going to pay it off this fall? Hope you can. It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “Ruin rides on debt’s back.” Some of us need to keep in the saddle ourselves to keep the Old Fellow off. Pay off as fast as you can. Round up the season by doing a little more than you planned last spring toward making the farm better.

GROWING ALFALFA IN NORTH

Recognized as Having Higher Feeding Value Than Clover and Could Be Made Part of Rotations. (By A. ARNT.) In red clover, alfalfa has a rival in many parts of the north. Here red clover luxuriates on a soil to which it seems especially adapted and which, while sharing with alfalfa the capacity for supplying nitrogen, both as a fertilizer to the soil and as a nutritive element in feed lacking in other field crops, has also shown greater endurance under the trying conditions of climate than have some of the strains of alfalfa that have been sown in the north. Alfalfa, however, is recognized as having a higher feeding value than clover. Could it, therefore, be made a part of ordinary rotations, it might be given a preference. On small farms, or on any farms intensively cultivated.

Alfalfa Leaves.

its value as a nitrogenous food —superior to clover —and the greater certainty of a crop when once fairly started, make it desirable that it should at least be tested in a small way. The longer life of an alfalfa meadow, as compared to one of clover, will often make it a most valuable adjunct to the farm. Success in handling the crop in a small way, supplemented by the knowledge thus acquired of the conditions making for such success, will afford the best guarantee against failure should it later be determined to devote to alfalfa a larger number of acres. Any good corn land —any land not too wet to grow red clover —should produce alfalfa as well. An abundance of vegetable matter in the soil is essential, and so also is good drainage, such as will prevent water from standing long, on the surface in low places, in winter, in spring, or after summer rains. The' water level in the soil should not be nearer than seven or eight feet from the surface.

Best Roughage for Calves.

Good clover or alfalfa hay undoubtedly makes the best roughness there is for young calves. When taken from pasture‘they, as well as their mothers, need extra good care and feed to save a shrink, and even then they are likely to fall away some the first 30 days. With good clover or alfalfa, however, they will come out all right in" the spring. A warm shelter helps, too.

Feed the Scraps.

The waste from growing crops, the grain scattered at harvest time, the litter from the barnyard at feeding time, the scraps from tne family table and the bugs and worms in the grass —all these will go far to maintain a sizable flock of poultry, sd that the outgo will scarcely be noticed.

Best Layers.

It is true that old hens lay fewer eggs than do pullets, but some old hens are better layers are some •' .. ' - - ' yf

Popular Objections and How to Meet Them

By REV. HOWARD W. POPE

ff-nrTTfir- J i ** J — «- naJ-

TEXT—When I have a more convenient season. I wM call for thee.—Acts 24:25.

When a man says: “I have no time for religion,” it means that he is not

belong almost wholly to the laboring olnan, and whose time is not their own, as a rule, are the most regular churchgoers in the community. The fact 1b that people find time for what they consider important.

I know a young man who wished to attend a certain series of meetings. The factory where he was employed was running and every man was expected to work overtime for a few weeks during the bufey season, for which of course, they received extra pay. He was not a Christian, but he went to his employer and asked to be excused from working evenings for a week, and he also went without his supper each night in order to attend the services. Very soon he gave his heart to God, and before the end of the week he had the pleasure of seeing his brother converted. Not the Real Reason. When one offers the lack of time as an excuse for not being a Christian, it is well to show him by some simple illustration that this is not the real reason. Say to him, “If, in addition to your regular work, you had an opportunity to earn ten dollars each week by one hour of extra work, would you accept the offer?” He-will doubtless answer, “I think I would.” “In other words, if you want time for something extra, you manage to find it. You see, my friend, the simple fact is that you do not feel the need of salvation, and you are not Interested in it. You are in the condition described In Ephesians 4:18, ‘Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the. ignorance that is in them, b§cause "of the hardening of their heart.’ Why not face the fact, disagreeable as it may be, and when people ask you why you are not a Christian, give them the real reasgn instead of offering a false one?* And furthermore, it is well to remember that if you do not take time to consider this question of salvation, you will soon lose your capacity to know God, and will be in the condition described in the nineteenth verse ol the same chapter, ‘Who being past feeling,’ gave themselves up to all manner of sin.” - “I Will Think About It." There are some minds which mature very slowly, and if one really has never considered what is involved itj becoming a-Christian, it may be well to give him a little time for reflection. As a rule, however, this excuse is only another way of saying, “Not now.” We should show the person that already he has all the information he needs for an intelligent decision, and Chat if he waited a dozen years he would not be "any better prepared, but on the contrary, he would be less disposed to decide than now.

There are only two things that he needs to know —that he is lost, and that Christ is the only Savior. These two things he knows already, and all that remains for him to do is to accept Christ as bis Savior. Show him that continual thinking on the subject will not make the decision an} easier, but continual rejection of Christ will surely make it harder. It is a great mistake for people to think that they can be saved when they please. The only time when a man can be saved is when God chooses to save him, and God’s time is now; “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” No one has a right to say that he wIH think it over and decide when he is ready. God calle-for immediate decision; he commands ub to lay down the weapons of our rebellion, and surrender unconditionally. When Mr. Moody was holding meetings in Hartford, Conn., many years ago, he urged a man one night to accept Christ at once. Finally the man replied, “Well. Mr. Moody, I will promise you this: I will attend the meeting tomorrow night and I will accept Christ as my Savior then.” That man never reached his home alive. The train on which he traveled ran. off a bridge at Tariffville and many lost their lives, and among them was this man. j "That ex>erienee,” said Mr. Moody, me a lesson, never to let any one off with a promise, but to press them hard for an Immediate decision, and If that failed, to ghow step the peril of .even a

interested. He has all the time there is, and if he considered his salvation a matter of much importance, he would take time for it. He may be so crowded with business and home cares that he cannot attend meetings, but that need not prevent him from being a Christian. Our Roman Catholic friends, who