Winfield Scott Stratton

Winfield Scott Stratton (July 22, 1848 – September 14, 1902) was an American prospector, capitalist, and philanthropist. He discovered the Independence Lode near Victor, Colorado on July 4, 1891, and became the Cripple Creek Mining District's first millionaire in 1894. He provided to build buildings, improve the street car system, build the first professional ball park, and provided funds to people in need.

Early life Stratton was born on July 22, 1848, in Jeffersonville, Indiana. His parents name's were Mary and Myron Stratton. Stratton is a descendant from the Windsor, Connecticut line of the Stratton family. Stratton's mother had twelve children; of four boys, he is said to be the only one who lived beyond childhood.

Education Stratton learned carpentry in his father's shipyards. After he moved to Colorado, he studied geology at Colorado College and studied metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines in 1874.

In 1874, he began prospecting for gold and silver in the summers.

Stratton also had an interest in the Portland mine. Stratton invested in real estate in Denver, Colorado. He is said to have written a check for $5,000 to "Crazy Bob" Womack, the prospector who first discovered gold at Cripple, but was down on his luck. He gave $20,000 to Horace A. W. Tabor when Tabor was broke. He had a housekeeper for many years named Eliza, with whom he could be brusque. She was called the "suffering but faithful housekeeper Eliza" in the Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West book.

Stratton was fond of a quote by William Henry Channing, 19th-century religious thinker and part of the Transcendental movement:

When he died, most of his estate went towards the creation and maintenance of the Myron Stratton Home. He did, though leave $50,000 each to his son, Harry Stratton of Toulon, Illinois and other relatives. (There were conditions for the bequest to his son.) If he contests the will, he gets nothing. If he dies, his heirs get nothing. He would not get the money until he signed a waiver that he would not contest the will.

A bronze statue of Stratton by Nellie Walker was placed on the grounds of his estate in 1909.

Another casting of Walker's statue of Stratton stands in downtown Colorado Springs.

Stratton was inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame.

In 1967, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Places named after Stratton Stratton Hall at Colorado School of Mines, completed in 1904, was named after Stratton, who gave the school its first philanthropic gift of $25,000. He had been appointed as a CSM trustee in 1899 and was elected president of the board in 1901.

Popular culture The actor Gene Evans was cast as Stratton in the 1964 episode, "Sixty-seven Miles of Gold", on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days. hosted by Stanley Andrews. James Best and Jack Albertson played Jimmy Burns and Pearlman, respectively. In the story line, Stratton strikes it rich just as he signs over his mining claim to a syndicate.