Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill

About this property

Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill is a historic gold mining site near Victor, Colorado on the south slope of Battle Mountain. Between late 1893 and April 1899, approximately 200,000 ounces (6200 kg) of gold was removed from the Independence Mine. In the spring of 1891 W. S. Stratton persuaded Leslie Popejoy to grubstake him in the Cripple Creek District in return for half the profits. Stratton staked two claims on the south slope of Battle Mountain on July 4, 1891. He called the two claims the Independence and the Washington in honor of the holiday. Stratton quickly sold his house and two lots, one in Denver and one in Colorado Springs, so that he could buy out Popejoy's share. His reason: some assays from the Independence lode showed a value of $380 per ton gold. One boulder from the Independence mine brought $60,000, which Stratton used to sink a chute. In doing so he tapped directly into a rich vein. The next year, in 1892, Stratton also hit gold in the Washington mine. Stratton became the Cripple Creek District's first millionaire. When Cripple Creek miners went on strike in 1894, Stratton's Independence mine and the Portland mine came to an agreement with them, against the wishes of other mine owners. Stratton had incorporated the Portland company and was its first president and largest stockholder. Stratton developed a theory that the gold veins in the Cripple Creek District converged at a great depth, roughly in the shape of a goblet. This theory did not pan out, however. The mining companies became concerned about ore theft, and in 1897 they began hiring the services of Pinkerton agents. In 1900 Stratton sold the Independence mine to the Venture Corporation of London for $10 million. The Venture Corporation incorporated the property as Stratton's Independence Ltd and sold shares on the London stock exchange. The ore reserves were discovered to be less than previously thought in late 1900, and the share price crashed. Venture Corporation sued Stratton, claiming that the mine had been salted. Stratton died in 1902, but his estate defeated the lawsuit. In May 1900, two Western Federation of Miners (WFM) union representatives checked for union membership cards at the Independence mine. Approximately a hundred miners belonged to the union, and six or eight did not. One of the union representatives talked to the miners, who echoed the union rep's view that they would prefer not to work alongside non-union workers. Mine Superintendent Summers talked the non-union men into joining the union in order to promote harmony in the workforce. In September 1900, the Independence mine was the first mine in the district to introduce a new stripping order requiring all underground workers to undress in one room of a change house and walk into another room in the nude while a guard observed. This was to take place at start and end of each shift. The new rule was implemented to prevent high grading (theft of gold ore) by the mine workers.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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