Editing Winfield Scott Stratton

{{short description|American prospector and philanthropist from Colorado}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Winfield Scott Stratton
|image         = WSStratton 11008875.jpg
|caption       = Stratton, 1901
|birth_date={{birth date|1848|7|22|mf=y}}
|birth_place=[[Jeffersonville, Indiana]], US
|death_date={{death date and age|1902|9|14|1848|7|22|mf=y}}
|death_place=[[Colorado Springs, Colorado]], US
|occupation    = Prospector, philanthropist
|known_for     = First millionaire from the [[Cripple Creek Mining District]] boom
|spouse        = Zeurah Stewart (divorced)
|relatives     = 1
}}

'''Winfield Scott Stratton''' (July 22, 1848 – September 14, 1902) was an American [[Prospecting|prospector]], [[capitalism|capitalist]], and [[philanthropist]]. He discovered the [[Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill|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 ==
On July 22, 1848, Stratton was born in [[Jeffersonville, Indiana]]. Stratton's parents were Mary and Myron Stratton.<ref name="Carpenter">{{Cite web   |url=https://gazette.com/news/stratton-a-reluctant-millionaire-left-his-mark-on-colorado-springs/article_a39c2acb-c33c-5c45-9fdd-49c60992dafe.html |title=Stratton, a reluctant millionaire, left his mark on Colorado Springs |website=gazette.com |last=Carpenter |first=Lisa |date=March 29, 2009 |access-date=February 28, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Stratton is a descendant from the [[Windsor, Connecticut]] line of the Stratton family.<ref name="HRS">Stratton, Harriet Russell. A Book of Strattons: A Collection of the Records of the Descendants of the Early Colonial Strattons in America from the Fifth Generation to the Present Day. New York: Frederick H. Hitchcock, Genealogical Publishers, 1918. Vol. II, Pp. 321 – 340.</ref> Stratton's mother had twelve children; of four boys, he is said to be the only one who lived beyond childhood.<ref name="Fisher" /> In 1860, Mary and Myron had nine children aged from 22 years to six months of age: Diantha, Harriet, Anna, Winfield, Mary, Virginia, Luella, Jesse and Ada. Stratton was the only male child at that time.<ref>{{citation|title=Winfield Stratton, age 11, Jeffersonville, Indiana, son of Myron and Mary Stratton |work=1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.}}</ref>

== Education ==
Stratton learned carpentry in his father's shipyards.<ref name="PPLD bio">{{Cite web |url=https://ppld.org/sites/default/files/kids/biographies/WinfieldScottStratton.pdf |title=Winfield Scott Stratton 1848 - 1902 |website=Pikes Peak Library District |access-date=February 9, 2020}}</ref> After he moved to Colorado, he studied geology at [[Colorado College]] and studied [[metallurgy]] at the [[Colorado School of Mines]] in 1874.<ref name="PPLD bio" />

==Career==
In August 1872, Stratton worked as a carpenter for $3 a day in [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]] area. Stratton joined the Carpenter's Union, and built furniture and homes during the winter, including working on the house of [[Helen Hunt Jackson]] and the [[McAllister House (Colorado Springs, Colorado)|McAllister House]].<ref name="Carpenter"/><ref name="PPLD bio" /><ref name="Beyond Recovery">{{Cite news |url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=TTJ19020911.2.38&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%257ctxCO%257ctxTA--------0-- |title=The Picturesque Colorado Springs Millionaire Thought To Be Ill Beyond Recovery |date=September 11, 1902 |work=Telluride Journal — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection |access-date=February 9, 2020}}</ref>

In 1874, he began prospecting for gold and silver in the summers.<ref name="Carpenter" /><ref name="PPLD bio" /> He was unsuccessful in [[San Juan County, Colorado]], but he started prospecting in the [[Cripple Creek Mining District]] and located the Martha Washington mine, which he sold for $80,000.<ref name="Beyond Recovery" />

[[File:IndependenceMine Stone347.jpg|thumb|left|[[Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill]]]]
Stratton filed a claim for the [[Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill|Independence mine]] in [[Cripple Creek, Colorado]] on July 4, 1891.<ref name="PPLD bio" /> He used the money from the sale of the Martha Washington mine to work the Independence Mine.<ref name="Beyond Recovery" /> He found a gold vein close to the surface worth $3 million in 1893. He earned an average of $1 million each year until 1899,<ref name="PPLD bio" /> which made him the first millionaire of the [[Cripple Creek Gold Rush]].<ref name="Carpenter" />

In 1899, Stratton sold [[Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill|Independence mine]] for $11 million.<ref name="Carpenter"/><ref name="PPLD bio" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Spence |first=Clark C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1JEmNRvTzQC&pg=PA28 |title=British Investments and the American Mining Frontier, 1860-1901 |date=2000 |access-date=February 9, 2020 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |language=en |isbn=978-0-415-19009-1}}</ref>

Stratton also had an interest in the [[Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill#History|Portland mine]]. Stratton invested in real estate in Denver, Colorado.<ref name="PPLD bio" />

==Philanthropy==
[[File:Colorado Springs City Hall by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|[[Colorado Springs City Hall]]]]
He provided the land to build the [[Colorado Springs City Hall]], Mining Exchange building, and [[United States Post Office and Federal Courthouse-Colorado Springs Main|Post Office and Federal Courthouse]] in Colorado Springs.<ref name="PPLD bio" /> He donated the money for the construction of the El Paso County Courthouse, which is now the [[Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum|Pioneer Museum]].<ref name="Carpenter" /> He paid for the construction of the Independence Building, where he had an office.<ref name="Carpenter" />

[[File:Colorado Springs & Interurban Railroad car 1907 or 1908.jpg|thumb|left|[[Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway]] car, 1907 or 1908]]
He bought the streetcar system that became the [[Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway]] and spent $2 million improving it so that it had 36 miles of tracks and 56 cars. The line ended in the southwest park of Colorado Springs at [[Stratton Park (Colorado)|Stratton Park]], which Stratton donated to the city. The Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway became one of the best streetcar systems in the country.<ref name="Carpenter" />

The [[Colorado Springs Millionaires]] played at the city's first professional baseball stadium, which was built by Stratton. It was located at the corner of Cheyenne Boulevard and South Tejon.<ref name="Carpenter" /> He donated the money in his estate for the [[Myron Stratton Home]].<ref name="PPLD bio" />

{{blockquote|text=Mr. Stratton had done for this city and the Cripple Creek district very much what Mr. Tabor had earlier done for Denver. His wise and public-spirited use of the money have entitled him to a place in the public remembrance which will endure for many years.|author=Obituary for Stratton, ''The Evening Telegraph'', Colorado Springs, September 15, 1902<ref name="Marold" />}}

He gave money to prospectors or others in need<ref name="PPLD bio" /> and he paid for schooling for a teen who was a talented violinist and provided all the laundresses in the town with bicycles.<ref name="Carpenter" /> After the Cripple Creek fire of 1896, Stratton paid for food and shelter for many left homeless by the fire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karp |first=Larry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDb8CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |title=Brun Campbell: The Original Ragtime Kid |date=2016-03-24 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-6345-6 |pages=51 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noel |first=Thomas J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Qn5CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 |title=Colorado: A Historical Atlas |date=2015-05-29 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-5353-7 |language=en}}</ref> He gave $20,000 to [[Horace A. W. Tabor]] when Tabor was broke.<ref name="PPLD bio" />

==Personal life==
Stratton lived a simple life in a wooden house on Weber Street after he became wealthy.<ref name="PPLD bio" /> He did not seem to have long-lasting relationships with women until he had a short marriage with Zeurah Stewart. She became pregnant before their marriage in 1876. Stratton did not believe that the baby was his child and was often angry and jealous. She returned to her family and the marriage ended.<ref name="PPLD bio" /><ref name="Fisher">{{Cite book |last1=Fisher |first1=Vardis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-sfdSUseN8C&pg=PA375 |title=Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West |last2=Holmes |first2=Opal Laurel |last3=Fisher |first3=Opal Laurel |date=1968 |publisher=Caxton Press |isbn=978-0-87004-043-6 |pages=375 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Fisher" /> He became reclusive and eccentric. He drank and read a great deal, but rarely had guests or went out socially.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Leavitt |first1=Craig |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JaLnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 |title=Herndon Davis: Painting Colorado History, 1901–1962 |last2=Noel |first2=Thomas J. |date=2016-02-15 |publisher=University Press of Colorado |isbn=978-1-60732-420-1 |pages=131 |language=en}}</ref>

Stratton was fond of a quote by [[William Henry Channing]], 19th-century religious thinker and part of the Transcendental movement:<ref name="Marold" />

:To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than
:luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not
:respectable, to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
:to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
:to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry
:never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
:grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

Stratton lived at 115 N. Weber St. in Colorado Springs. He had failing health due to [[cirrhosis]] of the liver and [[diabetes]].<ref name="Marold" /> By the time he was 43, he was tall, thin and frail with silky white hair.<ref name="Fisher" /> His personal physician Dr. D.H. Rice traveled with him on long journeys because of his poor health. He died at his home on September 14, 1902, at 54 years of age. His body was visited by more than 8,600 people at the Mining Exchange Building the day before he was buried in southeastern Colorado Springs at [[Evergreen Cemetery (Colorado Springs, Colorado)|Evergreen Cemetery]].<ref name="Marold">{{Cite news |last=Marold |first=Richard |url=https://gazette.com/woodmenedition/springs-experience-the-death-of-winfield-scott-stratton/article_4bc7915c-c846-11e9-90c8-ff0668af8dd1.html |title=Springs Experience: The death of Winfield Scott Stratton |date=September 17, 2019  |access-date=February 9, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Will">{{Cite news |url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=3394746&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjU3NTMzODQ5LCJpYXQiOjE1ODEyOTUxNzIsImV4cCI6MTU4MTM4MTU3Mn0.scyYEvUVaSgd8QqwrEMAiW9Yzrm2pv9PBXXr4J1XpJo |title=Vast Wealth with Erect and Endow Home for the Poor and Helpless|date=September 25, 1902 |work=The Weekly Gazette at Newspapers.com |access-date=February 9, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>{{efn|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.<ref name="Will" />}}

==Legacy==
[[File:Stratton statue by Walker.jpg|thumb|188px|right|Winfield Scott Stratton Monument by [[Nellie Walker]] ]]
Stratton left the bulk of his estate for the establishment of the [[Myron Stratton Home]], for "the aged poor and dependent children." It is named for his father Myron Stratton.<ref>Stratton, Harriet Russell. A Book of Strattons: A Collection of the Records of the Descendants of the Early Colonial Strattons in America from the Fifth Generation to the Present Day. New York: Frederick H. Hitchcock, Genealogical Publishers, 1918. Vol. II, Pp. 325 – 326.</ref>

A bronze statue of Stratton by [[Nellie Walker]] was placed on the grounds of his estate in 1909.{{efn|The sculptor of the work ended up living at the Myron Stratton Home for the last years of her life.}}

[[File:Stratton-statue2.jpg|thumb|188px|right|Statue of Stratton in downtown Colorado Springs]]
Another casting of Walker's statue of Stratton stands in downtown Colorado Springs.

Stratton was inducted into the [[National Mining Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mininghalloffame.org/inductees?i=54&b=inductees%252Easp&t=n&p=S&s= |title=Inductee Database |website=mininghalloffame.org |access-date=February 9, 2020}}</ref>

In 1967, he was inducted into the [[Hall of Great Westerners]] of the [[National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hall of Great Westerners |url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/hall-of-great-westerners/ |website=National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum |access-date=November 22, 2019}}</ref>

===Places named after Stratton===
*The town of [[Stratton, Colorado]], on the state's eastern plains.
*[[Stratton Park (Colorado)|Stratton Park]], Colorado Springs.
*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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alumnifriends.mines.edu/valued_supporters/giving_societies/default.htm |title=Giving Societies |access-date=2007-02-21 |publisher=Colorado School of Mines}}</ref>
* [[Manitou Mineral Springs|Stratton Spring]]; a mineral spring drilled to a depth of 283 feet completed February 21, 1936 at the loop where the trolleys turned around at 955 Manitou Avenue in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
*Winfield Scott Stratton Post Office in Colorado Springs; named by an act of Congress in 1995; Stratton had sold the land the post office was built on to the federal government at a fraction of its value with the understanding that it would be used for the post office.
*Stratton Elementary School in Colorado Springs.
*Three connected streets in Colorado Springs, named Winfield, Scott, and Stratton streets.

===Popular culture===
The [[actor]] [[Gene Evans]] was cast as Stratton in the 1964 episode, "Sixty-seven Miles of Gold", on the [[Television syndication|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0556735/?ref_=ttep_ep4|title=Sixty-seven Miles of Gold on ''Death Valley Days''|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=September 18, 2018}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Clara Anne |title=A Golden Legacy: Winfield Scott Stratton and the Myron Stratton Home, 1848-1998 |year=1998 |publisher=Myron Stratton Home |location=Colorado Springs |oclc=40555637 }}
*{{cite book |last=Sprague |first=Marshall |author-link=Marshall Sprague|title=The King of Cripple Creek: the Life and Times of Winfield Scott Stratton, First Millionaire from the Cripple Creek Gold Strike |year=1994 |publisher=Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District |location=Colorado Springs |isbn=1-884003-04-4 |oclc=32174323 }}
*{{cite book |last=Strickler |first=David P |title=The Fight for the Stratton Millions |orig-year=1963 |year=1964 |publisher=J.J. Lipsey, Western Books |location=Colorado Springs |oclc=4575871}}
*{{cite book |last=Waters |first=Frank |title=Midas of the Rockies |url=https://archive.org/details/midasofrockiesth00wate |url-access=registration |orig-year=1937 |type=trade paperback |edition=reprint |year=1972 |publisher=Sage Books |location=Chicago |isbn=0-8040-0591-5 |oclc=357334}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[http://www.leadville.com/miningmuseum/inductee.asp?i=54&b=inductees%2Easp&t=y&p=1990&s= Mining Hall of Fame bio]
*[http://www.coloradovacation.com/history/colorado-springs-william-stratton.html ColoradoVacation Biography]
*[http://www.myronstrattonhome.com Myron Stratton Home Website]
* {{Find a Grave|6098}}

{{Mining in Colorado Springs}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stratton, W.S.}}
[[Category:Colorado Mining Boom]]
[[Category:American mining businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:1848 births]]
[[Category:1902 deaths]]
[[Category:American prospectors]]