People/prospector, magnate

Winfield Scott Stratton

Winfield Scott Stratton, prospector, magnate, from United States. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

Staked the Independence Mine on 4 July 1891 and became the district's first millionaire.1

Legacy

His Independence strike opened the way for investors such as Count James Pourtales later in 1891.1

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1890 to 1891Cripple Creek gold rush2
Drag to turn the globe

Where next

Sources

  1. Cripple Creek Colorado Encyclopedia
  2. Cripple Creek Colorado Encyclopedia

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).