THE HOLY MOSES--ELIJAH WAS AWKWARD AND HARD TO SPELL--WAGON WHEEL GAP.
Shortly after the abandonment of the claim on Spring Creek, and the
withdrawal of Senator Abbott from the company, Smith and Creede went
over to the head of West Willow. They believed that at that point
they could find an extension of the vein they had been working, and
Creede believes to this day that they did. Here they located a claim.
They were not working together that day and Creede was alone when the
location was made. Many are the stories that have been told as to how
the first mine in the now famous camp of Creede got its name, none of
which are within a mile of the truth.
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Having driven a stake, Creede sat down to think of a name. There was
little or nothing in a name, he thought, but he wanted to please his
partner. He remembered that Smith had named three claims in Monarch,
the “Madonna,” the “Cherubim,” and the “Seraphim,” and he would follow
in that line. Creede was not well versed in Biblical history, so knew
very little of the saints and angels. He looked above where the eagle
flew by the ragged rocks and thought of Elijah; how he hid away in
the hills, and how the ravens came down and fed him. He looked at his
torn and tattered trousers, and thought of Lazarus. Neither of these
names pleased him. Lazarus suggested poverty and Elijah was awkward and
hard to spell. He looked away to the stream below, where the willows
were, and thought of the babe in the bulrushes. He looked at the thick
forest of pine that shaded the gentle slopes, and thought of the man
who walked in the wilderness. And he called the mine the Moses; then
fearing that his partner might object even to that, rubbed it out, and
wrote “Holy Moses.”
The story of the new strike spread like a prairie fire, and soon found
its way to the ears of Mr. D. H. Moffat, then president of the Denver
& Rio Grande Railroad Company, who was always on the lookout for a good
mine. One day in the early autumn of 1890, Mr. Moffat, with a party of
friends, including Mr. Eb Smith, his mining expert, and Capt. L. E.
Campbell, then quartermaster at Fort Logan, set out in the president’s
private car for Wagon Wheel Gap, which was at that time the terminus of
the track. Captain Campbell had turned the traffic of the post to the
“Scenic Line” and in a little while a warm friendship sprang up between
him and the railway management, the result of which has proved very
beneficial to all concerned.
Arriving at Wagon Wheel Gap, the party set out in stages for the Holy
Moses, a distance of ten miles. The road lay along the grassy banks
of the Rio Grande, one of the prettiest streams in the West. A ride
through such a beautiful country could not be tiresome, and before they
began to feel the fatigue of the journey, they reached the claim.
It took but a short time to convince the speculators that the Moses
was good property, and before leaving, a bond was secured at seventy
thousand dollars. Returning to Denver, the property was divided. Mr.
Moffat took one half, the other half being divided between Captain
Campbell, Mr. Eb Smith, Mr. S. T. Smith, who was then general manager
of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company, and Mr. Walter S.
Cheesman, at that time a director, each paying in proportion to what he
got. Most of the men interested in this new venture were very busy, and
they were at a loss to know what to do for a reliable man to manage
the property. About that time Captain Campbell secured a year’s leave
of absence from the army and took up his residence at the new camp. A
comfortable cottage was built in the beautiful valley, just where the
West Willow pours her crystal flood into the Rio Grande, and here the
Campbells had their home. Mrs. Campbell, who is a niece of Mrs. General
Grant, had lived many years in Washington, but she appeared as much at
home in Creede camp as she did in the Capital.