Interesting Story of a Young Tenderfoot
Who Won Fortune, Fame, and Political
Honors in the West.
Edward O. Wolcott, the late Senator from Colorado, was one of the young
Eastern men who set out, shortly after the Civil War, to explore the
resources of the West.
For a time the struggle to make a living was a difficult one; but, quick
to realize the low value that the pioneers placed upon Puritan ancestry
and a collegiate education, he became successively a bank clerk, ticket
seller for a theatrical company, and railroad employee, until he drifted
to the small mining town of Georgetown, in the heart of the Colorado
Rockies. There, at last, the reputation of "having an education" proved
useful. The position of schoolmaster was offered to Mr. Wolcott and was
accepted.
Gradually the city of Denver began to hear of the schoolmaster of
Georgetown. His name was encountered frequently in the records as the
possessor of various mining interests--oftentimes deeded to him for legal
services in lieu of money consideration. Everything he touched seemed to
pan out rich; and this brought him followers as adventurous as himself and
ready to back his judgment with cash.
Finally, in 1890, two prospectors having exhausted their grubstake were
returning wearily over the hills of Creede, when during a brief halt one
of their burros wandered off to prospect for himself. After a long search,
one of the prospectors found the animal standing in front of a large
boulder. In telling the story afterward, the prospector never could tell
whether the seemingly hypnotized gaze of the burro or something peculiar
in the appearance of the outcrop attracted his attention; but he recalled
with little difficulty that, after chipping off a few chunks from the
ledge with a hammer and minutely examining them, he set rough stakes in
short order.
The following day, provided with assay certificates showing very rich
results, the miners sought the schoolmaster and offered to sell him a
large interest in their discovery for a small amount of development money.
Always a man quick to clinch his opportunities, Wolcott put the money up
on the spot. In six months' time "The Last Chance Silver Mine" repaid its
outlay, and later yielded to him a couple of millions more.