| Show DENVER june 17 1893 denver is growing like a green bay tree the city a isfalt fast climbing up the hill on which the capitol is built and a score of big bi business blocks have been built within a year new residences and fine ones have covered the hill and this golden city of the has more rich men than ever fortunes are made and lost here quicker than in any other place of this size in the union nearly every one of danvers Den vers bloated bondholders bond holders began life here and on every other street corner you may meet a man out at the elbows who a tew few years ago was rolling in wealth I 1 saw ex senator tabor toda today he had on a new suit of clothes ang and he looks younger by five adte years than he did six months month sago ago this last winter has been a hard one to him he was for fora a time loaded with debt his investments made in flush time did not turn out well and the income of his hip denver property and his mines was scarcely sufficient to keep down the interest he closed his residence here and went into his opera house block to live and the pe people 0 lice began be an to speak of blabas him as poor T tabor a abor just just when the skies were darkest however he sold oue oae of his mexican mines to a scotch syndicate for several million dollars syndicate thas I 1 his has I 1 am told enabled him to release all his property from debt and lie he jis is now on a sound financial basis again he is going to refurnish his opera house and he will live in as good style as ever tabors career would make inake a good sensational novel from the he time he drove a wagon across the plains P bins i and sold flour and bacon and kring frying pans to miners till now it has been full aill of adventures and he has made and lost many millions his divorce is still here and I 1 am told that society has forever shut its doors against him and his wife mrs tabor no i has ar grown own rich and she is worth very nearly a million the property which tabar gave her at the demands of the courts has greatly increased in value she sh has invested her income well and she is rich and respected tabors son majc maxcey is a successful business man aud and he y is fast accumulating a fortune he nia manages nages the brown palace hotel here acre and his wife bif 4 is considered the die most beautiful woman in denver HOW HOV A CARL PENTAR A FORTUNE this hotel is one of the finest buildings it in the union and the story of its construction gives some idea of the ups and downs dowrie of this western country it was built by a man nanie named dHenry henry C brown who began life here as a carpenter and who worked for years ears at regular days wages ha managed to save enough money to buy a tract of acres of land on the cactus hill near the village of Do denver inver and he paid the government overn ment for this per acre the f government Rovern and ind had no water wafer ind and the people all laughed at his folly too denver gradually grew and browns brown s land became valuable for years it was wag all he could do to pay the taxes and he was advised to sell he preferred to starve starve and hold on then the leadville boom came and money flowed into colorado denver prospered and it soon surrounded his farm ten acres of it was bought for the capitol building and the rest was cut up into town lots a and nd u upon port these the finest house houst denver ate are built the result was that brown thade made a fortune and he put something like a million dollars of it into this hotel it has been finished only about a year but I 1 am told that his managers are already making a profit of a month out of it MOFFAT AND HIS MILLIONS david H moffat is another denver millionaire who has had a varied career he began life as a messenger boy bov in the new york exchange bank and he now has a bank of his own here in denver D enver and owns mines and stocks and gold galore he is one of the chief owners of the creed mine and he took hold of the pro property erty which creed discovered and built bui F t a railroad to it he developed the mines so thoroughly that creed is today one of the largest shipping ports in the united states and it is said that the opening of this camp saved the denver and rio grande road from bankruptcy moffat made his first mon money ey in in mining speculations in the 11 li little e pittsburg which netted him a targe large sum his first capital here was made in banking he came from new york to iowa to take a place as teller in a bank in des moines here he attracted the attention of a capitalist who wanted to start a bank in omaha and young moffat was made the cashier of that bank he was in omaha when the pikes peak excitement came on and at that time he came west he speculated here in groceries and other staples which were needed for shipment to the mines and he soon got into banking he is now president of the first national bank of denver and he was acting as such when the famous bank robbery of a few years ago occurred every one remembers the story A man came into moffatt ats private room at the bank and holding up a bottle which he said contained nitroglycerine nitro glycerine said he would blow moffat the bank and himself into eternity if would not write out for him a check for and give him the money for it moffat looked into the mans eye and he thou thought acht he was desperate and to make a long ong story short he walked with him to the cas cashiers hiers desk and gave him the money the man took it and meshed out and though the police were immediately put on his track he escaped I 1 am told that in seeking him they found the bottle which had terrified moffat and this on being analyzed was found to contain nothing but water not long ago a man stepped into moffatt ats private room at the bank and said I 1 mr moffat there comes 0 kaime ti I 1 me in in every man mans s life when hen if Assi assistance Mance is given him he becomes a wealthy man and if refused he becomes a beggar I 1 am in just that sit situation dation 1 I have been in that situation myself replied moffat and mr chaffee made mad e me what I 1 am what at is your proposition if I 1 can help you ou I 1 will the ile man sold his tory story and the result was that moffat staked stake him and made him a fortune THE KOUNTZ BROTHERS among the richest cheit ri bankers in the united states are the kountz brothers they have banks itt in new york omaha and here and their operations extend to all parts of the united states they come I 1 think from eastern ohio originally and they were brought up on a farm where their father had located when he landed in this countr country frota saxony after a tithe time the he father opened a store I 1 think in canton ohio the boys were given a good education they were ere taken into partnership and soon as they ey were grown up were given a small capital and allowed to start out for themselves th they he began their banking business in omak omaha a some time prior to the war and they opened a bank here in 1862 as a branch of the omaha house bouse charley kountz is now the head of the denver bank and he is one of the richest men in colorado he has a beautiful home on capitol hill and he has some of the most beautiful paintings you will find in the west the four kountz brothers have always worked together and I 1 am told that they have shared here alike in all profits luther the third son who first started the bank here died not long ago but the firm continues the same and it grows richer and stronger eat evry ry year TWO PUEBLO NABOBS speaking of brothers borki working 1 n to gether makes me think of two malion millionaires of pueblo these men are not widely known but they are I 1 am told worth somewhere between ten ana and fifty million dollars and they do all their business together they are known throughout the west as the thatcher brothers of pueblo and they are among the rare birds in the aviary of western millionaires mahlon alx D thatcher the younger of the two is as near a human anto automaton maton as a man generally gets his soul is wrapped up in money taking making and he is said sai d to have no more interest in other matters than the proverbial hog has in the sabbath day he reads only railroad reports the stock markets and financial journals and his life is made up in eating working and sleeping he writes all his own letters himself and he knows eve every detail of his vast business and atienz attends to 0 most of them personally he is a man of few warm friendships and no amusements still he is considered one of the ablest financiers of the west he owns bank stock all over the country and he is I 1 am told a director in a dozen different banks john thatcher the elder is a more companionable fellow and though he is said to be a e good business man it is mah mahlon on who manages the property these two men came to colorado poor john thatcher drove an ox team load ot of supplies from denver to pueblo before the civil war and opened a store there he had his own way of doing business his goods were never placed on shelves but they were in a heap op on the floor and about the room and customers went in and picked 1 i aked out what they wanted and asked lohn john the price he always put it high enough but he never changed it if the customer objected the ibe goods wore were simply tossed back into the heap until some other customer came along this went on for some time and then mahlon came out to help his brother lip he brought order out of 0 the chaos and under him th the store began to make money from merchandising they drifted into banking and the store was turned into a hardware shop which s still 11 belongs to the brothers and which makes money they have during their career been very vary careful as to investments avoiding mines and speculations of that nature pueblo has grown from a village to a big city and their property is accumulating g with startling ling rapidity 1 TWO H ICH the cattle kings of the west are found further north than denver ther are ar number of persons who are making a ing botn fortunes IU in sheep shee p and cattle in montana wyoming va and ana the dakotas and the cattle cattie kings of this part of the country have their interests in the south or further north there are two leq in who got into the cattle business in a curious way and who have both made fortunes out of it their names are baxter and creswell baxter came from indiana away back in the fifties he had just finished leaf learning ning a black smiths trade when he got the gold fever and came to the rocky mountains he reached here during the winter and had to live tor for months on parched corn and game there was no flour bacon coffee or sugar to be bought and mr 1 baxter aate said not long ago in in speaking of tais this winter that he felt that he could almost algosi do murder to get a little flour i creswell had been a carpenter in the east and ne he and baxter became great they worked at their trades in in the mining camps during the day and in the evening devoted themselves to mining during the first year they saved about abou tx beoo apiece and with this they bought a ranch on the arkansas iziver river and raised praised vegetables and grain by irrigation they got high prices for the products and baxter had a a blacksmith shop ishop at which he re repaired abrea the wagons or sued shed the teams YOW ot passing gold seekers ee kers one day a man came along with a team of oxen which were nearly tead from exhaustion he was disgusted with lite ire and offered to trade his antu e outfit for a mule the trade was imade the wagon being the consideration in the mind of baxter for the mule and and the oxen were turned out on the plains to die to baxters surprise they found the best of food in the plains and by spring they were in fine condition ancy were driven to denver deaver and were sold to the butchers there for a good round price this started baxter and creswell in the cattle bus business iners and they lave have since made a fortune at it SOME RICH politicians A number of the rich men of denver have been engaged in politics I 1 saw ex congressman symes in san francisco the other day he has go gone back to his flaw practice praet ice and he is is making more sid gold dollars every year at Ms his practice wan in he has hairs on his head symes has made most of his money at the law inie he has a building here which brings ofin in a rent of about a year antt W which is worth a quarter of a ti nillion it has a law library lb it for ti th use of it its tenants arida abild is i excellent q property perty ex senator hit hiff is sard to be a rich m mart me hes has made a for W smelling smelting sm elting gold and after ai and he has d secret process jy by which ma hi big smelter hwe here is enabled to ta do da some me ol of the best reft re fitting ning in ib thia world not ago senator hill made i big lot of in iii e he owned a large tract of land in the arkansas valley and on this oil was discovered a h er ago now hundreds of derricks stand out on ae ac rolling lands of this arm arid add oil enough is produced from these regions to support the entire western trade mr hilt hill is the active manager of df the smelter ter and I 1 am told that tie he is one of the he best beit judges of metals in the united states OUR TWO SENATORS I 1 learn here hare that senator wolcott is fast becoming ik rich man he lids has anade a great deal of at money in mines and his income from hislaw hislaw practice is sid said to be about 49 boo a year lie he made a lot of money oney at cripple creek creak and with his brother henry wolcott nearly all of his mining speculations have turned out well ae he owns a fine ranch near denver upon which he is raising some blooded stock and where the milk and the champagne cost just about the same senator teller is a much poorer man than wolcott and his proper property t y is is e esti sti mated in the tens of thousands rather than millions he owns a large amount of good land and he has a ranch south of denver which may yet make him wealthy it has taken a fortune to irrigate it but it is said to be a fine piece of property and it will be eventually very valuable HOW TOM BOWEN GOT RICK RICH tom bowen is said to be doing well but you can never tell anything about bowens statements in in regard to his wealth when he be congress he had a new story to circulate every month about the fortunate speculations which he was making in mines and he got ogreater reputation for riches on less less solid capital than any colorado man who ever came to washington bowens life however has been one of ups and downs he has been a rich man and he has been very poor he came irom from arkansas to colorado with nothing and for seven years he worked a group of claims in company with others in a corporation known as the san juan mining company this company was badly managed and its stock fell to practically nothing bowen saw that there was money iti in it and in 1881 when the stock istock was being played for at poker at the rate of two drinks for a share torn tom bowen began to buy it he got worth of stock for 7 75 and in a snort short time acquired control of the company he then went into developing the mint in earnest and in a short time made a fortune I 1 am told that bowen made some money in creed and that he is now well to do judge belford the red rooster of the is also doing well he has gotten back his old grip on the people and he is making a great deal of money maney at the law he told me once that he would have been worth today if he had never gone into congress and that he be was making a year when chenh be was elected f FRANK G CAg CARPENTER PENTER |
