Show OF OP EARLY DAYS Continued from from Page Three Throe then amounted to another million dollars or more Tabors Tabor's name was upon lips Ups He was the idolized hero of the camp He lIe sold his store a and d devoted his hia whole timeto timeto time timeto to mining Tabors Tabor's next and biggest success f mineA mine was in his famous Matchless A a claim which he bo bought for 10 in the tho early summer of 1879 1819 He He thoroughly equipped it and the property in a short time was giving up royal dividends It paid him ho afterward told friends who still are living an average or of a divIdends dividends divi divI- dividends month for two years and largo for a long afterward Then there was the another another another an an- other example of Tabor luck as tho the term went in those days The Tho claim had b boon been en located shortly after the Little Pittsburg discovery by William Lovell who answered to the friendly salutation of Chicken Bill Lovell had bad been staked grub-staked by others and ht his s interest in the tho Chry Chry- solite soUto was one ono Lovell had sunk soak his shaft forty- forty odd feet and had failed to strike the contact He lie was not discouraged until he cn encountered water water three three e I feet teet of it Then he ado adopted ted a course cours e which later convulsed the miners with laughter Lovell announced that he had track struck ore are Sure enough in the Water water water wa wa- ter at the bottom of the tho and liberally sprinkled around on the surface sur sur- surface face tace was a a. lot of familiar r looking carbonate carbonato ore arc Some of the miners commented upon its striking resemblance resemblance resemblance blance to the oro ore in the Little Pitts- Pitts burg u Lovett Lovell to 10 seu sen ms Interest in the to Tabor and s t deal was soon closed Tabor next day sent miners up to work on tin th property and Lovells Lovell's Joke yoke as he ht i termed it was soon coon disclosed Tbt had bad been salted Tabo with the tho rest Three days later the laugh was or of I Lovell Tabor kept the miners a D a w t sinking the shaft and elgh I feet teet deeper they encountered the thet J largest ore body over found on thE the thel J hill hiU the richness of which was late q on reflected in inthe the New York t y re e stock successive suc suc- j c rose ros from i 3 jo to h 4 45 46 a share e Associated with Tabor in the Chry Chry- solite was a syndicate of Chicago chrY 1 men which had bad acquired a control but Tabor continued to hold one fourth of ot the stock stack from tram his interest in n ter terest st Tabor Tabor once stated to friends paid him a month for tor two and one half years He had no part partIn partin partin in the subsequent stock manipulation tion as the syndicate in con control ol had secured an option on his stock at 16 15 a share share stock stock that in the fall of 1881 sold as high as 45 46 a a. share shara Friends of Tabor always alwaY asserted that he be was aware of the part Lovell played played played-in In fixing his discovery for fora a sale But Tabor had bad unbounded faith in the district He Be belie believed red that any claim on tho the two hills hUts was good property Anyway laughed Tabor I was willing to take a chance on the Chrys elite olite as Lovell Loven owed me a long overdue overdue overdue over over- due bill of GOO for provisions obtained obtained ob ob- tamed at my store and what I paid him in addition to cancelling the bl bill bill l wasn't much of a speculation considering the times Soon after Tabor sold the Little Pittsburg he be commenced his career as as a builder Among other substantial tI til l buildings he erected In Leadville was the Tabor Opera house and th the home of the Carbonate bank of which he had become pre president He ne also took a successful part In the town lot speculations which in 1879 knew no apparent bounds In tho the fall of 1879 Tabor commenced ed his Denver building operations He first bought the J. J II M. Broadwell hotel corner of Sixteenth and Larl Lars men mer streets and began tho erection of the city's first pretentious busl buss ness block Its four high stories were built of stone shipped from quarries at Berea Derea Ohio and the site and building are said to have cost him It was opened In 1880 He Ho called it tho the Tabor block and itis ii it I is now the tho Nassau building He then purchased the site of ot the present Tabor Grand Opera house at Sixteenth and Curtis streets aswell as M aswell MwelI well welI as ns the two adjoining corners all oti Sixteenth street ono one now occupied by the old pO building the tho theother theother other by tho Joslin JoaUn dry goods store and announced his Intention of erectIng erect Ing log the finest linest amusement place west of Chicago to cost or or more Denver property owners were over over- Joyed It It- It meant the tho opening of an era which the pioneer builders had hopefully looked forward to h Ii must be remembered that Denver's population at that time timo did n not t ex ox- I coed and that there was not a R. single business house on Sixteenth street above Lawrence street Th The main business streets were lower Fifteenth and Larimer east Daniels Fisher then occupied a two-story two building at Sixteenth and Lawrence streets but the tho entrance was on Lawrence Up Sixteenth street toward Broadway were scattered scattered scat scat- r residences of some somo of the th I. I wealthier citizens Thus Tabor inaugurated th the first up-town up business movement The Th year ear b before fore he had purchased th the H. H C. C Brown fe residence and block of ground now occupied by tho the Broad Broadway Broadway way theater and the hotel The ground was artificially beautified beautified fied with lawns walks trees and shrubbery and later became known as t the e Tabor Tebor mansion Th The residence residence residence resi resi- dence still sUII stands alth although mOdern modern modern mod mod- ern buildings In t the o block partially mOd obscure It from tram view J The site of the Tabor Op Opera house I w was by A A. A C C. C Daniels as asI a residence Judge Eyser's residence Eyser's resIdence I stood w rC the h w was after after- lf r. r Fu ur The sirs The h W W. N. N Byers Dyers home was in in the same block nearer Fifteenth Fifteenth I F. F E. E was the architect of tho the Tabor Grand and ho he end nd T Tabor Tabor Ta Ta- bor let all ton contracts tracts The building was entirely modern in those days day Its construction waa was rushed Theoffice The Theoffice Theoffice office floors were ready for tor occupancy In the spring of 1881 but it was no not t ta until September 6 5 that the opera oper a house was formally dedicated Tabors Tabor's promise to give ghe Denver a million dollar opera house was more than fulfilled It had cost him nearer nearer near near- er largely because o othe of f the extravagant furnishings and dec decorations decorations decorations orations of the amusement palace A score of Eastern fresco artists were e for months engaged In decorative work the costliest draperies camo cam o from abroad the amount of wor work k done upon the drop curtain cost a small fortune In itself the cherrywood cherrywood cherry cherry- wood pillars and proscenium arc arch h were a delight to the tho eye Tabor personally supervised all aU these theBe arrangements His heart w win was as in it all his only boast was that n no nC e expense was being spared Little wonder that the tho people of Denver made the formal dedication the memorable social and artistic event that they did I During the two years that the I I opera house was building Tabors Tabor's I I income from his mines was WM not less than The Clary Chry solite went to smash in the tho fall tall or of 1881 1581 bottom having been reached to tho the big ore are body but the tho Matchless Matchless Matchless Match Match- less was on the crest of its flood and continued so into the following years The Tho amount of Tabors Tabor's silver riches rich es Cs was never publicly known The best informed set the figure in excess excess excess ex ex- cess of somo some place it as high as He received not less than from the Little Pitts Pittsburg burg from the tho Matchless Match Matchless less and from the Chry Chry- solite or from his three largest mines He held stock Interests In in many other producers and these added it is safe to say another another another an- an an an- other million to his fortune Tabor luck was tho the common say ing Everything he touched turned turn ed into g gold ld Tabor himself eU believed believed ed cd in his good luck Jokingly commented upon it In the extension exten extension sion slon of Harrison Harris n avenue biggest real estate movement Tabor profited more than any other Indi Indi- vidual He added to his bank holdIngs holdings hold holdings ings both In fn and Denver and made investments in a score of Industrial enterprises J I Yet in fn five years from the tho openIng open open- Ing log of the Tabor Grand the tho owner owne r was In financial trouble in ten yea years was hopelessly involved and with the panic of at 1893 the remnants of ot his hie immense wealth had vanished en en- How was the tho Tabor fortune dissipated dissipated dis No adequate answer has been forthcoming Certainly it was not due to his Denver Investments The opera house always paid well I. I during hs ownership The Tabor block during the tho same period was fully Cully occupied among its large tenants ten ten- I ants being the First National bank o of which Tabor was then vice dent deut th the telephone company and the Western Union T Telegraph h com com- pany His other real estate multiplied multi plied in value many times what ho he paid for tor it ft Unfortunate outside on speculation undoubtedly had much to do with it Tabor once admitted a half million I I loss In a C Chicago wheat corner ana and another heavy loss In a New York corn deal With others he bought bought- a Chicago dock Si end- dropped p. p t IQ Q H Ho bought ht a hardwood forest In th Honduras s and established a line I of ot steamers out of Now New York to im import port hardwood products into into the United States The invest investment ent was wasa a total failure Ho bought the famous Vu Vulture ture tur goldmine gold goldmine mine in Arizona conducted it at a heavy loss Joss and then abandoned It when a flood destroyed a dam and nd a mile fifteen-mile pipe line line- which furnished furnish ed the desert desel t mine with water He Flo also mined milled in California and Old Mexico When first pressed premed for money he mortgaged the opera house for Cor OO His faith did not falter that the Tabor luck would soon return return and retrieve all nIl The mines had ceased their big dividends but buthe t he be had confidence nce in finding in them the second contact and a restoration resto resto- ration of at day bonanza-day wealth Politics cost Tabor a lot of money It was spent in the days of his greatest great est eat affluence He was chosen lieu lieu- lieutenant J tenant governor in 1880 when F F. Fi v J Pitkin w was elected governor He Heh va y v ya a a I a candidate for the United SU senate in 1883 A full tuU term team term ana y sixty-day sixty term the tho latter grow grow out of the to to- elevation of Senator H He M. M T Teller ller wit to President Arthurs Arthur's meet inet were to be filled by the 1 lef wei wel Hj ve very ry y lature of that year Tho The race between Tabor and Thomas Bowen Dowen The latter was elected d' d one ono vote otc after many days of ballot ballo balloting I j lag ing and then Tabor was unanimously unanimous unanimous- ly ly chosen to fill the short term H He sat In the senate thirty days from the following March 4 4 It was at this period that Tabor remarried The Tho wedding which occurred occurred oc In Washington was a memorable memorable mem mem- event The Tho bride was was given away by President Arthur In the tho I presence of a notable gathering of I senators and their wives I In the tho divorce proceedings prior to this marriage Tabor had made a financial settlement with his bis first wife by deeding to her property reported reported reported re re- ported at the time to bo worth 1 Two years later Tabor was chosen chairman of the tho state Republican committee At tho the end of the campaign campaign cam cam- he lie stated to friends that it had personally cost him in addition to the he ho had vol voll contributed to the campaign fund After ACter all his property had been swept away Tabor still believed that that better fortune would some day overtake overtake overtake over over- take him His last mining efforts J I were at Cripple Creek where with the the aid of W. W S. S Stratton StraHan he secured secured ed cd a lease on the Free Coinage mine He Joyfully anticipated a return of the Tabor luck but the Stratton stake was exhausted before pay ore was found in the Free Coinage Days of at sunshine came into Tabors Tabor's Tabors Tabors Tabor's Ta Ta- bors bor's life liCe with his last years Through tho the influence of friends headed beaded by Senator Wolcott President McKinley appointed him Denver postmaster He died In April 1899 twenty-one twenty years after his first big strike inthe Inthe in inthe the Little Pittsburg August moved to Denver in 1880 1850 built a block of houses on the North side got married and settled seWed down to the enjoyment of his for for- tune The lure of mining again called him this time In Park county where I he had promising prospects before going to Leadville He developed I these mines unon unon pon a lar torero lama e seals o het hut I I failed of success He Ho made d another th II I heavy loss In Custer county 1 His last employment at the age I Of Oi 77 7 was caring for the lawn ati atI at atin in ii i ct tro capitol He n f a died I d six yearly year rJ ago J-c.- J II |