About Our Namesake
Welcome
Our Namesake - Winfield Scott Stratton
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Winfield Scott Stratton Stratton was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana in 1848 and moved to Colorado Springs in 1868. Here he worked as a carpenter, although he originally set out for gold and silver. When he heard word of gold on Pikes Peak’s south slope, he made his big strike on July 4, 1891. Although it was rough getting his Independence mine up and running, once it was going it was like an underground bank. Yet despite being rich, Stratton was also very generous. He wrote a check for Bob Womack when he was down on his luck, gave $15,000 to Horace A. W. Tabor when he was busted, and paid for food and shelter for thousands of people after the Cripple Creek fire. In 1900 Stratton decided to sell Independence Mine to the Venture Corporation for $10 million, and just two years later Winfield Scott Stratton died on September 14, 1902. The company started to sell stocks, but the ore production decreased and the stocks crashed. The Venture Corporation tried to sue the Stratton estate, claiming that the mine had been salted, but lost the case.
 Places named after Stratton include:
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