Legend has it that two Chicago insurance men, J.R. and Eugene Harbeck, woke up after a night of hard drinking and discovered they owned the Cresson. They decided to make a go of it. Having little development capital, they sold whatever stock they could to friends and acquaintances in Chicago. The mine was believed to be a dud by Cripple Creek standards, but the Harbecks stuck by it for a number of years.
The Cresson Crew posing for a
picture. Note the aerial tram in the background (top left). Tram
systems were used to haul coal to the mine and ore to the rail station. The Cresson was thought to be
such a dud that the Midland Terminal initially refused to run a spur to
the mine.
Times were tough and the mine was in debt. The Harbecks turned to Bert Carlton for help. Carlton introduced them to mining engineer Dick Roelofs. With Roelofs in command, the mine gradually began to dig out of debt and turn a profit. The Harbeck boys played it cool though. For the most part, they kept their operations secret. Rumors of healthy profits began to emerge, but most District residents refused to believe them.
"The Miracle Miner"
Dick Roelofs (fifth from left) with the Cresson shift supervisors.
On November 25, 1914, legendary miner Ed De LaVergne and attorney Hildreth Frost were summoned as witnesses to a secret meeting at the Cresson. Dick Roelofs led them to a steel door on the twelfth level attended by armed guards. Behind it was a 40 foot high cave, called a vug, where gold crystals lined the walls. A stunned De LaVergne said they could probably recover as much as $100,000 from the cache. He was wrong. In the next 30 days, the Cresson produced a whopping $1.2 million in high grade ore. At today's prices, the Cresson vug would be worth approximately $18 million.
An engineer's diagram showing the location of the vug.
Miners removing sacks of rich ore from the vug.
In 1916, Bert Carlton and a syndicate of investors bought control of the Cresson for $4 million. Under his management, the Cresson began paying steady dividends. By 1919, Cresson stock was selling as high as $13.80 a share. The Cresson Mine ended up being the second biggest gold producer in Cripple Creek and among the biggest in North America.
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