A two days' jaunt on horseback took me from Rhyolite hill, on the north, to Grouse mountain, on the south, and from Pisgah, on the west, to Wilson creek, on the east, within which boundaries some four thousand claims have been located.
The greater part of those have nothing more than the assessment work done upon them, and in many instances, this has been so indifferently done, and with such an utter abandon and disregard of the statues, that they cannot be held for a moment to comply with the legal requirements.
But, in traversing Ennis, Globe, Gold, Bull, Tenderfoot, Womack, Mineral and a score or more of hills in the district, sources of Cripple, Wilson, Requa, Squaw and other water courses, I came upon scores of properties that were being developed with more or less vigor and intelligence, some with tunnels or inclines, others with shafts or open cuts, and the owners of each full of hope and expectations.
Among those having already good indications of mineral was the Plymouth Rock lode claim in Squaw Gulch.

Plymouth Rock.—The owners have been timbering their shaft and doing dead work. The ore taken out in sinking the shaft has paid for all improvements therefor.—Cripple Creek "Crusher."

THE PLYMOUTH ROCK
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An Interesting State of Affairs.
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THOUSANDS ARE INVOLVED.
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And a Big Law Suit Threatened.
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The sale of a controlling interest in the Plymouth Rock Mining company stock threatens to lead up to one of the most interesting lawsuits in regard to ownership that has ever been tried in the El Paso county courts. The suit grows out of an option which was secured by Joseph Watson for the stock on the 22nd of this month.
The same day he transferred his option, which was to run until the 9th inst. to W S. Alexander of Cripple Creek. The price of the stock was at 8 cents per share and a payment of $5,000 had to be made on or before the 8th inst. and the balance of the purchase price was due in four and six months.
Alexander went to Colorado Springs the following day and laid the proposition before W. S. Stratton who said that he would buy the stock, but wanted a cash price and Alexander returned the following day to find that a second option had been given to L. D. Roudebush by Watson and that about 900,000 shares of the stock had been placed in the First National bank on condition that $5,000 would be deposited as first payment on the 4th.
There was a defect in the abstract and the time was extended to 3 o’clock on the 5th.

When the bank closed its doors at that hour the money had not been deposited and the holders of a majority of the stock of the Plymouth Rock company were present for the purpose of withdrawing their stock. The cashier could not be found until nearly one hour later and in the meantime a cipher message had been received from R. H. Reid of Denver ordering the cashier to put $5,000 to the credit of the stockholders.
This telegram was received at the office of the Western Union in this city eight minutes after three. The stockholders refused to accept payment and demanded their stock, which request was not complied with.
About one hour before the bank closed W. S. Alexander and associates received on option on the stock for forty-eight hours, commencing at 3 o’clock.

The following day Mr. Joy, the representative of W. S. Stratton, made a tender of $5,000 and deposited the money in bank in compliance with the condition of Alexander's option and called for that amount of money down, the balance to be paid within ten days.

The following day the directors of the Plymouth Rock company notified Rhett and Jones, Roudebushs’ attorneys, that they would not turn over the stock, alleging that the condition of the option had not been complied with and notified the bank officials to the same effect, yesterday injunction papers were served on the principal stockholders, restraining them from selling their holdings.
They are given ten days to answer the summons. The stockholder’s are disposed to stand by the Alexander option and turn their stock over to Mr. Stratton, but will not do so until the courts pass on the legality of their action. Roudebush is supposed to represent D. H. Moffat.
This is Mr. Alexander’s statement of the case; "The Plymouth Rock group of claims are located on Globe and Ironclad hills and contain forty acres of patented ground and join the Gold Crater company’s property of which W. S. Stratton is president.
The territory has been worked with more or less vigor for the past three and one-half years and a little surface ore was shipped which paid a little more than expenses.
One year ago James O’Brien, representing St. Paul capitalists, secured a bond and lease for $50,000 and sunk ten or fifteen thousand dollars without finding any ore.
On September 1, of this year Henry R. Wolcott and S. Z. Dickson secured the group under a like bond and lease and failed to find ore by December 1, when a good sized payment was due and surrendered their bond. They spent over $8,000 in development work.

Globe Hill.—The Plymouth Rock property had 1,600 ft. of development done during 1895.

Principal Producing Cripple Creek Mines - 1898:

Name: Plymouth Rock Mine Nos. 1 & 2 (Ironclad Hill)
Owner: W. S. Stratton
Capital:
President:
Vice-President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Superintendent: F. C. Troutman
Manager:
Lessees:
Description: 1,000-foot shaft; 60-horse power horizontal boiler; 10x10 double flat friction hoist.
Employes: twenty employes
Contact:
Notes:

During 1897 the Plymouth Rock shaft was opened to the considerable depth of 1,000 ft., and with the increase in depth considerable water is being encountered, as was to be expected, although the upper levels were quite dry.

Colorado Springs., Colo., March 10.—Wiles and associates, who recently secured a lease on block 50 of the Stratton's Cripple Creek M. & D. property known as the Plymouth Rock claim, have encountered a good body of ore at a point about 50 feet below the surface.
Operations are being confined to the shaft located a short distance from the main Plymouth shaft, that has a depth of 1,000 feet and the shipments that they are making average around $20 to the ton.

Plymouth Rock.—Ed Burke, who is leasing on this portion of the Stratton estate on Globe hill, has encountered six-ounce ore at a depth of 600 feet. An electric hoist is now being installed. Low grade ore from this lease is being shipped to the Ironclad cyanide mill.

The Plymouth Rock, of the Stratton estate on Globe Hill is now between 800 and 900 ft. but is inactive and is reported in bad working condition.