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MAJOR J. K. HUDSON.

MAJOR J. K. HUDSON, the editor and proprietor of the Topeka Daily Capital, was born in Carrollton, Carroll county, Ohio, May 4th, 1840. He is the eldest of six sons. His father was of English parentage, and his mother was Pennsylvania Dutch, her name being Rebecca Rothacker. They resided for forty years in Ohio. His father was a practical printer and publisher of county papers in Northern Ohio during his life. He was a strong advocate of the abolition of slavery, and a staunch Republican, and, with four sons, went through the late war. The subject of this sketch received his early education in the public schools of Salem, Ohio, learning the printing business in his father's office in Salem. The AntiSlavery Bugle, one of the most radical anti-slavery journals, was published by his father in Salem. The call for troops in 1861 spread over the country. Sumter had fallen into the hands of the Southern slave-holders, and young Mr. Hudson left Salem in July, 1861, in company with Barkley, Cappock, and other companions. Arriving at Fort Leavenworth, he enlisted in the Third Regiment, Kansas Volunteers (Lane's Brigade). He was a brave soldier, and soon began to receive attention from his com

manding officers. From orderly sergeant he was promoted to second lieutenant of his company. He was again promoted, to first lieutenant, and served as assistant adjutant general of the Second Brigade and First Division, Army of the Frontier; was on the staff of General Davies at Rolla, Mo., and also a personal aidede-camp to Major General Schofield. He was promoted to major of the First Missouri Colored Infantry, and served with his regiment during the campaign of 1864, on the lower Mississippi and in Texas. He was mustered out in 1865, after more than four years of hard and honorable service.

At the close of the war he came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, with the intention of reading law and adopting the practice as his profession. His plans, however, were changed, and soon after his arrival in Wyandotte he purchased a large tract of land, and entered extensively into stockraising and general farming. Thus he became thoroughly acquainted with the agricultural needs of the State, and both as farmer and journalist has given sympathetic aid to every movement calculated to benefit farm industries. He was appointed by Governor Osborn a regent of the

State Agricultural College. On February 5th, 1880, Mr. Hudson was -elected secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, succeeding Hon. Alfred Gray, who had recently died. He filled this position with marked ability for nearly two years, resigning at that time to devote his attention to his paper. In 1871 he was a member of the House of Representatives from the Thirty-seventh district, and in 1873 made a very lively race for Congress on an independent ticket. In 1871 he was strongly supported for the United States Senatorship made vacant by the resignation of Senator Caldwell, receiving at one time twenty-four votes.

Mr. Hudson has, however, made his greatest success as a journalist. In 1873 he purchased the Kansas Farmer, and removed it from Leavenworth to Topeka. It at once became an agricultural journal of great popularity. In 1879 the Capital was started as a small evening paper, with many disadvantages. Under his skilful management, it has steadily advanced in public esteem and confidence. It has been outspoken on all the questions of the day, and is

recognized as a journal of convictions, and one of the most influential in the west. As an editorial writer, Mr. Hudson eschews all flowery rhetoric, and presents his argument in clear, simple and forcible language. He is noted for the vigorous style of his work. The Capital was the first daily paper to boldly espouse the cause of prohibition in 1880, and has been a fearless and consistent advocate of the enforcement of the prohibitory law.

He was married April 5th, 1863, to Mary W. Smith, of Salem, Ohio. Mrs. Hudson is of Quaker descent, and inherits, to a marked degree, all the strong characteristics of that sect. She has been in strong sympathy with all her husband's work, and a source of great aid to him. She is a writer of much ability, and besides numerous sketches and stories for the Capital and magazines, has published several novels within the last two years. They have three children living: Mary H., Anna J. and Paul. Mary H. was married several years ago to Dell Keizer, who is connected as business manager with the Capital.

THE LAMARTINE

AN invitation was extended to me by Mr. F. G. Burns to visit the Lamartine silver mine, in Clear Creek county, Colorado. As former lessee of that property, I knew him to be well acquainted with the mysterious caverns which he and his partners had excavated during the leasehold of F. G. Burns & Co.

I had already learned to trust myself to the custody of Mr. Burns. This was when we made an ascent of Mount Rosalie together. It was an agreeable fact that one who had conducted me such a distance towards the zenith should be my guide towards the nadir-hundreds of feet down the shafts, along the levels and cross-cuts, and up into the stopes of the Lamartine. I was, therefore, driven behind his fine team up the mountain road from Idaho Springs, upward and upward, until the clouds drifted by our sides, now enfolding us, then sinking far beneath, until at last we reached the shaft-house of the Lamartine.

I was gently ordered by my guide to step upon the little platform suspended by a wire rope, attached to a revolving wheel. The descent of four hundred feet was made in time counted by seconds—not minutes.

We emerged from the dark shaft at the bottom into candle-lighted vaults.

SILVER MINE.

Mr. Burns led me through the historic chamber, out of which the firm of F. G. Burns & Co. took $800,000 within the period of their leasehold. This chamber is rock-walled now, and is about three hundred feet long, of an average width of four feet, and from one to two hundred feet high.

It indicated almost exactly the size of the lode, or the vein of ore that had occupied it. When the lease of Burns & Co. expired, the lessees were pursuing this vein southwestwardly, and had nearly reached the boundary line between the Lamartine and the Money Musk; hence the apparent richness of the latter mine, which seems to be located upon the extension of the Lamartine lode.

Having climbed up into one of the stopes, I took a pick and did a little mining myself, extracting from the silver wall a rich specimen. This, with other very rare chips from the same ore-blocks, some of them assaying $5,000 a ton, makes a valuable addition to my growing cabinet.

The interesting story of the discovery, development and production of the great Lamartine silver mine has been so fully and carefully written by a contributor to the Rocky Mountain News, that to the enterprise of that paper may be credited the following historical account:

Nestor Chavanne, in company with John J. Bougher, Thomas Medill and Thomas Cooper, in the summer of 1867, started on a prospecting trip through the then heavily timbered region near the head of Trail Creek, above the present town of Freeland. They were searching for gold. Very near the summit of the divide, between Trail and Ute creeks, they came upon some large pieces of "float," and on tracing it up they discovered a large, strong lode on the very summit of the divide. On this lode they sunk a discovery shaft, and the Frenchman, Chavanne, always loyal to his mother country, named it "Lamartine," in honor of the great French soldier and author, Alphonse Lamartine, who, at that time, was at the very zenith of his fame.

During the interval following from 1867 to 1875, but little work was done, except the annual work. In the winter of 1868, John Bougher returned to his home in New York City, where he died. His widow sold Bougher's quarter of the Lamartine to her brother-in-law, Peter Himrod, for $250. Himrod came to Colorado on his first visit in 1873, and while here hunted up the Lamartine. His part

ners, Chavanne and Cooper, were not exactly pleased with the outlook of the Lamartine at that time, and hesitated about expending the amount required by law, annually. In 1875 Thomas Cooper sold his interest to Himrod for $25, and Chavanne, by that time heartily sick of the place,

sold his quarter also to Himrod, this time for the modest sum of $5.

Thomas Medill, the remaining partner, had left the country some time previous, and had failed to pay his share of the annual assessments; therefore, in accordance with the law. governing such cases, Himrod advertised him out. This left Himrod the sole ownership of the property, which at that time was considered a worthless prospect by the miners who knew of it.

Returning to New York, Himrod induced W. S. Carr, his partner in a manufacturing business there, to take a half interest in the property at what it had cost him.

In 1873, while here, Mr. Himrod formed an acquaintance with Silas Hanchett, Esq., the present manager of the property, and soon after acquiring the entire interest, asked the advice of Mr. Hanchett regarding the mine. Mr. Hanchett advised him to obtain a United States patent, and then afterwards to develop the mine when he could spare funds for such work. In 1876, Himrod authorized Mr. Hanchett to take the necessary steps to secure the patent.

About this time Carr became disgusted with his interest in the mine, and re-sold it to Himrod for $500. The patent having been secured, nothing was done on the mine until the summer of 1886, when Himrod gave W. S. Comer a contract to sink what is now known as the No. 1 shaft, then seventeen feet deep, to a further

depth of fifty feet, and on the completion of this contract he awarded Comer another of fifty feet.

On September 30th, 1888, began the firm of F. G. Burns & Co., consisting of F. G. Burns, J. D. Arm strong, W. H. Williams and Silas Hanchett. They immediately placed a steam-hoisting plant on the mine, and began a systematic plan of development, sinking the shaft to a depth of 325 feet and extending the first level to a connection with No. 2 shaft, driving other levels, both easterly and westerly, from 165, 220, 280 and 325 feet points. In January, 1889, the Lamartine began increasing its production from five tons to twenty-five tons of ore per day. It soon began to create considerable comment, its daily production increasing in quantity and value each. month. In September the production rose to thirty tons per day, increasing gradually to seventy tons per day in January, 1890, this being the highest record attained during the term of the lease, the mine yielding $93,000 net for that month, alone.

Then was an offer made for half of the lease, of $40,000 in cash for half of a lease that would expire in four months, and this time refused by Armstrong and Williams. During the term of their lease, eighteen months' time, Burns & Co. placed machinery on the mine, developed it from an uncertainty to a bonanza payer, mining and shipping over 8,000 tons of ore, valued at more than

$800,000, employing over 100 miners and from five to eighteen four-horse teams daily in the handling of the

ore.

They paid from $5,000 to $15,000. monthly for labor and supplies, and returned at the close of their lease, on the 1st of May last, in profits to themselves and the owner over half a million dollars.

Are these not good reasons for Idaho Springs to feel proud? And who knows how many a "worthless prospect" like Lamartine still lies untouched in Clear Creek county?

In June, 1889, the owners began operations on a heavy scale, outside their leased territory, under the direction of their manager, Mr. Hanchett, by sinking the No. 3 shaft, a double compartment cage shaft, heavily timbered with solid cribbing.

Over this shaft they erected, in September following, large, substantial buildings, equipped with two fortyhorse power boilers and a fine double drum fifty-horse power hoisting engine, complete with all the usual appurtenances, safety cages, etc. On the expiration of Burns & Co.'s lease, May 1st, this shaft had been connected with the lease workings, and sunk to a depth of 360 feet.

In the spring of 1887 the Whitney Bros. located the Money Musk, the western extension of Lamartine, doing but little work on it until the Lamartine began to attract people to Cascade district.

In March, 1889, they leased and

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