Coming West to Colorado from Ottumwa, Iowa, arriving with her husband Henry, son Perry and daughter Elizabeth, the Gortner family first settled on North Nevada Street in Colorado. Springs. In the spring of 1891 Mollie's son Perry arrived in the Cripple Creek area employed as a surveyor assigned to map mining claims of this country's newest and overlooked frontier. With all news of the day focused on Cripple Creek's gold.
Mollie loaded the family wagon with supplies and joined the next wagon train heading west up Ute Pass to visit her son. After a four day trip, Mollie was relieved to find Perry had completed construction of a half log half canvas field tent. Mollie wasted little time setting up housekeeping. In September of that year (1891), Perry while surveying upper Poverty Gulch, saw a huge herd of elk. Later he told Mollie of the herd so she headed out to see for herself. As she made her way up Poverty Gulch (three hundred yards past Cripple Creek's first gold strike - Bob Womack's Gold King Mine), winded Mollie decided to rest.
Looking downward, as she caught her breath, Mollie noticed an interesting rock formation that winked back at her. Using a rock to break off a sample, she could hardly believe her eyes, the outcropping was pure gold laced in quartz. With her heart racing Mollie nonchalantly hid gold samples amongst her clothing, she had to be calm, and there were a number of prospectors in the area. Earlier that day Mollie had mingled with Bob Womack whom had overlooked her find for more than a dozen years prospecting an area he had nicknamed Poverty Gulch. By her determined act, Mollie Kathleen Gortner became the first woman in the Gold Camp to discover gold and strike a claim in her own name. This was clearly a bold move out of step with the times. Most men of the time, only named their horses, jack asses, and mines after their women, it was very uncommon to let a woman claim something of such value. Even after her mine was in production and when visited by the National Geological Survey, it's authors entered their report of the mine being "Discovered by Mr. M.C. Gortner" Mr. Gortner's name was Henry - - - Mollie's name was Mary Catherine Gortner. Mollie Kathleen Gortner Died in 1917. Henry would later die of a broken heart one short year later
16 сен 2024
