Nicholas C. Creede (c. 1843 – July 12, 1897) was an American prospector famous for discovering the Holy Moses Amethyst vein and other mining properties near Creede, Colorado in the late 1880s and early 1890s.
Early life
Nicholas C. Creede was born William Harvey about 1843 near Fort Wayne, Indiana. At the age of two, the family moved to what would later become Jasper County in Iowa Territory. There, the family took up farming. Siblings included older brothers McConnell, Jerome L. who later became a postmaster, and John W. who later became a judge. He also had at least one sister, Clara.
Army life
In his teens, Creede worked in the U.S. Army Quartermaster's Department but grew weary of the routine work. In 1862, at the age of 19, he volunteered with the United States Army and served seven years as a scout with the Pawnee in campaigns against the Sioux. During this time, he received the pay of a first lieutenant although he held no rank. As part of these duties, he traveled in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and the Badlands of the Dakotas. He was present in the Black Hills when gold was discovered there, which led to his interest in prospecting.New York Times, July 14, 1897Lake Providence Banner-Democrat, November 6, 1897
Name change
In 1870, Creede left the army and returned to Iowa intending to woo and wed a local girl who had caught his eye before he began his travels as a scout. Upon his return, though, he found that she had wed Creede's brother, with whom she had had a child. Although the family eventually reconciled some years later, this event so agitated young Billy Harvey that he changed his name to Nicholas "Nic" C. Creede. The event also strengthened his resolve to become a prospector.
Life as a prospector, discovery of the Creede mines
For the next 20 years, Creede drifted up and down the Rocky Mountains. Occasionally he would strike it rich enough to sell out and obtain a year's grubstake, but more often he was broke and forced to work at whatever he could to get enough money to resume prospecting. He usually traveled with one or more partners.San Francisco Call, July 13, 1897
Monarch and Bonanza strikes
Creede's first significant strike was in 1878 in Chaffee County, Colorado, when he discovered the Monarch located near present-day Monarch Pass.New York Sun, July 14, 1897 As was common during that time as most prospectors rarely had the capital, the knowledge and/or the will to develop the strike themselves, he sold the Monarch for a small sum. He then struck a vein he called the Bonanza which he sold for US$20,000 (~$454,500 US 2011). Creede used this money to tour the mining districts and learn more about mining, minerals and prospecting.
Mammoth and Ethel strikes
Creede's next major discovery was the Mammoth mine on Campbell Mountain, Colorado in May 1890. Although the Mammoth had some very rich ore, it was not considered a big strike. Creede discovered the Ethel mine associated with the same vein a month later. Once developed, the Ethel shipped a little ore, but it was of a comparatively low grade.
Holy Moses and Amethyst strikes
In June 1891, Creede discovered his biggest strike to date, the Holy Moses, near what was known at the time as the Jimtown camp. This strike was rich enough to attract the attention of David H. Moffat of Denver, who, along with Moffat's colleagues, leased the Holy Moses from Creede.
Convinced of Creede's prospecting skill, the Moffat-led consortium reached a further agreement with Creede to continue his prospecting activities while the consortium developed the Holy Moses into a producing mine. In addition to a US$100 per month stipend ($2,500 US 2011), Creede was to receive a one-third share of all future finds.
This arrangement proved extremely lucrative for Creede when, shortly after discovering the Holy Moses, Creede located the rich Amethyst vein on a claim that had been abandoned by miner "Dutch" Fritz. The mines subsequently developed on the Amethyst vein included the Bachelor, the Annie Rooney, the Sunnyside, and the Commodore. Creede's share of the Amethyst mining operation was well over a million dollars, with some sources placing his daily income from the Amethyst and related properties at US$1,000 ($27,000 US 2011) per day in 1892. Shortly after discovery of the Amethyst vein, the name of the Jimtown camp was changed to Creede in honor of the find.
Upon interviewing Creede in March 1892 after discovery of the Amethyst, Scientific American described him as reserved, modest, unassuming, taciturn, pure-minded, courageous and generous to a fault, but with a commanding air of a person whose few words were characterized by "great good sense". He was also said not to "know the taste of whisky" or "to know nought of gambling".
Life after the Amethyst strike
Marriage
During his time prospecting near the Jimtown camp, Creede met Nancy Louisa Kyles (née White) of Birmingham, Alabama. Mrs. Kyles ran a boarding house in Del Norte, Colorado, and had already had three husbands before she met Creede. She was also as familiar with the hardships of frontier and mining camp life as Creede himself.
When Creede struck it rich, he built a "neat but plain" log cabin at Creede, and Mrs. Kyles served as his housekeeper while she obtained a divorce from her current husband. She also was said to have often accompanied Creede, and his young nephew Sherman Phifer, on many of Creede's prospecting journeys.Los Angeles Herald, January 12, 1898 They married in Las Vegas, New Mexico on May 25, 1893 and purchased a small cottage for $5,000 in Pueblo, Colorado where Creede's tastes were "simple and his habit economical". In due course, the Creedes bought a lavish residence in Los Angeles and relocated permanently from Colorado to California, where they lived a life of comfort and ease.
Blackmail attempt
In 1893, Creede received anonymous letters which accused him of having murdered a man who once held a mortgage on his father's farm in Iowa. One of his accusers was said to be the son of Creede's half brother. Creede did not believe an uncle-nephew relationship existed and believed the accusation was a blackmail attempt. The accusing "nephew" was later found dead, an apparent suicide, in a Pullman sleeping car in Wilson, Kansas in February 1894.San Francisco Call, July 14, 1897
Adoption of Edith Dorothy Walker
In August 1895, the childless Creedes adopted six-month-old Edith Dorothy Hitt Walker. Young Dorothy's history was equal in color and drama to either of the Creedes.
Dorothy was the daughter of Edith Waters Walker. Edith claimed to have been born in San Francisco in 1875 in poverty, hardship and neglect. However, young Edith was removed from poverty when she was adopted by a Mrs. Scott, the widow of a wealthy warehouse owner. Mrs. Scott then married William G. Waters, the foreman of the printing department of a San Francisco daily newspaper. When Mrs. Waters (Scott) became ill, the family moved to southern California for her health. There, "Captain" Waters acquired possession of San Miguel Island and established a home there.
Mrs. Waters died during Edith's youth, leaving Edith on the island with only a housekeeper and hired men for company since Captain Waters was often on the mainland. This lonely existence apparently did not suit Edith, who wished to pursue a career as an actress. So, when a sailboat landed on the island, Edith persuaded the captain of the vessel to take her to the mainland.
Dorothy's father, John Mackay Walters, had his own colorful and dramatic history as the relatively impoverished son of well-to-do California businessman J. B. Walker, who was a partner of "Bonanza King" John William Mackay. Shortly after reaching the mainland, Edith met John Walters. Two weeks later, she performed her first role on stage under the stage name Ynez (Inez) Dean. Four weeks later, Edith and John Walters were wed.
The Walters marriage was stormy and short-lived with Edith Walters leaving the marriage to pursue her acting career. Edith later entered the Los Angeles County Infirmary as a charity inmate. In the early spring of 1895, she gave birth to Dorothy. For nine months, the young mother tried to support them with her acting career. In the summer, she filed suit against her husband seeking divorce, and suit against her step-father to reclaim the inheritance she said was due her from her adopted mother Mrs. Scott. These legal actions garnered the attention of the press as well as Mr. Creede. Creede, moved by the accounts of the young lady's hardships, offered to adopt young Dorothy. The adoption was completed in late summer. According to some reports, Edith wished to give Dorothy a good home because of Edith was concerned that her ill health would soon leave Dorothy an orphan.
Dissolution of the Creede marriage
Mrs. Creede, who had begun taking morphine in 1876 after "having been kicked by a cow" and who was by now a heavy morphine user, was unwilling or unable to care for young Dorothy. So nurses were hired to care for the baby.Los Angeles Herald, January 13, 1898 In February 1896, Miss Maggie Kearny entered the household to serve as a nurse to Dorothy Creede. Although denied by Miss Kearny, Mrs. Creede alleged that in the summer of 1897 Creede began a liaison with Miss Kearny.
In the winter of 1897-98, while Creede was out of town, Nancy Creede dismissed Miss Kearny and had her removed from the Creede's Los Angeles home. This infuriated Creede, who had previously promised to take steps to dissolve the marriage should Mrs. Creede take such an action. Following this incident, on January 4, 1897 Creede asked his wife to accept US$20,000 (~$540,500, US 2011) in cash, surrender all claims, leave their Los Angeles home and return to her home in Alabama. Creede and his attorney had prepared a document which Mrs. Creede signed in the presence of witnesses including a notary.Los Angeles Herald, January 19, 1898Los Angeles Herald, January 20, 1898 It was understood that after the necessary waiting period, Creede would institute divorce proceedings. Miss Kearny returned to the Creede residence on January 14.
In the spring, Creede was said to have begun divorce proceedings on the ground of cruelty, alleging that she was addicted to the use of morphine.Los Angeles Herald, July 15, 1897 Mrs. Creede filed a cross complaint asking for half the property, and her attorney advised her to return to Los Angeles to pursue the case. She did so in June, engaging lodgings with her niece at the Clarendon Hotel. Creede was aware that his wife was in town and was said to have been distressed by her proximity, going so far as to have her monitored and her movements reported back to him. Although she did not meet personally with Creede, her niece visited the Creede residence and proposed, on her aunt's behalf, a reconciliation.
Death
On the afternoon of July 12, 1897, Creede swallowed a large dose of morphine at his home in Los Angeles. Creede then went to the garden and reclined on a couch in the summer house. His gardener and confidant, F. L. Maas, noted an unusual feebleness in his movements and later noted that Creede's breathing was labored. He did not bring this to anyone's attention, however, until Creede's brother-in-law William M. Phifer, who was married to Creede's sister Clara, arrived at the home at about 6:30 pm. Mr. Phifer carried Creede into the house and summoned medical aid. Despite the medical intervention, Creede died some three hours later.
Although widely reported in the press as a suicide, Creede's friends noted that he was in the habit of using morphine in moderate quantities "to quiet the pain caused by neuralgia of the stomach" and assumed he had taken an overdose by mistake. A coroner's jury subsequently ruled the death "accidental self-poisoning by an overdose of morphine taken to relieve pain".
Will and estate