NO FALLIN' BACK ON HIS LAURELS

Joe Fahlenbock was born in Bensberg, near Cologne, Prussia, in 1860. Being of poor parentage, he was compelled to begin work in the lead and zinc mines of his native town when he was a mere child. He continued working as a miner, until his twenty-third year, when he emigrated to America, coming direct from New York to St. Louis, where for ten months he did such work as he could find to do. Among other things, he and others got the job of washing all the windows of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, which required four full weeks of hard labor. Early in 1884, he heard, through some German friends, of Galena, Kansas, as a great lead and zinc district. Within twenty-four hours he was in Galena, with just $10 capital and unable to enough, as there is plenty of mill dirt there running from 4 to 6 per cent which would make the owners big profits if they had a mill of 100 tons capacity. Mr. Fahlenbock has been urging his partners to erect a new mill but as there are many of the partners he has not been able so far to get them together. The Chew mine on the Cripple Creek is working with hand jigs and steam hoister and have made good dividends. A mill is needed. This is what a man without a dollar to start with, unable to speak a word of Enelish and in a strange land, has accomplished in fifteen years' time this wonderful mining district. Mr. Fahlenbock is still a single man having vowed years aero to never to marry until he had made a fortune. No one knows just what Mr. Fahlenbock is worth, but it is the general opinion that he could marry and not violate his vow. 

With his limited English he at once began prospecting for himself, and through his knowledge of the business, hard work and close economy he had money enough in a short time to lease a ten-acre tract of land. While this proved an unprofitable investment, it was, nevertheless, the beginning of his success in life. Since that time he has been branching out, opening up and developing mines in all parts of the district, frequently to the disgust of older miners, as they thought he was buying and prospecting land on which mineral would never be found, but his judgment has never failed him in a single instance. He recently disposed of a very valuable mining property at a good, round figure. He still owns in fee simple 141 acres, located two and one-half miles from Galena, on which ore has been struck in three different drill holes. He has 110 acres just south of the above tract, between Cave Springs and Central City, which he thinks will be one of the greatest producers in the district. Also a lease of sixteen lots on what is known as the Free Ore Mining Lease, in Short Creek Valley, which is considered very valuable mining property. Mr. Fahlenbock also owns a small interest in the Cripple Creek, two miles southwest which is very desirably located ground and has already produced 50,000 worth of ore. Within the last year the Cripple Creek plant hasn't been running very steady on account of its capacity being not large.

Galena Evening Times, March 31, 1900, Pg. 18

(The 10-acre tract mentioned here (three miles southeast of Galena) is the region where my grandfather Noah "Poppy" Martin supervised a wood-clearing operation in the early 1930s. 

Incidentally, wages in the mines at this time in 1900 ran from $2.00 to $3.00 per day.) -- Bryce