Among the more colorful characters of Leadville’s
golden age were H. A. W. Tabor and his wife, Elizabeth McCourt, better known as
“Baby Doe”. Their history is fast becoming one of the legends of the Old West.
Horace Austin Warner Tabor was a school teacher in
Vermont. Then he moved west to the small Colorado mining camp known as
California Gulch, which he later renamed Leadville when he became its leading
citizen. “Great deposits of lead are sure to be found here.” he said.
As it turned out, it was silver, not lead, that was to
make Leadville’s fortune and wealth. Tabor knew little about mining himself, so
he opened a general store, which sold everything from boots to salt, flour, and
tobacco. It was his custom to “grubstake” prospective miners, in other
words, to supply them with food and supplies, or “grub”, while they looked for
ore(矿石), in return for which he would get a share
in the mine if one was discovered. He did this for a number of years, but no
one that he aided ever found anything of value.
Finally one day in the year 1878, so the story goes,
two miners came in and asked for “grub”. Tabor had decided to quit supplying it
because he had lost too much money that way. These were persistent, however,
and Tabor was too busy to argue with them. “Oh help yourself. One more time
won’t make any difference,” He said and went on selling shoes and hats to other
customers. The two miners took 17worthofsupplies,inreturnforwhichtheygaveTaboraone−thirdinterestintheirfindings.Theypickedabarrenplaceonthemountainsideandbegantodig.Afterninedaystheystruckarichveinofsilver.Taborboughtthesharesoftheothertwomen,andsotheminebelongedtohimalone.Thismine,knownasthe“PittsburghMine,”made1,300,000 for Tabor in return for his $17 investment.
Later Tabor bought the Matchless Mine on another
barren hillside just outside the town for 117,000.ThisturnedouttobeevenmorefabulousthanthePittsburgh,yielding35,000 worth of silver per day at
one time. Leadville grew. Tabor became its first mayor, and later became
lieutenant governor of the state.
1.Leadville got its name for the following reasons
EXCEPT that
A.Tabor became its leading citizen.
B.great deposits of lead is expected to be found there.
C.it could bring good fortune to Tabor
D.it was renamed
2.The underlined word “grubstake” in Paragraph 3 means
A.to supply miners with food and supplies
B.to open a general stores
C.to do one's contribution to the development of the
mine
D.to supply miners with food and supplies and in
return get a share in the mine, if one was discovered
3.We can infer that Tabor’s life career is.
A.purely lucky
B.based on his managing theory of “grubstake’
C.through the help from his wife
D.because he planned well and accomplished targets
step by step
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the
passage?
A.Tabor’s
Life.
B.A legend of the Old West
C.Lead Makes Leadville’s
Fortune D.The Best Investment