Tutt Mining Tools Presentation Set

Tutt Tool Set - Closeup | TUTT MINING TOOLS SET - Full size presentation set of tools typically used by mining engineer/geologist for ore sampling in original wood case with hand blown glass, lock and key; tools as new made by unknown Colorado craftsman, ca. 1900, displayed for years in mining offices of Tutt and Penrose in Tutt Building in Cripple Creek, Colorado and later in assay office in Cripple Creek; tools include geologist pick (12 1/2 in. steel head and 16 in. wood handle), hand pick (12 1/2 in. steel head and 17 3/4 in. wood handle), small hammer (4 1/8 in. steel head and 9 in. wood handle), large hammer (4 3/4 in. steel head and 17 3/4 in. wood handle), 4 steel chisels (8, 10,12 and 14 in. long), steel blasting spoon (14 1/4 in. long), and steel miners candlestick with high-grader handle (14 3/8 in. long); fabulous condition and history, from the estate of William Thayer and Yvonne Sherman Tutt, Colorado Springs, CO [Charles Leaming Tutt was born February 14, 1864 in Philadelphia, the son of a respected doctor, Charles Pendleton Tutt, and Rebecca Leaming. As a child, Charles attended the Protestant Episcopal Academy, where he met Spencer Penrose, nicknamed "Speck", who would later become another of Colorado's mining moguls. The two boys shared another trait: both of their fathers were physicians. Charles arrived in Colorado Springs in 1884 and bought a cattle ranch. He married Josephine Thayer in Philadelphia on December 29, 1885. They returned to Colorado, and a year after moving to the Black Forest ranch, Josephine convinced her husband to sell out and move to Colorado Springs to start a real estate and insurance business. With Josephine Thayer he had four children, three of them died young. Son Charles Leaming Tutt II, born January 9, 1889, was the only one who lived to adulthood. When the Cripple Creek gold rush began in 1891, Charles Tutt joined the crowd. Tutt visited Cripple Creek, walked up Poverty Gulch and staked out a mining claim. Once the claim was staked, a prospector, who held half interest in the mine, sold his half interest to Tutt for $50. Tutt was now the owner of the "Cash on Delivery" mine, the C.O.D. mine, but had no money to develop it. Tutt, together with Albert E. Carlton, another big player in the future of the mining district at Cripple Creek, Colorado, set up the C.O.D. Gold Mining Company, incorporated on February 26, 1892, as a Colorado corporation. In December 1892, Spencer Penrose, Tutt’s childhood friend, came to Colorado Springs to see if there might be something in it for him. Tutt invited Penrose to join him in his real estate business. The firm of Tutt & Penrose was established and they opened a branch office in Cripple Creek. Tutt & Penrose branched out into mining stock promotion, and in 1895, they established the Cripple Creek Sampling & Ore Company, buying ore from small miners. Also in 1895, they sold the C.O.D. mine for $250,000. The money provided start-up capital for their next venture, the Colorado-Philadelphia Reduction Co. mill, built to process Cripple Creek ores. Charles MacNeill, an experienced mill operator, came into their business to head up plant operations. The new mill started up in 1896. Also in 1896, Charles Tutt built the Tutt Building in Cripple Creek to house the company offices after a devastating fire. It was in these offices that the Tutt mining tools were first displayed. Interestingly, this building is still standing at 233-235 East Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek where it currently houses part of Bronco Billy’s Casino. Within five years, Tutt, Penrose, and MacNeill owned seven mills and were processing the bulk of Cripple Creek ores. In 1902, MacNeill hired Daniel Jackling to work as a metallurgist in the partners’ Canon City mill. Jackling had been in Utah, studying the porphyry copper deposit at Bingham Canyon. He thought that bulk mining could be profitably applied to the deposit, but he could not find backers to fund a test of his ideas. He needed $500,000. Tutt, Penrose, and MacNeill saw opportunity in Jackling’s ideas and formed the Utah Copper Company in June 1903 to back him, issuing 500,000 shares at $1 each. Almost all of the shares were taken up by the three partners, their milling company, or Penrose relatives. Jackling built his pilot plant and had it in operation by February 1904. Jackling’s pilot plant was a success and sparked a revolution in mining practice. Charles Tutt sold his interest in Utah Copper to Spencer Penrose in 1905. He died in 1909 at the young age of 45, but not before establishing a family dynasty that lives on today. Penrose was named the executor of Tutt's will and guardian of his only surviving son Charles L. Tutt II, a responsibility he seems to have taken seriously as he worked often with Charles II as he carried on the family business, married and fathered 4 children, 3 sons and a daughter. When Spencer Penrose died in 1939, Charles II became president of the Broadmoor Hotel, built by Penrose in 1918, and one of four trustees of the El Pomar Foundation which Penrose established in 1937 to support cultural and civic institutions. Charles L Tutt II’s second oldest son William Thayer Tutt was born March 2, 1912. William became vice-president of the Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs in 1946 and succeeded his father as president of the hotel following Charles II’s death on November 1, 1961. William married Yvonne Claire Sherman US figure skating champion and Olympic skater in 1978. William Thayer Tutt died in 1989. His wife Yvonne Tutt died in 2005. It is through their estate that the Tutt mining tools have survived to become an interesting part of Colorado’s mining history.]

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