At 27, Sam Strong had suddenly become a very rich man. With money to spare and time on his hands, he drank, gambled and caroused in towns all over the area. George Strong, whose skills as a mechanical engineer were of use to his younger brother, often joined Sam in his escapades. He and George took turns bailing each other out of jail for fighting. The brothers purchased the Texas House Saloon in the growing town of Victor, just down the hill from the Strong mine.

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In 1893 Sam and George had a falling out. George wanted his share of the riches coming out the mine and Sam’s other investments. He told the court that his expertise in mechanical engineering contributed to Sam’s finding the mine. Sam countered by bringing up George’s apparent alcoholism and marital problems. The case was settled out of court, and the brothers continued to work together, at least in the saloon.

Sam Strong wasn’t the best miner, but he knew how to make his money grow. He bought shares in other mines and also set up a money-lending business in Colorado Springs. He moved into the apartment above the offices on south Tejon Street.

Throughout 1894 miners flocked to Cripple Creek, Victor, Anaconda and other towns in the valley. The area was collectively referred to as the Cripple Creek Mining District. Tents and lean-to houses filled the hillsides, but families were beginning to populate the district, and they wanted more than ramshackle housing. Tensions between working miners and the owners grew. Workers wanted standard pay, and the Western Federation of Miners wanted a foothold in the rich camp. The result was a strike.

On April 25, 1894, the Strong mine exploded into a scattered pile of lumber. The union took two hostages, and the Colorado state militia set up camp just outside the city limits of Cripple Creek. The union and the mine owners settled the strike that August, but the carefree camp life was never the same.

Two miners who had worked at the Strong mine, Nicholas Tully and Robert Lyons, were eventually arrested in connection with the mine explosion. Convicted of malicious mischief, they were sentenced to six to eight years and taken to the state penitentiary in Cañon City in the summer of 1895. Less than two years later, they were pardoned.

Sam Strong had kept quiet during the long strike. He alienated both sides–the mine owners by not standing with them; the men he had the most in common
with, the miners, by simply being a mine owner. His own brother was one of the common folk. George Strong now ran the saloon by himself, but Sam continued to frequent it. Shortly after the strike, a drunken brawl occurred. The sheriff arrested Sam and George to keep them alive. From then on, Sam carried a small pistol in his jacket, and George soon left Cripple Creek. (According to family letters, George was ill for a long time before dying in 1904 in Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory, near older brother William Strong.)

Adley Strong died in 1895, and Sam attended his father’s funeral in Nebraska. While there, Sam frequently took out his little gun to accent his words. A rich man never could be too careful. The farmers, awed by his success and wealth, considered him pompous. Charles, who had remained in Nebraska, shook his head and dismissed his brother as a fool.

Sam Strong was only too glad to get back to Colorado, where a man of his means could buy all the friends and female companionship he wanted. He was known to visit the Homestead, Cripple Creek’s exclusive brothel. But he also enjoyed the company of young ladies who had been groomed by proper mothers to adorn a man’s arm. A young Colorado Springs woman, Nellie Lewis, became a particularly close paramour. Strong even took Nellie to New York on an expensive trip, staying in some of the most prestigious hotels. He also kept company with a woman named Luella Vance. Later, Sam referred to both of these women as’simply mistresses.’

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