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, . , , 0267 4 i , , , , , c Along about the time the La Bella plant was breathing its last, a new electric development came into the picture, the Skaguay Hydro plant. Skaguay was the brain child of Warren Woods, who with his two sons, Harry and Frank, blew into Cripple Creek with the boom. . The Woods 'boys were real estate men and promoters at the start. In the course of events they promoted the building of a hotel in Victor, one of the mining camps in the dlstrict. In the process of excavating the basement, they struck a rich vein of gold, and the hotel project was abandoned, becoming instead the Gold Coin mine. Out of it poured a flood of wealth that gave the Woods entry into many fields of business. They opened banks at Victor and P4eblo. 'They organized the Pikes Peak Power Company for the purpose of furnishing power to their Gold Coin mine, from there branching out into selling electricity to other users in the district. They built the Skaguay Hydro plant at a cost of more than a million dollars, completing it in 1901. As time rushed on, and the yellow dust from their Gold Coin mine piled up, they reached out for bigger things, conceiving the idea of merging their Pikes Peak Power Company with the Pueblo Traction and Lighting Company, with the Woods interests irl control, . In the process of financing this expans~on, they pledged all of their assets, intending to issue'and sell bonds in the new enterprise to take care of the financing. But the bonds were never . sold! Rumor has it that ,the Woods had offended all the state bankers . with their bitter competition to the extent that Woods' projects were either ignored or not recommended when inquiries came from Eastern (,.-. \ bankers. When they were unable to sell the bonds to finance the expansion, the Skaguay plant, along with the other holdings pledged, . reverted to the original owners of the Pueblo Traction and Lighting .