Characters Name:  Marcus Sloane
Gender - Male
Race: White
(White, Black, Hispanic, Indian)

Age: 23

Physical Description:   Marcus is 5’11” in height with blonde hair and piercing  blue eyes.  After years as a coal miner he developed powerful arms, shoulders and muscular frame of 185 pounds.  He prefers to be clean shaven when possible, rather vainly liking to show off his good looks.  When not in town, he is generally dressed in Levi jeans, grey shirts with a Texas hat and his ever present silver wolf’s head cane.  When he wanders into town, the New York quality brown suit comes out.   Whether in town or not, Marcus always is wearing his New York Central railroad pocket watch and silver chain. 

Weaknesses & Strengths:  Marcus is said to have a keen and analytical mind along with his power body.  He is an excellent fighter and wrestler; despite his dislike of violence. He is well educated in the fields of math, geology and mining and has a noticeable ability in matters of money and business.  In part ,due to his math skills, Marcus has become a highly skilled card player capable of winning without cheating and a remarkable ability at spotting card cheats.  While not that fast with a hand gun, he does hit what he aims at, but is extremely accurate with any rifle.   While polite and a good conversationalist; Marcus tends to be rather shy around women and lacks any form of dancing ability.  There are some of the “smart men” who believe his honesty and desire to help others is his primary weakness.

Gear & Weapons:  In town Marcus Sloane wears his Colt Army Revolver (double action) in a gun belt and holster; while his double barrel derringer remains safely tucked away in his vest pocket.  Out of town he still wears his handgun and has a bowie knife in a sheath attached to the other side of his gun belt.  His favorite weapon is a .45 cal. British Withworth with a telescopic sight, with which  he is devastatingly accurate.  He owns a five year old chestnut colored  Morgan Horse (fairly fast, strong and good endurance) named Mason and two four year old donkeys called Flora and Dora.   He has outfitted Mason with a durable padded blanket under a high quality leather saddle, bridle, a large water resistant leather sheath for his British Whitworth rifle and scope, large dual saddle bags.  The saddle bags contain a hunting/skinning knife, cooking mess kit, flint and fire starting fabric wads, 50 matches, a canteen of water, some flour and bacon, his razor, razor strap, soap, a bag with 10 $20 gold pieces, a notebook, ink and quill pen, a box of shells for each of his guns, and a book on geology and one on mining.  Mason also has canteen of water around his saddle horn and a bedroll and blanket rolled up and tied to the saddle bag.  Flora and Dora carry standard packs containing 2 Ames shovels and picks, 3 miner’s pans a dozen empty bags, 100 foot light rope, 150 foot heavy rope, an axe, wood plain, a box of 100 nails, a miner’s hammer and chisel, four water bags, two more books on geology an one on mining and smelting.  A month’s supply of coffee and trail rations, a surveying kit, two pair of Levi jeans, one regular shirt, two cold weather flannel shirts, a light jacket, a heavy jacket, 3 pairs of miner gloves, a winter hat with ear flaps, a second pair of boots and four pair of heavy socks, a bag with 30 $20 gold pieces and an all weather hide tent. 

What Type of Character:  Marcus miner from the age of 10 (coal), who studied geology and mining and accounting at New York City College.  He turned prospector for himself and sometimes for mining companies and land surveyor.  His math skills and cool nature made him a very successful gambler; while his accounting and study of business and stock market will aid him in becoming ultimately a successful businessman.  All that is needed is capital. 

Assets:  Marcus has $10,000 on deposit in the state bank of Denver, $1,000 in $20 gold pieces split between Mason’s saddlebag and Flora’s pack. He has $ 10,000 of New York Central railroad stock yielding 8.5% in dividends, and $10,000 in the Pennsylvanian Railroad stock yielding 6.5% a year.  The dividends are deposited in Drexel Investment Bank of Philadelphia where he has $15,000 deposited.  On his person, he has a money belt holding $2000 in greenbacks and another $500 of greenbacks in his wallet.

      Marcus is on friendly terms with William Henry Vanderbuilt (heir to Commodore Vanderbilt’s railroading empire and manager of the NYC railroad , Henry Frick ( Soon to become the King of Coking Coal, William Rockefeller (John D. Rockefeller’s brother and agent for Cleveland Refinery Company, soon to become Standard Oil.)
(Rich/Average/Poor - roughly how much money do you have, do you have old land deeds here or elsewhere, any rich benefactors anywhere.)

Background:  Marcus Sloane was born into a coal miner’s family in 1847.  His father, William Sloane was killed in a mine cave in when Marcus was ten years old.  Needing money to help his mother feed the three younger girls, Marcus went to work in the Pennsylvania coal fields at the rip old age of 10.  The mine owner liked the hard working minor miner but did nothing to make things easier, except giving him a man’s pay instead of a child’s pay. ( Child miners made .25 cents a day, while an adult miner made $1 a day.)  Before sunrise, Marcus arrived at the mine and 12 hours later retuned home.  His mother then spent three hours each night teaching Marcus how to read, write and work math problems.  On Sunday, he wondered the area examining the terrain.  Tragedy hit him hard in 1862 as illness carried away his mother and three younger sisters, leaving only Marcus to bury and morn for them.  He continued to live in the one room shack and labor in the mine until he turned 18.  Now a strapping lad thanks to the years of hard labor, he took his savings and went to New York city to study geology, mining and accounting.  To finance his studies, Marcus became a bare knuckles fighter.  It got him $25 a bout if he won.  He never lost.  One of his professors introduced him to William H. Vanderbilt who needed someone to survey the expansion of his Harlem railroad line and drive the track layers, a rowdy bunch most of the time.  Working during the day and studying at night left no time for social activities.  He finished the track in half the normal time by keeping the men in line, by intimidation of the rowdies.  Vanderbilt was impressed with the young man.  They became friends and Marcus became a consultant for the New York Central.  He was introduced to Henry Frick, and a newly arrived salesman, for an Ohio oil refining company, named William Rockefeller.  Marcus put his earnings into the stock market and has been successful to date.  Finishing his degree in three years, the now 21 year old headed west to prospect for various kinds of mineral resources. 

    Making Denver his base of operations in 1868, he explored several areas finding promising lands that he sold to speculators and mining companies.  He used his funds to buy more stock.  His knowledge of geology aided him in inspecting claims and mines for their true value and pay small sums to miners who just wanted to sell out and didn’t realize the real potential of their claims.  In 1870, Marcus decided to check out the Blue Mountains after hearing of a strike in the area. 


Write a short scenario:  It was just past noon when Marcus Sloane rode into Tent City, with his two donkeys in tow.  He had heard that there was shortage of food and this could spell opportunity for some “smart” deals.  Rather than stopping in town, he decided to press on to the mining camp.  Seeing the lean and hungry looks of the miners and a general look of depression, Marcus knew this presented a good state of mind for bargains. 

     Setting up camp near the edge of the field of tents, he settled in preparing his supper of biscuits and gravy with a couple of slices of bacon.  The smell of the bacon heightened his desire to finish the cooking and begin the eating.   After dinner finished and the clean up done; moved Mason, Flora and Dora close to the tent for the night.  The animals had grazed and watered.  Marcus settled down to enjoy the orange and pink glow of the setting sun, which was now sinking beyond the horizon.  The long shade of darkness was slowly displacing the light of sun; while the campfire become more noticeable as darkness approached.  It was time to call it a day.  Marcus put out the fire and went into his tent for a well deserved nights sleep.  Placing his pistol under his saddle, which he used as a pillow, Marcus began to think about his next day’s endeavors.  Slowly he drifted off to sleep despite the noise coming from the nearby encampments of noise miners.  The night’s dreams disturbed him as his memories of his family and their passing clouded his sleep and he tossed and turned.  Hopefully, the returning day will find him successful in picking up high value claims for deep discount prices.