Winfield Scott Stratton (July 22, 1848 – September 14, 1902) was an American prospector, capitalist, and philanthropist.

He discovered the Independence Lode near Victor, Colorado on July 4, 1891, and became the Cripple Creek Mining District's first millionaire in 1894.

[6] Stratton filed a claim for the Independence mine in Cripple Creek, Colorado on July 4, 1891.

He earned an average of $1 million each year until 1899,[5] which made him the first millionaire of the Cripple Creek Gold Rush.

[5] He donated the money for the construction of the El Paso County Courthouse, which is now the Pioneer Museum.

[1] He bought the streetcar system that became the Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway and spent $2 million improving it so that it had 36 miles of tracks and 56 cars.

[1] The Colorado Springs Millionaires played at the city's first professional baseball stadium, which was built by Stratton.

[9] He is said to have written a check for $5,000 to "Crazy Bob" Womack, the prospector who first discovered gold at Cripple, but was down on his luck.

[5] Stratton lived a simple life in a wooden house on Weber Street after he became wealthy.

She was called the "suffering but faithful housekeeper Eliza" in the Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West book.

His body was visited by more than 8,600 people at the Mining Exchange Building the day before he was buried in southeastern Colorado Springs at Evergreen Cemetery.

[15] The actor Gene Evans was cast as Stratton in the 1964 episode, "Sixty-seven Miles of Gold", on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days.