Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-12
The Interest OF S~peculaters IN the Future
value oftho Comstock Lode.

Iron the s. +. Times of Monday Evening
EDS. TINEs:-It is not too much TO
say that the larger portion of all the
mining stocks Of the Comstock Lode is
held in spectators hands. By this we
mean that it is in the hands Of those
who buy and sell for profit. 1t is use
less to complain of this, for complaint
would do no good, and the fact would
remain just as stubborn after all vas
said as now. Americans have a spirit
of speculation that nothing will exer-
else, and they carry it along, with their
practical temper, in a way far less hurt
full, we think, than any other people
could. They are producing actual
wealth while they are specializing in
the national credit; they are developing
mines while they are equally engaged
in specializing in their prospective VAL
ues.
As far as the mines, especially silver
mines, are concerned, they seem to have
been fated Al the very beginning for
traffic, and what is called stock opera
tons. The mode of working these
mines has led TO this result more than
any other one cause. The mode was to
work for a body of ore at any cost, to
rifle it from the mine as soon as found,
and TO realize much Or little with the
greatest expedition, and without regard
to system or economy. The mines were
thus worked to. disadvantage, even for
immediate profit, and no provision was
made for the future. When, therefore,
u body of ore was broken into and al
most teloniously taken away; when this
unnatural violence was offered to the
permanent wealth of the vein, the great
law of mineral deposits gave a check to
the proceeding. Nature, II not man,
however bountiful, is still frugal, and
in its richest and most lasting treasures
il takes care to squander nothing. Well,
the body of metal in view wasted away
and disappeared, and the miner having
failed TO push his prospecting work IN
advance, looked blank and gazed on va
caucy. Then stocks took to the antics
usual on such occasions, and the cry
went up that the ComStock lode was Il
surface vein. That was the first chap
ter in TIE history.
But labor was pushed forward, and
new discoveries came in due time, and
the law of that great lode was better
understood, and confidence revived.
The above history, however, like all
histories, repeated itself, and stocks
ranged at all attitudes, from the horizon
of despair to the zenith Of frantic conf
dence. But later in the history real ma
tural difficulties anne to increase the
evil effects of mans improvidence.
These difficulties were the increase OF
water, the increase of temperature, and
the want of fresh air, and these were
further enhanced by the depth At which
they were encountered and Stemmed the
course of man. The enemy came with
increasing strength, and had to be en-
countered at a long range from the sur
face. The contest is still maintained
with temporary advantage on the side OF
man, but nature has more etfeCtual re-
sources at its disposal in the depths,
and will finally vanquiSh IA and ''all
his works
But if the miner can keep up his war
fare to the level of the Sutro tunnel, or
rather if he can turn the flank OF the
enemy by this deep piece of strategy, he
will get many millions OF his treasures
which would otherwise be out Of reach,
and afterward make the tunnel a new
basis for future operations.
We have said that the Comstock mines
are mainly in the hands Of operators
or. as they call neutrality-suspicious.,
we will call them so. Who, then, would
take the benefit from that deep prospect
ing work and drain tunnel? Why, in
the first instance, certainly the specula-
tors and stock jobbers, because they
will hold a large portion OF the stock.
Suppose to-day it were made certain, as
an absolute financial fact, that the Su-
tro tunnel was fully subscribed for, and
that it would be completed within a
definite time, not exceeding FIVE years.
The effect upon the entire stock in the
Comstock mines would be striking and
immediate. Stockholders would look
bevond the next dividend, and would
begin TO trust themselves to the future,
for the mines would then, at last, have
a future, and long n These stocks
would then be looked up by prudent
men as an investment, and they would
no longer be knocked about like a ten
mis- ball. With sufficient prospecting
works and deep drainage, it would be
as hard to get up a panic as it has been
to keep one down. 1t will now depend
upon the various Trustees Of the Nevada
mines TO say how soon the tunnel shall
be commenced, and how soon these
stocks shall reach and maintain their
real value. V