The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1866-01-05
GOLD. SILVER and OIL.
The Other Side of the Picture.

the following ''rebutting testimony oul
readers must judge for themselves. 1t i
sufficient of the first article to say, that il
is cut from the n. Y. Times of Dec. rs
and is from the Times own correspondent
on the Pacific coast, written under date o.
Nov. 20. Speaking of the time when he
first went to California, he says: ''Ther
the quartz mining excitement was at it:
hight. Gould and Curry was selling al
$4,000 a foot, and other mining stocks in
proportion The list of new mining COM
panies organized filled about half column
daily in the newspapers. All of Nevada
was staked out into mining claims. Peo-
pie bought anything and everything. Ii
was only necessary for man to tumble
over boulder to make his fortune, for he
could come straightway into town, report
that he had found lead averaging few
thousand dollars to the ton, and sell out
at any price he pleased. Oh. what for
tunes were lost in those days-sunk bodily
in the earth. to the benefit of nobody, but
the impoverishment of the whole commu-
nifty. Tunnels were run through noun
tains Of perfectly barren rock, shafts were
sunk nearly to the centre of gravity in the
hope of finding pay ore, and all with no
result but ruin TO the stockholders. The
whole Territory of Nevada looks now As
though it had been bored over by gigantic
gophcrs. When it is considered how many
holes one can dig in the earth's surface
without finding gold, it is no longer sur
prising that 50 many failures have been
made. l have, packed away in my trunk,
enough feet" gifts from friends. TO make
me millionaire had they ever risen to the
average value CT five cents Il foot. And
there is not claim among them all which
was not valuable in the mind of the dis
coyercr, and of which the assurance waS
not given that in short time it would be
worth more than Gould and Curry-the
latter being the mine by which the value
of all others was measured
1t was my misfortune 10 strike this
country when everything was at full tide.
and consequently suffered by the ebb
The first thing bought was ,''Daney";
that was paving Sl4 4 foot per month.
and was selling at $3.50. | bought four
feet on the assurance of friend that in
three months ii would h. worth thou
sand. got one dividend, after which it
was discovered that the dividend was
evoked Fin other words. money WAS
borrowed TO pay it-;,nI the directors sold
out. The stock ran down 10 about $50
in very quick time. | paid an assessment
of $40 a foot, held on, and finally sold
out at $40, Immediately after which the
stock commenced dropping, and now, at-
ter several assessments. is worth nothing
My next operation was in Wide West |
had a friend who had the inside track Oh
the mine. The stock had been Is high H.
$500, and was then selling at $40. 1t
was a bear" every one sad. On the
that it would be worth ST.
800 inside of SIX months, tackled it. in
company with two friends. We bought
forty feet at $40, paying three dollars
foot commission From the date of our
buying, it steadily tell, We held it for
nearly eight months, paying one a>SeSs-
mcnt of SO foot. and another of - !
finally closing it out ut S2l. So that we
were worse of, by 80 foot and eight
months interest than we would have been
had we made some one a present of the
stock the day we bought it, 1t was in
that same stock that W. r. GarriSon-son
of C. H., the well known steamship man.
and one of the best fellows in the world
GOT nippcd to the tune of $4,000.
1t was about this time that the excite
ment about Mexican mines commenced. |
and of course | was remarkably anxious
to ''gct even" OF Mexico We had all
read as the land of gold and silver. and
every one was wading in, neck and heels
and with them waded in your correspond
tnt. The history of the whole affair
would take me so long to tell, that won't
weary your readers with it. 1t is enough
to say that Ell 1igre was the name of this
mine, and that l got badly bitten by the
animal
Look at the prices of mining stock to-
lay. Gould and Curry, once worth So
300, and paying dividend of $50 a
month. is down to 5000 Savage, from
$500, has fallen to 800. Ophir, once
1900, after several assessments, is now
So 15-and so all through the list
If you were to ask the reason of this.
should reply that the superintendent, in
heir anxiety to get at the golden eggs.
ripped open the goose that laid thom OF
The millions taken out, something over
was wasted in foolish ex-
ravagance, only the balance finding It's
way into the pockets of the stockholders.
The mines were fairly Quilted, ore being
orn from the bowels of some of them at
The rate of about three hundred tons day.
md worked by process which saved not
much over half the metal, or else turned
over to be manipulated by custom mills,
which got rich from the pickings. Oh,
what times those were. think COM
oany could have been organized, with
millions of capital, to tunnel the moon or
lrift through the rings of Saturn in the
expectancy of finding horn silver in the
centre Of the planet. All was hustle. con-
usion and extravaganza, and gold twenties
Gould almost be picked up in the streets.
But we have changed all that now and
t is pretty tight nipping on a great MANY