Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1874-08-22
SHARON ON TIE CHINEsS
4 LABOR QUESTION AND THE PRAC-
TiCAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE
COMsTOCk LODE.

matters Of public interest, and in pursu-
snce Of this idea we deem it not map
propriais at the present time to repro
duce from the columns Of the GOLD HILL
News, Of October z. 1869. the report Of
. certain episode in the early history OF
the Virginia and Truckee Railroad,
which the people Of Storey county. and
especially Gold Hill. remember very
well. wsreprinti it merely to show what
Mr.. Sharon's views were on the intro
duction Of Chinese labor into tho mines
Of the Comstock. and to refuts the oft
repeated calumnious assertion that he
was and is in favor Of introducing Chi
nese, and cutting down the wages OF
miners generally to q considerable ex-
tent. He, ~ well Al all other practical
mining men. knows and says that the
Chinese will not work in deep mines.
They are simply surface diggers, and
never trust themselves below daylight
into the ground. These 'barbarians are
saturated with inherent and traditional
superstitions. and either the fear OF the
devil or some similar calamity deters
them from venturing down into the
bowels OF the earth. They do not care
10 even visit n mine from motives Of
curiosity or anything else, and money
cannot induce them to work in the
bowels OF the earth. Even IL they
would. what is their style of labor, a
compared with good skilled mining.
such as il done by Cornish. Irish or
American professional miner, Chinese
may do well enough to grade railroads,
and do similar styles Of work, under the
direction OF white bosses, but they have
no talent OF ambition for beeomin: I'M
dsrground miners. The views of Mr..
Sharon relative to the Sutro Tunnel at
that time, will apply very well at the
present day. He shadows forth the fact
Of the mines hayin: penetrated below
the water belt, and being able to extend
operations to the greatest depths with
less and less trouble from water. Even
at that time lac could see no particular
necessity for the Sutro Tunnel to. de-
velop the Coms,ock Lode, and certainly
its utter uselessness is sufficiently dem
onstrated. now that mining operations
have extended hundreds Of feet
below the level OF where that
proposed tunnel would interscet the
great lode. The Comstoek is well
worked. properly drained, and the sutro
Tdnnel scheme, as compared with the
practical development OF the mines
Of the Comstock has degen-
Grated into . mere surface prospecting
arrangement. BY the time 1t could pos
sibly be eompleted-it it ever is-,hs
mines will DO worked TO such u depth
that tho tunnel would be hardly a half
way station-leit behind, like the La
trobe. Gould & Curry. and other surface
tunnels. Mr.. Sharon's ideas OF five
years ago were s~ninently practical in the
development Of the Comstock Lode and
the Of the country generally.
We have all been benefited thereby, and
are liable to he still further benefited in
the future. His great interests have
been. and still are. with the people OF
Nevada. At the timo Of which we
speak. labor aud capital were tempora-
rily antasonis,ic, but the difficulty was
rsconcilsd. and they have worked in har-
niony ever since. Long may this bene-
fcial state Of affairs continue. But TO
tho article in QUESTIONABLE, October 4.
1869. Here 1t is:
We are happy to that by u
little good and sensible talk, and the
exercise Of those reasoning powers
which the Almighty has kindly invested
true men with. the ~antagonistic rsla-
! tons, and belligsrent attitude recently
assumed toward allowing the Chinese
graders to work on the railroad, are at
an end. and by mutual agreement the
good work will be allowed TO proceed to
a speedy and successful termination.
This gratifying result IL brought about
through the Intervention of the Miners
Union. which is the only true represen-
tativo OF the honest working men OF
this section. William Sharon, Esq,
who has recently returned from a bust
ness trip to San Francisco, and who rep
resents the railroad and the California
Bank-in fact the capital in those inter-
ests as well a. in some Of our principal
mining and milling interests, addressed
an impromptu mass meeting Of some
800 Of our beat and most sensible Gold
Hill miners. last evening. at the south
Yellow Jacket hosting works. II was
about 9 O'Clock and the men could all
assemble to the best advantage. They
were no saloon l~oaiers, no law-defying
moi: but men with their dinner pals,
n IN ,he honest garments OF toll, So
lnn IN InGIT THUnllI W0TE or mat kAaGN.1