Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1874-07-09
MINING lNrERESTS.

There have been so many articles
written lately by men against the Op-
erai ions in stocks that we propose to
look into the question little from the
other side and see il all the complaints
mace are justified. In the first place,
then, we will point out the fact, which
will not be denied, tha. mining mace
c ,lifOrnia. Had it not been for the dis
pvery of gold there would not be to-
day tithe of the people on this coas:
that are here now, and had it not been
for mining bringing the men here and
the necessities of mining forcing some
people into the production of grain.
the farming interest of this State would
have been developed far more slowly
than it has been. The manufacturing
interest, too, owes almost all of its de-
vclopment to the mines. Take for cx-
amble the smallest venture, and it is
safe to say that it will spend $4,000 la
machinery to test the value of the
mines. whereas the great enterprises in
this direction have hundreds of thou
sands of dollars invested in the
''plant." Now the greatest portion of
this money has gone into the pockets
Of the people on this coast, outside of
the amount paid for raw material, be-
cause it is very rarely that we hear OF
the importation of much machinery.
In the emf loyment of labor i'll direct
way. the mines are to all the other in
slustries about in the proportion of one
to three, and it is safe to say that when
the amount indirectly is added, it
would bring the proportion up to
about onc-half of all the labor em-
plovcd on the whole coast. In the 9TH
or manufacturing Interests outside of
machinery, mining contributes very
largely as to them, and so to the irer-
chants and importers. We hear con-
Stantlv of the amount of good the
grain market is doing the State. 1t is
the fashion nowadays to fall down
and worship the "honest farmer"
and to credit him with all the
virtues. human and divine, besides
with doing everything that is being
done for the good of mankind in gen
cral and in this State i'll particular. Let
us contrast in the two items of labor
and machinery, a very large farm and
very small but paying mine. The
whole value of the machinery on
farm. and that one, too, which is owned
bv Il man who is "alive' and thor
Oughly up to the value Of labor saving
machinery, amounts to. on the outside,
so, 900. This, too, i chiefly imported.
The number of men employed may
amount to thiItN, but this is only for a
part OF the year. during which time,
we acknowledge. very large wages are
paid. Now le; u- see what the mine
doe. in this way. The value of the
machinery of Il small but paving mine
would bc at low figures, 10000. and
the number of men employed for the
whole year sixty. These figures speak
for themselves.
Now what is the relation between the
mines and the Stock Board? The dis
cOyrrer> of mines are a> general rli'c,
poor men. and no one will deny the
fact Lat mines to bc developed require
money. These" loc;.tor>." too. cannot
wait for 4 year trying to induce men
to take hold of the thing they must
not afford TO delay. by simply putin
the mine after i, i Incorporated on the
Stock Board, the money comes at once.
the claims Of the cOnce.'n are put before
the very men who would be likely to
invest in such All enterprise, and the
work goes ahead. Were it not for the
facilities afforded by this arrangement,
MANY of our most valuable mining
properties would Eever have been de-
VelUIed, and the loss to the State would
have, been very great. We can under
stand how there may be some people
who think stock operations are inlmor-
al and hur:ful to the community, iust
as there are some who think the moon
j. made OF green cheese, but we hope
that even these will he fair enough To
acknowledge that the Stock Board has
played no uniinportant part i'll the de-
vclopinent of the country, and that it is
not therefore an unmitisa,ed evil.