Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-07-01

or Ia pounds, semitic it. The gold and
silver from the banks are sent to the
refinery to be refined. Formerly a
good deal Of gold and silver used to ac-
cumulate at the banks, bnt now it is
shipped quickly by the railroads.
What remains over hi ght III the banks
IS, being in the shape Of bars, placed
on trucks and run into the vault, till
it is sent away next day Silver is ship
ped principally to China, Japan, and
England. It is interesting to detail
b. HOW THEY ARE SHIPPED.
At the country banks it is received
in all conceivable shapes-in plain bars
packed in buckskin Gags, in
tin boxes, and even in old tin cans.
Silver coin for export is always put in
square dovetailed boxes. Silver bullion
comes in plain bars. When sent from
the bank it is put in large bag from
which it is taken when brought to the
railroad cars and placed on the floor of
the car. In this way it is brought to
the city. Most of the gold and silver
is coined here and shipped away by the
firm OF Wells, Fargo & Co., which has
agents at every principal point on the
railroads, whose duty it is to receive and
check it. On this car are number of
men armed with small arsenal shot-guns
and navy revolvers. They accompany
the treasure. When shipped East it is
put up in little boxes of pine wood with
screwed lids, each containing 500 900.
Wells, Fargo & Co., have about 900 Of
fees on the coast, and employ 1850
men. The offices extend from here to
the Missouri river, and they have regu-
lar agents at Liverpool, Hamburg, Bre-
men, &c. They have an gents o all the
trains. 1t takes fifteen men to run a,
treasure car through fromhere to Og-
den, and there are from two to six and
eight on all save some of smaller lines,
while on days when there is any consid-
cradle amount Of treasure, they have
an armed guard. In sending to Mexico
a treasure-roOm is engaged on the
steamer, in which the treasure is packed
in boxes or bags. They are put in a
square safe, which will hold $25O,OOO
Silver is almost always shipped in bars.
For the carriage ofgold from Fort Shaw
Montana, near the boundary of British
Columbia, to this city, the charge is 1 As
per cent. for carrying silver it is 81 per
cent. on the value. For shorter dis
tances there is, of course, reduced
scale OF charges. Now
WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE GOLD AND
SILVER
In the first place, 81, O34, 537, 245 has
been sent away from San Francisco
through regular mercantile channels
during the past quarter Of a century.
Nearly all this went by sea. though the
amount exported in that way
has been growing smaller, being now
onl y small proportion Of what it was
a few years ago, before the overland
: railroad was completed. OF the bal
ance, about $40, 900, 900 worth exists in
the shape of coin, jewelry etc., on the
Pacific coast s6O,OOO,0OO has gone
East by express, postCffice and drafts,
, while the balance has been shipped
from Utah, Nevada, Montana, Idaho,
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyo-
ming, Oregon, Washington, and British
Columbia on the railroad since it's COM
pletion, or by other means of convey
ance previously, and carried away by
private hand. OF the whole amount,
more than 100000 900 worth has
reached England chiefly by way of New
York. Of that exported by sea, more
than half has gone direct to New York,
about 5000, 900, 900 direct to England,
nearly $3.50, 900, 900 to China and Japan,
and the balance to various other coun-
tries.
| ONE NOTICEABLE CHANGE
occurring of late years, is the charac-
ter OF our bullion product. Formerly
it was all gold, or nearly so. In 1859
we began to obtain silver, when the
yield OF the argentiferous lodes of
Nevada astonished the world more than
did the placers of California, and ever
since year by year the quantity mas been
increasing, while that of the gold has
nearly all the time steadily decreased.
Last year the yield Of silver on the Pa
clhc coast slightly exceeded that of gold.
We have furnished the world with gold !;
we shall furnish it with silver. That
the silver is needed may be we'll under
stood when it is known that India alone
requires $500, 200, 900 worth of silver to
supply her wants in this respect. AS to
the future prospects, the silver yield of
Nevada, Utah, and California is continu
ally increasing, and the gold yield of
the coast will increase so soon as the
vast unworked and almost unknown
resources of this state are developed.
1t, in fact, may be considered that the
resources, auriferous and argentiferous,
OF this coast have as yet only been
tested, and that the Development has
yet to come. The Rocky Mountains,
the backbone of the continent, the
Sierra Nevada, and the connecting
ranges, have, as yet, but been partially
prospected, and may be considered the
inxehaustible storehouse of precious
metals.
Good Old Times.