The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-09-24
From Nevada.
VIRGINIA CITY. NEVADA.
Sept. llth, 1875.

. full of excitement and bic with the
financial interests of the Pacific Coast
have elapsed since my last letter tC
( YOUR paper. The announcement oi
| the suspension Of the Bank of Cali
| fOruia in san Francisco. and the CON
seQucnt failure of its agencies here,
and in Gold Hill, fell upon our people
! like thunder from clear sky. Every
body here seemed TO have the utmost
confidence in its management aud its
ability 10 stand for an unlimited pc
riod, iii the 5uture, as III the past, the
Great banking institution Of the
coast. Its failure is but one more H.
lustration of the rule that banking
Institutions like individuals engaged
in Specializing outside of their legiti-
mate business will sooner or later be
oVertakcn with sudden revCrses that
irretrieyably rum them. If the man
ayers of the Bank Of California had
confined its business to Il legitimate
channel. instead OF embarkin@ IN wild
and visionary schemes. and Investing
its capital in mining stocks that tiuc-
tuatc with every breeze that stirs, it
would stand to-day the great money
power of the coast, and our people
would have been spared the gloom
and anxiety that settled like funer-
al pail over them when its suspension
was announced. But its managers
not content with the rewards of a
legitimate. honest business. chose to
drag it into the politics of the coast,
and to other channels, where at last
it met its fate. The excitement here
was intense for several days after the
failure. Men who naYe faced danger
and even death in the lower levels of
the hot mines, and who had deposit
ed each months hard earned wages
in the bank, walked the streets with
blanchcd faces or gathered in groups
and conyersed III low tones over the
failure and its probable results. The
mining interests of Nevada received
a severe shock. from which they will
not soon recover, on account of the
scarcity of GOLD and silver coin for
their development. Storey county
will feel its effects more than any 9th
er section Cf the coast because min
in" is our only resource, and between
two and three hundred thousand dol
Lars III coin are required every month
to pay the men engaged i'll mining
and milling the ore taken from the
mines within the limits of the ooun-
ty.
| believe promised in my last to
tell your readers something about
the people who reside in this lively
city. ! will reserve that for a subse-
qucnt letter, and in this write some
thing about the big fire that occurred
here on the morning of the second
inst, trip to the tol'of Mt. David
son and return, and other matters
that may be Of interest to your read
e1S.
It was about three o'clock in morn
ING Of the 2nd, q, time at which sleep
rests most soft on the eyes of the
sleeper, when the dread, cry of fire
rcsoundcI through our streets. The
alarm was quickly sounded by num-
erous fire bells that rang out their
discorClant notes on the chill morning
air. The steam whistles from the
numerous hoisting works anttquartz
mills in the city, took up the refrain
and their braZen threats hurled the
discOrd back and its echoes reyerbcra- |
ted among the mountains that sur
round us. The clamor awakened us, !
and hurricGlv dressing, We rushed !
into the streets and found that a COLI
lagration was raging just across G
street from our Office, i'll the heart of
the city. Then followed scene of
the widest confusion | ever witness
ed. For two hours the fire ragged with
all the fury of a destroying angel, and
when the sun stfcaked the east with
its golden light, it looked upon. the
RUNS of one hun dred and twenty |
thousand dollars, where, but a few
hours before stood the handsome
brick building of the Odd Fellows
and several wooden structures, The
loss fallsmost heavily on the Odd /