The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1875-09-02
A California Bubble Burst

the news that the Bank of California, with
a capital of many millions, had made u
disastrous failure. Close upon this came
the intelligence that Ralston, the Presi-
dent, had drowned himself in the harbor
all of which has been confirmed. 1t is
believed that the whole capital of the
bank has been sunk, and that the stock
holders will be called to pay about fifty
per cent in addition, y writer we'll post
ed in Pacific coast affairs gives the follow
ING history of the bank
The Bank Of California arose several
Years before the wan in the mind of Viii
liam G. Ralston, 4 native Of Steubenville,
o., who had been purser on the southern
rivers and the clerk OF Commodore Gar
rison in the Nicaragua traffic A bright,
shrcWd young fellow, Ralston established
himself rs a banker al Panama, and, mov-
ing TO San Francisco, started a banking
house with Eugene Kelley and others un-
der the style of Kelly, Donahue Il Rails
ton. After doing an immense business,
Kelly and talston qualTclled, and the
former went to New DIRK city, where he
IS still n man OF position. kal9ton then
conceived a bank great enough TO be the
financial arbiter of the Pacific coast, and
to conduct our Asiatic and East India
transactions. lie called to the head of
this bank ID. O. Mills, native of New
York, who had developed from trader
and sutler in pioneer times to be the lead
ing banker in Sacramento. The agent OF
the bank in Nevada was William Sharon,
also of Steubenyillc. O., man of more
solid parts than Ralston, without the lat
tel's versatile and driving temperament
Mills was Il COOL prudent, unambitious
man, apt to put much trust in Ralston,
who had made him an immense amount Of
money. lie drew out of the bank two
years ago, except rs 4 stockholder and d.
rector, and Ralston W o had been content
to be cashier became the president The
charter for this bank was Struggled thro'
the Legislature by appendng to il u clause
providing that corporations could be form
ed under general act for manufacturing
and mining purposes, the words land
other" This was done to prevent the
rirtuous Legislature from hackmailing the
mcorporators. The capital OF the bank
finally settled to be five millions of gold
dollars, with s. 600, 600 surplus This re-
presents the nominal failure, but the bank
through its agencies, probably did one
hall or two-thirds OF the business OF the
whole coast 1t WAS this institution which
banned the United States currency from
being Il legal tender in the Pacific states.
Its Nevada agent is now u senator of the
United States, and outwarllv reconciled
to his and the banks former antagonist,
Senator Jones The Bank OF California
has been the fiscal agent for the Central
Pacific Railroad, frequently advancing
money on the hypothecated bonds of the
company Almost every field of produc-
ton and enterprise on the coast has been
gripped by the antennT of this immense
ray, which some have called devil-fsh
and others a friendly providence The
wheat product of California has been con-
trolled by the directors Of this bank every
form of development has received assist
ancc from this all-seeing concern. Even
the theatres OF the coast and the new city
gardens in san Francisco were built bv
Ralston and his friends and turned into
profitable stock Ralst0n, Sharon Il Co
own three great hotels, the Cosmopoli-
tan, Grand and Palace, and the latter
is said to have cost s. 900 900 1t was
in real estate that this bank met with
its catastrophe. Having exhausted the
ordinary rough means OF enriching them
selves, the managers went into the cele-
bfatcd bonanza senation Of last winter,
and made large amount of money They
next ploughed into San Francisco real
estate, extended Montgomery street, and
built the Grand and Palace hotels They
natriaH INN, #
ground and Improvements, and meantime
became involved in a quarrel with the two
most powerful papers on the coast-the
San Francisco Bulletin and the Morning
Call, both of which are under the same
general proprietorship. Ralston Il Co.
had large amount OF water and Gas
stock, which they designed selling to the
city and transferring the water corpora
ton to the public They were allotted in
this and other schemes by the Alta Calf |
tornian, which was formerly the property
OF McCrillis Il Woodward, Philadelphia |
men, who married sisters, but had hcav-
lily mortgaged their paper to Ralston & |
Co. The Bulletin and Call, admonished |
by the tate OF the Sacramento Union, !
which had been absorbed by the Central |
Pacific Railroad Company, went to work |
with power to break the public faith in |
Ralston personally and in the Bank of
California These articles, kept up from
day to day for months, appear to have
had their effect. Handling coin only, |
which was being exported to the east I'M |
der the stimulation of the high rates of |
gold, the bank and the coast were drain
ed OF specie. The newspaper attacks |
caused n run on the depleted Golfers of
the concern, and the speculations of its |
managers mad strained its own capacity |
to the utmost. The bank has gone down |
in the fight with the press, and another
example is afforded of the impossibilitv |
OF 4 great monopoly resting in perpetuity
on the brain and breast Of an Intelligent |
Republican people. Mr. Jay Gould can
take Belshazzar's spectaclcs and read the
writing on the wall.
Mr. Joseph Hahn who lives near Marine
City, Michigan, had got down about l25
feet with his artesian well when he struck
Il geyser In the twinkling of an eye, up
on the removal of the anger, the wooden
tubing shot out of the well like stone
driven from q catapult, followed by a vol |
ume OF gas, water, gravel and mud that
rose full 200 feet into the air, while the |
trembling earth, the roaring torrent and
the descending debris made Mr. Hahn |
and his co-laborers think they had struck
the regions Internal. Stones weighing |
from ten to twenty pounds were project
ed into the air, and some of them fell crash |
ing through the roof of Mr.. Hahn's house.
near by in fact, the family were obliged
to seek safety at neighbours, for human
lille was not sale moment in the farm
house. In the neighborhood of Mr.. Hahn's |
farm stone, large or small, was rarely
found, but now they can be taken away