The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-04-25
THE SILVER KING.


moment who, II he were $50 minded,
could give his daughter marriage-por.
ton IL one hundred and iifty million
dollars. Tie would then have about
titty millions left for himself. lie lives
half way up a mountain side IN Nevada,
and his daughter lives with him. Seven
/ years ago he was poor man; to-day he
/ is the silver king Of America. He has
/ dug two hundred million dollars worth
Of silver out Of the hill he is
living on, and has about two
hundred millions more yet to dig.
/ II he lives three years longer he will be
the richest man IN the world. His name
is James Fair, aud he is the manager,
superintendent, ehiet partner, and
/ principal shareholder IN the consolidated
/ Virginia and California Silver Mines,
known 20 men as tho "big bonanEas. q"
He has an army OF men toiling for him
day and night, down in the very depths
OF the earth, digging. picking. blasting
and crushing u thousand tons Of rock
every twenty -four hours He works as
hard AS any man Of them. The man
who, by his own unAiied exertions, can
rise 10 such marvellous wealth in 30
. X
about Ii is worth while 20 hear how
such fabulous fortune can be accumu-
lated.
Seven years ago there were two little
Irishmen III the city Of San Francisco,
keeping a drinking bar Of very modest
pretensions, close 10 one Of the principal
business thoroughfares. Their custom
ers were Of all kinds, but chiefly CON-
mercial men and clerks. Among them
Was AN unusually large proportion Of
stock and shareholders, mining. brokers
and the like, and there was no place IN
San Francisco where So much mining
talk went on as in the saloon Of Messrs.
Flood 4 O'Brion, which were the names
Of the two little Irishmen. Keeping
their ears wide open, and sitting the
mass OF gossip that they listened 10 every
day. these two men picked up a good
many crumbs of information, beside
getting now and then a direct coufien-
tial TAP and they turned some % them
10 such good account in a few quiet
little speculations. that they shortly had
a comfortable sum 81 money lying at
their bankers'. Instead Of throwing it
away headlong in Wild eItrayagant ven
lures, which was the joyous custom Of
the average Californian in those days.
they let il lie where IL was, waiting till
they knew of something good to put il
into. They soon heard OF something
good enough. On Fairs advice they
bought shares in a mine called tho Hale
and Norcross. and were speedily taking
out Of il fifteen thousand pounds ster-
ling a month in dividends. This mine
was the property Of company. and
though il had a, one time paid large and
continuous dividends, il was now sup
posed to be worked ont aud worthless.
Mr.. Fair, however, held a different
opinion and when be came % examine
il carefully, he found just what he ex-
pected 20 find-a large deposit OF silver
ore. Thereupon he and Flood and
O'Brien together bought up all the
shares they could Law their hands upon.
and obtained complete control of the
mine. It was Immediately put under
Fairs management, and IL prospercd,
and the three partners waIed very rich.
Mr.. Fair. being an experienced and
clever practical miner, spent most of his
time down IN the nine laying out and
directing the work for his men. IL was
necessary that he should know all there
was 10 be known, and see all there was
b been, about the property and he
made such constant and thorough eI-
plorations OF IL, that he very soon got it
by heart In little time there was not
an inch with which he was not thor
oughly acquainted, not trace Of mineral
in shaft or tunnel OF which he was not
personally aware BY and by, being a
reflective kind OF man, who noticed
everything and forgot nothing. he took
TO thinking over things. and putting odds
and ends OF observation together, and
comparing notes, and rummaging in old
out-of-the- corners Of the mine, and
making all sorts of examinations in all
sorts Of abandoned places, and generally
carrying on IN a curious way, until he
finally persuaded himself that some
where, close by the Hale and Norcross,
there ran gigantic Eein Of silver bear
ing ore, whose value he could only cal
culate in figures that frighter ed him 20
look At. Week after week he hunted
for this vein without success. and under
difficulties that would have disheRrtened
an ordinary man but he stuck 10 the
search, and ultimately found n clue. He
followed it up for ten days. and then
struck the Bonanza, n huge sheet of
glIttering stephanite, one hundred feet
wide, Of unknown length and depth, and
OF the estimated value Of six hundred
millions of dollRrs-the mightiest for
tune that ever dazzled the eyes Of man.
In n week he and his partners were the
absolute owners OF three-fourths OF IL,
the prospective possessors of four hun
dred and fifty million dollars Figures
like these stun the imagination.
In the excitement caused by this as
founding discovery it ia scarcely more
than the hard truth TO say that San
Francisco went raving mad. The vein
in which the bonanza was found was
known 10 run straight through the con-
solidated Virginia and California mines,
dipping down as il went, and could not
be traced any further. But that fact
was nothing TO people who were bent on
having mining stock: and, vein or no
vein, the stock they would have. Con-
sequently they bonght into every mine
in the neighborhOod, good and bad alike,
sending prices up 10 unheard-of limits,
and investing millions in worthless pro-
perties that have never yielded shil-
ling in dividends, aud never will. When
Flood had bought a large quantity of
the bonanza stock, and had assured 70
himself and his partners the controlling
interest in the mines, he recommended
all his friends TO buy little, and O'Brien
did the same. Those who took the ad-
vice are now drawing their proportion
ate shares of dividends, amounting to
about two million five hundred thousand
dollars a month. The majority OF those
who bought into other mines are, in Cali
fornia parlance, busted" What these
three mef aud their latestpartner, Mac
kay, are going to do with their money IL
a curious problem, the solution OF which
will be watched with great interest in a
year or two 70 come. Tho money they
hold now is yielding them returns 40
enormous that their maddcst extrava-
gRnces could make no impression on the
amount. Every year they are earning
more, saving more, and investing more.
They have organized bank with n capi-
tai Of ten millions Of dollars; they con-
troll nearly all the mining interests OF
/ Nevada and California; they have n
strong grip of the commercial. financial,
and farming interests all along the Paci-
| &c slope; and by single word they can
/ at any moment raise n disastrous panic,
and plunge thousands of men into hope
| less ruin. II will I've an interesting thing
\ 10 wait and watch how this terrible
power for good or evil Is 10 be welded.