The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-04-11
TaE SILVER KING. :
How S James Fair Became Que Of the
o Wealthiest Men In the World.

could give his daughter marriage-por-
ton OF one hundred and fifty million
dollars. He would then have about
fifty millions left for himself. He lives
half way up mountain-side in Nevada,
and his daughter lives with him. Seven
years ago he was a 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.
If he lives three years longer he will be
the richest man in the world. His name
is James Fair, and he is the manager,
superintendent, chief partner, and
principal shareholder in the consolidated
Virginia and California Silver Mines,
known to men as the "big bonanzas.
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 thousand tons of rock
every twenty-four hodrs. He wo ks as
hard as any man of them. The man
who, by his own unaided exertions, can
rise to such marvellous wealth in so
short time is worth knowing something
about. 1t is worth while to hear how
such fabulous fortune can be accumu-
lated. .eH e
Seven years ago there were two little
Irishmen in the city of San Francisco,
keeping drinking-bar of very modest
pretensions, close to one of the principal
business thoroughfares. Their custom
ers were of all kinds, but chiefly COM
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 & O'Brien, which were the names
of the two little Irishmen. Keeping
their ears wide open, and sitting the
mass of gossip that they listened to every
day, these two men picked up a good
many crumbs OF information, beside
getting now and then a direct confden-
tial tip /; and they turned some Of them
to such good account in few quiet
little speculations, that they shortly had
q comfortable sum of money lying at
their bankers. Instead of throwing it
away headlong in wild extravagant ven
lures, which was the joyous custom of
the average Californian in those days,
they let it lie where it was, waiting till
they knew of something good to put it
into. They soon heard of something
good enough. On Fairs advice they
bought shares in mine called tho Hale
and Norcross, and were speedily taking
out of it fifteen thousand pounds ster-
ling month in dividends. This mine
was the property of q company, and
though it had at one time paid large and
continuous dividends, it was now sup
posed to be worked out and worthless.
MIR. Fair, however, held a different
opinion and when he came to examine
it carefully, he found just what he ex-
pected to find-a large deposit of silver
ore. Thereupon he and Flood and
O'Brien together bought up all the
shares they could lay their hands upon,
and obtained complete control OF the
mine. 1t was Immediately put under
Fairs management, and it prospered,
and the three partners waxed very rich.
Mr.. Fair, being an experienced and
clever practical miner, spent most. of his
time down in the mine, laying out and
directing the work for his men. It was
necessary that he should know all there
was to be known, and see all there was
to been, about the property and he
made such constant and thorough ex-
plorations of it, that he very soon got il
by heart. In little time there was moi
an inch with which he was not thor.
oughly acquainted, not trace of mineral
in shaft or tunnel of which he was moi
personally aware. By and by, being 6
reflective kind Of man, who noticed
everything and forgot nothing, he tool
to thinking over things, and putting odds
and ends of observation together, anG
comparing notes, and rummaging in ole
out-of-the-way corners of the mine, ant
making all sorts of examinations in al
sorts of abandoned places, and generally
carrying on in curious way, until he
finally persuaded himself that some
where. close by the Hale and Norcross
there ran gigantic vein of silver bear
ing ore, whose value he could only cal
culate in figures that frighter ed him t,
look at. Week after week he hunte,
for this vein without success, and und q
difficulties that would have disheartene(
an ordinary man but he stuck to th,
search, and ultimately found clue. HI
followed it up for ten days, and ther
struck the Bonanza, huge sheet .
gllttering stephanite, one hundred fee
wide, of unknown length and depth, ant
of the estimated value of six hundred
millions of dollars-the mightiest for
tune that ever dazzled the eyes of man
In a week he and his partners were tn
absolute owners of three-fourths of it
the prospective possessors of four hun
dred and fifty million dollars Figure
like these stun the imagination.
In the excitement caused by this as
founding discovery it is scarcely NOR
than the hard truth to say that Sa
Francisco went raving mad. The vel
in which the bonanza was found wa
known to run straight through the con
solidated Virginia and California mines
dipping down as it went, and could nc
be traced any further. But that fac
was nothing to people who were bent o.
having mining stock; and, vein or N
vein. the stock they would have. Con
sequently they bought into every min
in the neighborhood, good and bad alike
sending prices up to unheard-of limits
aud investing millions in worthless pre-
perties that have never yielded shil
ling in dividends, and never will. Whe
Flood had bought large quantity @
the bonanza stock, and had assured
himself and his partners the controllin
interest in the mines, he recommends
all his friends to buy little, and O'Brie
did the same. Those who took the &C
vice are now drawing their proportion
ate shares of dividends, amounting I
about two million five hundred thousan
dollars month. The majority of thos
who bought into other mines are, in Cal