The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-07-31
THE WEALTH OF THE FOUNTAINS

The TACT that gold and silver are piled UP
in the mountaines of the far west is no
longer doubted, but the mad thirst for gold
which took possession of the masses in 1S49
and continued until California passed from
wilderness to state, has to very great
extent been allayed, not because gold is less
desirable, but rather because the hunt for
the precious metals involves expenditures
which require the association of capitalists,
and even then success does not always crown
the efforts of the gold hunters. There are,
however, occasionally splendid triumphs in
mining well calculated to inspire confidence
in the wealth of the mountains and attract
the attention of those who have money to
invest in mining ventures. The Virginia
article upon the expenditures and dividends
OF the Bonanza mines. 1t says:
On Tuesday last there was shipment of
bullion from the Bonanza mines which COM
pleted the mighty aggregate of 500, 100000 ship
ped from those mines. The exact figures were,
from the California A0,5l7 522 20, and from the
Consolidated Virginia $50, 495, $50 S5-a total of
Sl00,0ll ,0S505. From this sum the California
has paid rs dividends, aggregating SIS, O80, 900,
and the Consolidated Virginia has paid 40
dividends aggregatiug 81 ,OIO 900, making a
total of S69, 10000. There have been, since the
last dividend was declared, shipments amount
ing to $3.50, 655.9S, which viii swell the diVi-
dends Si40, eco, leaving the full amount of dlvi-
dends $50 $4,000, or within fraction of 40 per
These are tremendous figures and are alto
gether unprecedented in mining. Turn them
about, or analyze them in any way, and the
one-sixteenth of the interest bearing portion
of the national debt; ii Is equal to the value
of the property of all kinds i'm an average city
of all the real and personal property of this
state, and the comparisons might be extended
indefinitely. This amount has been taken
from a little spot of ground less than 500 feet
in length. And the marvellous deposit is stil
yielding prlncely sums. In all the mining of
the world no other such success was ever won
before. For five years, from 1867 to 1872, a COM
pany worked upon the ground all the time,
expanding sl6l s9lO.4l upon the property with
out realizing one cent in return. At last ii
was forced to give way, and on the 18th of
January, 1872, the property fell to the present
management. These men expended sZ77 ,l5Ol2
on the property before realizing Sl.OO from IL.
1t was a stubborn fight against the heat and
the barren porphyry-a steady pouring out of
gold on hope, which continued altogether s
years, and which would have been abandoned
In any other country but this, and by any
other class of men IN the world except Nevada
miners. Gail il Judgment, sagacity, faith,
pluck, or what you VIII; II is faculty, or
rather a combination of faculties, which exists
nowhere else on earth. The old stock-only
lOSOOO shares for each mine-was worth but
81 per share, and some who per force accepted
IL for services rendered, bewailed their hard
fortune. Since then ii has made them richer
than they ever dreamed of being, and their
word is held In great estimation because OF
their shrewdness in purchasing bonanza stocks
when they were low. At last In a DRIFT which
run from the Gould and Curry shaft
through the Best and Belcner mine into the
Consolidated Virginia, the crest of the bonan-
cut, explorations followed, and the
more work that done the more ore
was exposed, until at length in the autumn of
1874 IL was fully revealed that an ore deposit
had been discovered that exceeded in extent
and richness anything ever found before in
mine. On October Is, 1873, the first shipment
OF bullion from the Consolidated Virginia was
made. That was three months less than five
years ago, and now the product, as we have
shown, has exceeded 500, 900, 600, almost seven
tenths of which have been I'm profits. or the
whole amount about As per cent. has been gold
and SIS per cent. silver. The yield of these two
mines has drawn the eyes of the whole world
to Nevada. IL has shown as was never before
shown the possibilities which, lie within the
grasp OF labor, pluck and Judgment to our
our country. It has lifted up the credit of the
United States among the nations of the earth;
IL has revealed the possible time when the
worlds commercial capital may be removed
from the eastern to the western hemisphere.
By this it will be seen that more than
$40o, 600 were expended before prospect Of