The Indianapolis leader. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1879-1890, 1880-04-10
ALONG fhE. MILLIONS.
Fortunes Made and L9st In Mining
Stocks.
The Experiences of Archie Borland. the
Luckiest Miner of the Pacific slope
HundredsThousand a Day.
New York Times.

| Archie Borland is as familiar as nuggets
sage brush, WashOe, or silver bricks. Whel
he first went to San Francisco it was not
hard matter to know or be known by nearly
everybody in the place, and as he not only
grew quite as fast the country, but gener
ally managed to keep few PAGES ahead o
1t, be soon became known wherever the pre-
ciOus metals were found, and his gigantic
and generally successful speculations made
him wonder to his fellow-operators. Mr.
Borland is an example of what hard work
and steady head, combined with an uncess-
ing flow of good luck, may do for man
among the Western mines. Beginning
with Il pick-axe and a tin cup, be
is now something more than a million
aire, having, meanwhile, seen his wealth
! 600 to $4,000 week, and again watch it
dwindle away to the extent OF 81 500. 900 in
side of fortnight. The writer fognd Mr.
Borland in his rooms ia tho Sturtevant
House, in this city, few evenings ago, and
with some difficulty induced him to tell the
story of his romantic and successful life;
and, once started, he gave the history of
some of his most remarkable losses and
gains-something that even his most init
mate friends before knew only by hearsay.
Mr.. BOrland came from Ireland early in
life, with all his capital invested i'm good
muscle and clear head. He settled down
on farm IN small place few miles below
Albany, and worked away until the mining
fever swept over the country, in lS49. The
epidemic soon made its way up the Hudson;
he was among its first victims. lie heard OF
the wealth that was being picked up loose
all over the soil of California, and wanted to
do some of the picking himself. But it was
long journey to California-much longer
than it is now-and it took d good deal of
money to get there. Not prepared to start
at once, he immediately began to save up
his earnings, with the hope of gaining
enough in short time to pay his pas
sage money. ''Ten dollars a month
were good wages for a man on
farm in those days" said he, 'and it took
tiptop man to make $l2." So saving was
slow work 1t was not till early in 1852
that he was ready to start, and then he took
passage in one of the steamships that by that
time were running to California, and was
landed without accident in San Francisco.
81 made up my mind B. two things ut the
start" said he, mot to work for wages any
longer than l could help, but to 90 in for my
self, and then never take partner" This
plan served him we'll. With nothing but a
frying-pan, pick-axe, tin cup, and a small
supply of provisions, he went, as soon as he
reached California, out into Nevada county,
and began work in the embryo mines for 81
day. Working there. often in water up to
his waist, at the hardest kind of labor, with
the toughest food, of his own cooking, to eat,
he carefully laid by the greater part of his
wages, intending some day to own the mines
he was working in. But they did not prove
profitable enough. AS long as they paid
him his "a day he could not complain, but
the gold was not thick enough to make 9
profitable investment; so, after some months
of labor and saving. he changed quarters,
and went to the Grass Valley district.
Here he was able in a short time to
buy, in a small way, into some of the
CLAIMS, and made some money. For several
years he continued at this, growing little
richer every year, till 1858, when the Frazer
river excitement began. Parties of miners
were going there every day, and wild rumors
of their tremendous success came back from
them. The ground was believed to be COW
cred with gold, and Mr.. Borland caught this
fever with the rest, and sold ont in the
Grass Valley and prepared for voyage up
e Frazer river. This was a difficult and
dangerous undertaking in those days--as,
indeed, it is vet The river, then almost un.
slored, was full Of unknown rapids and
j falls, and navigation was slow and uncertain.
The steamer in which he took passage made
her way, nevertheless, several hundred
miles up the river, almost up to the borders
of British Columbia, and the men got ready
to pick up little loose gold. But they
found very little gold to pick up. What
there was was hard to get at other prospec-
tors had been over the field before them; the
expedition, in short, proved a disastrous
failure, and the young miner soon found
that he had sold out good thing to take
his chances in a sinking ship. So the Eext
thing was to get back to whence he came
from. He had spent good deal of money
on the expedition, and not only did he have
his own expenses to pay, but, dndng mum.
Der of 'the boys" whom he knew far up the
Frazer river utterly destitute. and unable tc
get back to California, he paid their way
back too, and went back with them. 1t il
no wonder they had spent all their money
in the Frazer river country, for -four wal
selling there for 81 pound, bacon for Sill
and coffee and sugar for 81. 20 pound.
Reaching Grass Valley again in 1859, with
still enough money left to buy little interes
in the old mines, he set about retrieving hi
fortunes. One of his speculstions there, afte
getting little on his feet WAS the buying o
the Rock Tunnel, which had then been open
ed $500 feet. In 1863, some little specula
tions went wrong. A vein was not as wild
: nor as deep as it was expected to be, an
what money Archie Borland had saved dis
appeared like q snow-b bank. "You nigh
} L. bo ssbo yhov hos
good pile of money, he can lose it so quicl
2 You'd think he'd manage to hold on to som
r of it. You might Just as we'll try to hold o
to an avalanche. When once she starts
4 whewI things must get out from under
: Everything went with q crash, and after
: wears of hard work, he was once more n
y duced to working for wages, THE gre'
: thing" said he, "was never to quit. Stick
It it. Never let go your hold, and you a.
bound to catch something" With precio'
v few dollars left to operate on, he bought
d mule and once more wore a tin cup in b
l. belt and frying-pan strapped on with b
G blanket. With small party of men bel
v upon the same errand, he mounted his mu
and started across the hills for Idaho. Th'
n. had 1S mules in the party, packed wi
ID provisions. Their fare was little bacon
n little biscuit and little coffee. Eve
h morning they put the coffee grains betwe
be two stones and pounded them up. WI
rs didn't they carry ground coffee2 Because
to loses its strength, and because if it gets wet
e. is spoiled, but an accidental wetting does 4
ne b.l:t the berry. There was not house
ne the way, and he road that mule 900 mil
* gong from one mining camp to another, /
always in the general direction of Ida
is There were plenty of hostile Indians, a
of they had to be guarded against.
l.. | IN