The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-04-14
A MILLIONAIRE MINER.
His Ups and Downs--Winning To-day
and Losing To-morrow..How He
Held on and Finally Triumphed.

A ii over the racine Slope Iue uaIue VI
Archie Borland is as familiar as nuggets,
sage-brush. Washoe, or silver bricks.
Mr. Borland is an example of what
hard work and steadylhead. combined
with an unceasing flow of good luck,
NAV do for q man among the Western
mines. Beginning with apick-axe and
tin cup, he is now something more
than a millionaire, having, meanwhile,
seen his wealth increase at times at the
rate of 1926, 900 to S50,0O0 n week, and
again watched it dwindle away to the
extent of million and half inside of a
fortnight. A New York reporter found
Mr.. Borland in his rooms in the Stur-
tevant house, in that city, and with
some difficulty induced him to tell the
story of his romantic and successful
life: and, once started, be gave the his
tory of some of his most remarkable
losses and gains something that even
his most intimate friends before knew
only by hearsay.
Mr.. Borland came from Ireland early
in life, with all his capital invested in a
good muscle and clear head. He
settled down on farm in a small place
a few miles below Albany, and worked
away until the mining fever swept over
the country, in l849. The epidemic
soon made its way up the Hudson, and
he was among its first victims. 1t was
not till early in 1852 that he took pas
sage in one of the steamships that by
that time were running to California.
and was landed without accident at San
Francisco. II made up my mind to
two things at the start" said he; "not
to work for wages any longer than !
could help, but to 60 in for myself, and
then never to take partner. ms
plan served him well. With nothing
but frying. pan, a pick-axe, tin cup,
and small supply of provisions, ne
went, as soon as he reached California,
out into Nevada county, and began
work in the embryo mines for 81 a
day. Working there, often in water up
to his waist, at the hardest kind of
labor, with the roughest food, Of his
own cooking, to eat, he carefully laid
by the greater part of his wages, in
tending some day to own the mines he
was working in. But they did not
prove profitable enough. As long as
they paid him his S4 day he could not
complain, but the gold was not thick
enough to make profitable investment;
so. after some months of labor and saw.
Ing, he changed quarters, and went to
the Grass Valley district. Here he was
able, in a short time, to buy, in q small
way, into some of the claims, and made
some money. For several years he cor
tinued at this, growing a little richer
every year, till 1858. One of his specu-
lations there, after getting little on his
feet, was the buying of the Rock Tun-
mel, which had then been opened $500
feet. In 1868, some little speculations
went wrong. A vein was not as wide
nor as deep as it was expected to be;
and what money Archie Borland had
saved disappeared like a snow bank.
"You might WONDER" said he, chow,
when man has good pile of money.
he can lose it all 50 quick: You'd
think he'd manage to hold on
to it. You might as we'll try
to hold on to IN avalanche.
When once she starts. whew! things
must get out from under" Everything
went with crash, and, after eleven
years of hard work, he was once more
reduced to working for wages. 1.-The
great thing" said he, twas never to quit.
Stick to it. Never let 20 your hold, and
YOU are bound to catch something"
With precious few dollars left to operate
on. he bought mule, and once more
wore a tin cup in his belt and frying
pan strapped. on with his blanket. With
a small party of men beat upon the same
errand he mounted his mule and started
across the hills for Idaho. They had
eighteen mules in the party, packed with
provisions. Their fare was little ba-
con, little biscuit, and little coffee.
Every morning they put the coffee.
grains between two stones and pounded
them up. Why didn't they carry ground
coffee? Because il loses its strength, and
because if it gets wet it isspoiled; but an
accidental wetting does not hurt the
berry. There was not Il house on the
way, and he rode that mule 800 miles,
going from one mining camp to another,
but always in the general direction OF
Idaho. There was plenty Of hostile Ir-
dams, and they had to be guarded
against. "ls there any other business
in the world" Mr.. Borland asks, sitting
before a comfortable fire, with some
thing better in front Of him than bacon
and biscuit, THAT would take a man
hundreds of miles across an unknown
and dangerous country on mules back,
often wading IN water up to mis-
neck, cooking his coarse food, starting
out at sunrise in the morning. with
great holes worn in his back by the pack
he had to carry, but still pushing on-is
there any other business that would lead
a man to this but the excitement of min
ing?" After long and painful journey.
he reached Idaho, and went to work.
By diligent labor he soon owned shares
IN some of the mines there. By 1866 he
had accumulated $4,000, which he had,
not in checks or drafts or bits of paper.
but in solid gold-dust. done up in bags.
With this good stock Of gold-dust Mr..
Borland determined TO return to Cali
fornia, which he considered his proper
field, although he had prospercd in
Idaho. The road at that time was in
tested by "road agents." and the jour-
ney was a dangerous one. But he
bought some mules, a biz navy revolver
and choice stock Of Arkansas tooth:
picks, and started. 1t was a long and
lonely journey but, after six days and
six night of hard riding, he landed his
gold dust safely in San Francisco. Then
he bought into Comstock and other
mines, and made money. There
were no stocks in those days,
but foot of surface was the equivalent
of q share ofstock. One ofhis first sue
cessful speculations on a large scale was
in the Savage mine. In July, 1866, he
bought five feet OF Savage, at 81, 100 a
foot. The first month that he owned it
he drew $50 foot dividend. The Sec
ond month it went up to S75; then it
took another rise and reached Sl0G a
foot dividend every month. In the fol-
lowing year, 1867, the value went up
tremendously. Early in the year it was
worth $4,000 q foot; from this it went
steadily up to 50, 500, $4,000, $4,000, and
S., 900 foot. At this price be sold his
five feet for S25,0OO, having received
more than al the money he originally
invested in monthly dividends. Then he
began to think himselfarich man. OGher
stocks that he held went up, and his
fortune gradually increased-gradually
for the Pacific slope, but rapidly for any
other country. From S25.000 he went
up by degrees to $4,000. 5000 and
S4OO. 600. In 1869 he bought largely into
the Comstock and up to 1872 he had no
competitor in his gigantic operations.
1.-The best winning speculations I
ever made,' he said, "were from 1872
to 1874. l made n, heap Of money in
that time, and I needed it to carry me
through my worst losses in 1878. But
I got through. and am still ahoat In
1872 I bought 500 shares OF Central for
less than $4,000. This mine was soon
afterward cut up and put into Cali.
fornia, and the redistribution gave me