Morning journal and courier., 1880-06-02
Romance of the Comstock Lode.

''You ought to buy yourself terrier dog"
 
 Romance of the COmstocIx Lode.
 Isan Francisco Correspondence Chicago Tribune.l
 If it is true that the Comstock has ''peter- ed" at last, what moral its history has been! How it has made and unmade men, what CO., lossal fortunes have been built in month, and how soon have they been dissipated. Senator Sharon who was sent to Virginia City by Ralston the agent of the Bank of California, got the nucleus of his fortune in few months, and is now among the richest men in the nation his wealth being estimated all the way from $1O, GOO, 900 to $25, ,OOO, GOO. Mackay was a carman in Ophir at $4 per day; then he went to work in Bullion as foreman, and then in Kentuck. One day as he with number of others came off shift J. M Walker, who superintend- ent of the mine, was talking to a knot of men about investing i'll a certein neighborlng mine Imperial, think Mackay overheard the conversation. He had always been sober and industrious man, and he had some mon ey. He took Walkers advice and invested in-the stock, and eventually made $1OO;OO0 which he had on deposit in the Bank of Cali fornia for several weeks before again enter ing the field Time ran along Fair and Mackay made two or three joint investments and always made money. Then 1t happened one day they were down in Flood & O'Brien's Auction Lunch saloon on Washington street. Flood & O'Brien were doing modest busi- ness, but not enough to choke them with pride. Flood had made few thousand dol lars in stocks and was eager for points It nearing the time for the annual elec- tion of Hale & Norcross. Fair said if they could get lot of the stocks and proxies for @ lot more they could get the control of the mine away from the Bank of California. They resolved to do it; they put all their money in a pool Flood acting as broker, and bought all the stock possible. They secured proxies for enough more to control the election, but would have been beaten by Ralston in the end if Fair had not proved his integrity in the presence of the most glittering tempta- tion that Ralston could offer. Fair had prox- ies that represented the balance of power and he threw them as he had promised, in favor of Mackay, Flood $ Go. They never forgot it, as he retired from business two years ago with $2, 800, 900. This was the beginning of the reign. Having Fgot control of Hale & Norcross they opened it up for what 1t was worth. The stock shot up into the thou sands and they became milhonaires in a few weeks. But this merely whetted their appetites. The Central No. and White < Murphy claim, just south of the Ophir, had always been considered wild oats. Mackay and Fair, who resided in Virginia thought differently. They quietly gathered in all the stock at $2 and started in to develop the claims, first renam ing them Consolidated Virginia and California Everybody knows what these unparalleled mines have done. Mackay, Fair Flood and
  taining two-ffths and the others each one-
 fifth interest in the partnership. Mackay and Fair attended to matters in Virginia Flood manipulated the market, and OBrien, broth of boy if ever there one, kept things moving among the saloons and out at the Cliff House. When he died in 1877 he left S9, ,000. 900.
 Senator Jones got his start and made and lost his fortune on the Comstock. He was the daddy of Crown Point, and here he made his bonanza. How the twenties used to fly in those days! Wine, two-bit cigars, any thing-everyth free. But no one knows what man is capable of under certain condi- tions until he is seen with unlimited wealth
 in flush mining camp. But Jones went through like man in the deal last fall, and
 is interested in Colorado enterprises, I believe.
 Johnny Skae is another who was for time one of fortunes favorites. He was tele-
 graph operator when he got hold of the key to some big stock operator Cipher, which he used to such good advantage that he got the nucleus of fortune. He finally got control of the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company, and that, together with fortunate Investments i'll stocks made him $2, 000,O0 To-day heis
 $25O, GOO worse off than nothing.
 ''Lucky' Baldwin is another who owes his fortune to the Comstock- A man of anything but elevated instincts, yet possessed of native shrewdness, he has accumulated large for | tune through fortunate investments in Com 1 stock securities. It is related of him that he l gave his counsel R. H. Lloyd who secured | him divorce from of his wives, 1000 | shares of Ophir as a fee. The stock was
 worth at the time $1SO a share How cheap l ly wives are gotten, and how dear they some | times prove in the end
 The moral history of the Comstock for the
 past 20 years if truthfully written, would | comprise a dramatic tale indeed. I have
 never heard of any one being morally eleva-
 ted by its influence, but the lives that have 1 been wrecked here, their name Is legion
 Even to-day the crack of Q suicides pistol or
 scenes behind grated bars in the two lunatic | asylums of this State tell their own tale 1 Honor fortune and life have been sacrificed | time and again to the god mammon. Men of
 moderate fortunes envied Flood & Co.,. and | played against their game and drew disaster, ! ruin, insanity, death, while the masters ofthe ! situation counted theirincreasing gains in the l Nevada Bank vaults and pitied the fools who
 dared woo fortune without propitiating her | latest votaries.
 | In the palmy days of the Comstock, vir- l gnia City enjoyed flush times. In the city proper there was population of about 1000 l souls, consisting of miners, saloon keepers, | merchants, teamsters, gamblers, and courte-
 sans; 15 faro banks and 200 courtesans lent their attractions to the place in 1876, and 1 remember the lavishness with which money was shrown to the dogs. Everyone had mon ey, and every one seemed to be glorious
 spree. But the scene changed in 1877 Dark
 ness and despair eamped under the shadow | of Mount Davidson, and the glory of the Comstock seemed to have departed. But in 1878 Sierra Nevada gave evidences of a bo-
 nanza. Money was plenty, stocks booming for a few weeks, and then, the deaI being end | ed, the town relapsed into a state of semi | bankruptcy. A joint effort was made to re- | vive the lode last fall, and Union and Sierra 1 Nevada were pushed up the scale. But the 61Ift fhad
 and it now looks as if the dog was finally and | irrevocably dead
 | The Comstock has had an unprecedented
 history. In 20 years it has given to the world 1 more than 300 millions of money and employ
 ment to thousands of workngmen. It has de- | veloped some of the finest machinery in the
 world, and made quartet of millionaires who
 never hoped for more than $1O0,O00 between
 them. Its future for many years will be that
 of most mining camps that have had the1r
 day. There is some low grade ore that may | be worked by the Sutro Tunnel mills, to be
 constructed soon, but the day of bonanzas