Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-09-25

puol1c an opportunity to recover from
the disastrous crash of '73, and if the
latter We're sufficiently prudent and
far-sighted to avail themselves of this
chance, they should at least abstain
from anathematizing Mackey and his
confreres fr.m dawn to dusk.
Evidently the shares in these mines
were divided into five for one, and
dating from that act their market
value began gradually to depreciate,
despite the admirable promphtude
with which dividends were declared
and paid, running into the millions.
The exact amouRt of bullion taken
from the mines during the very brief
period of their proliGcacy none, on
the outside, will have the presumption
TO estimate; but suffice it to say the
public received a goodly share of the
net product.
The apparently inexhaustible re.
sources of the bonanza mines were not
merely topic of local discussion. but
the votarles of the Pacific bourses and
London Stock-eXchange were tempted
to nibble at the bait in modified de-
gree, and thousands of shares are SAID
10 have changed hands across the At
lantic from December, 1866, up to the
demoralized period.
This fact is not surprising when one
reflects that the Freiberg experts.
whose practical ideas and mineralogi-
cal lore had then not yet been apprais-
ed at their true value, calculated to
nicely tat there was ample ore in
these mlnes-in sight-capable of
yielding ST. 00,000,O OG0i Everyone
now knows what an unfortunate mis-
calculation that proved for many
hundreds of investors.
Ir the early summer of ,76 heavy
break occurred Ill the stocks of these
mines, which instead of arousing the
suspicious of the outside holders to
the effect that the experts may have
deceived themselves, prompted the
majority to hypothecate! what shares
they held and purchase an additional
number on margin, vainly hoping
| for that which never came to pass.
| There was 40 cessation to the contin-
uOus depreciation, and when the aut-
umn leaves of that year strewed the
ground countless suddenly-acquired
fortunes had been swept away by
avaTice. By that time there were
comparatively few, who in the flush
moment Of excitement had acquired
a competency, in possession of their
originally-invested capital. The
small fortunes went to swell those
of thesmillionaires, and there is none to
blame but those who failed to harvest
while the sun shone.
The fBal result of the bonanza
strike of "A was an addition to the
specie stock of the world of several
hundred millions, and four great
millionaires, whose wealth has been
variousl Y estimated at from $50, 000,-
600 to $50, 900, 900 each: but the exact
amount will never be known until the
fortunate miners are called hence, and
perhaps not then. This enormous
wealth affords one of their number an
ample field to carry out the full bent
Of his generous nature. another it has
placed in a United States senatorial
seat; the third 1t has transformed into
a powerful banker, and the fourth it
brought to an untimely grave.
The Gulf of Mexico and its Stream.
At the American Science Associa-
ton IN Philadelphia, Prof. j e Hill
gard read paper on the Relative
Level of the Atlantic Ocean and the
Gulf Of Mexico" He exhibited a re-
lief model. showing the western part
of the North Atlantic ocean, the Gulf
of Mexico, and the United States, east
OF the Mississippi river The principal
| features to which he directed attention
were the fact that the actual continent
al outline does not correspond to the
present accidental limits of land and
waller, but to the one-hundred fathom
curve, SO that the continental limit is
! far out under the sea. Florida and
Yucatan have more than twice their
geographical limit, while the West
Indies and the Antilles appear as
vast submarine continuation of the
Florida peninsula, the mountain
SUBMITS OF which only appear above
the sea. This submarine plateau, ex-
| tending to the southeast, forms, with
the coast line of the United States, a
great blight nearly as large as the Gulf
of Mexico, which Prof. Hilgard de-
srgnated the Great Bay of North
America. What ever the causes which
produced the gulf strea m, they must
give rise to an elevation of the gulf
above the Atlantic in order to occas-
ion the stream-a physical fact dem
onstrated by the most accurate
measurements. The explanation of
the stream was that the North Allan
tic trade winds set the water of the
Caribbean sea against the Spanish
main" Central America), DETECTED
northward along the coast of Yucatan,
where the flow is through the straits
between Yucatan and Cuba, and
thence through the Beminl channel
into the Atlantic ocean, thus forming
what is known as the Gulf Stream"
The part which the Gulf of Mexico
has IN this is mainly that of a reser
voir or accumulator," maintaining
the overflow at a more uniform rate
than the assigned cause would admit
of without such a reservoir
L. oil