Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-07-18
JONES' MILLIONS.
From Miner TO Money king-Career
of the Senator from Nevada and
California
New York Morning Journal

:
New York Morning Journal
/ There is something romantic-al-
most eNciting-ln the career of Sena-
! tor Jones. Landing alone in Califor-
MIA mere youth. amid the widest.
/ most reckless men. attracted there
/ from all parts of the world in search
| of gold, he has dlstanced hundreds of
/ thousands of competitors in the race
for that prize. While tens of thou
sands fell by the wayside he pursued
the even tenor of his way. cultivating
his intellect, preserving his physical
and moral health. so that when he
reached the goal of his desires we tiud
one OF the richest, most generous, in
tellectual, and pureSt men of the age
made of the rude materials of an
''honeSt miner"
| Senator Jones was born IN England
in 1929, and was brought to the United
| States the following year They set
tied in Ohio. In 1850 the gold fever
struck him, and after nine months
voyage around Cape Horn he arrived
at the Golden gate. Not vet q. and
with hardly money enough to keep
him over night, but full of hope and
energy, he went dirtct to the mines
IN search of gold There is scarcely
mining county in California ia
which he has not worked as a miner
not by proxy, but with his own
clear bead and vigorous hands In
the summer of 1851 he was W .rking a
rich placer on the Stanislaus river.
Soon after h" was the owner of rich
claim on Woods creek, near Sonora
Then he went into the Sierra, Butte,
Nevada, Shasta, and other mining
counties, where hu worked for years
IN those long, dreary tunnels which
pierced nearly every mountain side
With the proverbial ''mtners luck"
many pile" the now famous Sena-
tor made and lost at the hazardous
game of tunnel mining. spending the
fruits of years Of toll in shallow pla
GERS, to reach the grandest prize of
some table mountain lead. until he
finally struck it rich To follow
the senator through his rough path to
success and honor and to record the
Incidents of such an eventful life
would require volume.
One of his great enterprises, and
the only one he ever gave up without
succeeding, was an attempt TO develop
the Panamint mines, III Mono coun
tv, which, after spending millions of
dollars, he abandoned. TO show the
mans breadth of view and grasp Of
p rpose, it may be mentioned that he
had intended to connect this Pana-
mint enterprise by rail with the coast.
For this purpose he built the railroad
and bought the site of the pleasantly
located and prosperous town of Santa
Monica, where he built extensive
wharves for the accommodation of
steamers and sailing vessels. He had
corps of surveyors and engineers
employed for months, examining the
practicability of making a canal,
roads, and a railroad across the Col
orado desert to connect with the
coast. Equally gigantic have been
his enterprises in the states of Nayada
and Oregon. at one time he con
trolled the Ophir, Savage, and Crown
point mines, on the Comstock lode,
not for mere speculation to manipulate
the stock market, but to develop for
the benefit of the stockholders. He
is the owner of extensive establish
ments for the manufacture of artlh-
cial ice at Atlanta, New Orleans,
Dallas, and other southern cities,
where immense quantities of ice are
annually made, with costly patented
machinery. He is the owner of the
famous Hamman baths. on Dupont
street, San Francisco-the most com
plete and costly establishment of the
kind in the United States. A few
years ago he purchased twelve thous-
and acres of land at the confluence of
the Napa and Sonoma creeks, which
was subjected to overflow by both
fresh and salt water Around this
land he has had built dixie with
sluiceways, and his expenditures in
this direction were 5000, 0G0-entirely
for the purpose of making some of
the most valuable land In California
out of what, without the senator's en-
terprise and wealth, would have re-
mained, perhaps forever, dreary
waste OF mud He has invested mil
lions in almost countless works for
the development of the resources of
the Golden state and to increase the
comforts and prosperity of the people,
giving employment to thousands of
the industrial classes.
Although laboring with hand and
head for years in search of gold and
silver, few men have devoted great
er share of their time to self-culture
than Senator Jones, His political
career. which eliminated in his being
elected to the United States senate,
was as vigorous and energetic as his
search for the hidden treasures of the
earth. OF massive mold and pleasant
aspect, and fluent speaker, the hills
and valleys of many mountain dis
tricts have reverberated with hearty
applause at his sallies of wit and bits
of pathos. The same vigor of express
sion, the same Industry in gathering
materials to add force to his remrrks,
have Esade him one of the most etfec
tive speakers in the senate His
mastery speech on the remonetizlng
of silver in 1878 was recognized in this
country and Europe as one of the
NEST valuable additions to general in
formation on the subject of coinage
that had ever been written. His deep
and laborouS investigation of the
question of finance question that
is agitating the whole civilized world
when matured will place him in the
van of modern political economists.
His most conservative friends in the
east place his wealth in solid nuggets
at 500, 900, 900.