Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-08-29
The Last Hope Of Comstock.

The famous Comstock mines of Ne
vada are now practically exhausted.
The Comstock lode was one of the re-
sources designed under Providence to
help this country through the financial
straits of a great war. When Mr.. Lin
coin suggested that perhaps the noun
tains of the far West would reveal the
wealth which would enable us to re-
sumo specie payments and pay off the
National debt, then such a weight upon
the prospects of the country, the hope
seemed far-fetched and to the economist
grotesquely illusory. Nevertheless the
discovery Of gold in California in 1848,
and of silver in Nevada in 1858, did
have a momentus bearing upon our
ability to specie payments with
in fifteen years of the close of the a
The wealth drawn from those sources
would have been Just as real had it been
of wheat, or of corn. or of cotton cloth,
but all these things we also produced in
abundance and sought to sell among
the peopled lands, while gold and silver
had the advantage of being wealth in .
form different and easily diffused, es
pecially designed to settle international
balances and to sustain a currenc,
based primarily upon the National
credit.
In 1869 and 1870 the Nevada mining
interest was greatly depressed. The
Virginia mines were down to
eight hundred feet and the
realization of glowing anticipation
seemed as distant as v The
stocks were depressed and there was a
general disposition to sell out to foreign
capitalists at any rate. Before this was
accomplished, however, the great
bonanza was struck, and in the next
seven years two mines produced $780,
600, 600. These were the Consolidated
Virginia and the California. The "Con.
Virginia" as it is called, from 1873 to
1879 produced 1928, 600, 600 of gold and
$35, 900, 600 of silver; the California
from 1876 to 1879 over 1922, 200, 900 in
gold and $23, G0O,0 600 in silver, making
for the two mines Sl09, 600, 900. The
cost of this production was $50, 900, 600
and S73, 000, 900 was distributed in
dividends. The year 1880 added 800
o0O,O 600 more to the total output of gold
and silver from these two mines. This
bonanza came just in the nick of time to
assure the resumption of specie pay
ments, which was effected in this way:
First, the panic of 1873, the ensuing de-
preston and the fall of prices. Second,
the decline OF imports on account of this
becoming a poor market to sell in,
(prices being low and the expansion of
exports for the same reason. Third, a
favorable trade balance, gold and silver
remaining at home, greenbacks appre-
ciating steadily upon the visible presence
OF a large stock Of bullion and the rising
credit OF the Government bv r%efunding
Those were the days of the glory 81
the Comstock, which has now departed,
the depression in their values have
deepened year by year since 1880. .'The
owners of these two mines to-day SAYS
the San Francisco Bulletin, of the two
referred to above, ''have so little conf
dencc in their value that they have
leased the working of the upper level to
Senator Jones, who has probably q dou-
bic motive for working them, the sue
cess Of either Of which will be of great
advantage to him. 1t is reported that
Senator Jones believes that ore has been
passed by onathese upper levels. Super
lntendent Patten, who worked the lev
els, does not SO believe.n In the mean
time work has been carried to the enor-
nous depth of three thousand two hun
dred feet. The Sutro tunnel, which
pierced the mountains at the eighteen
hundred foot level at enormous expense,
drains all above that, but serves no
other purpose. The water for the re-
naming fourteen hundred feet has to be
pumped to that point and the rock has
to be hOtsted the whole distance. The
Mexican, Ophir, Sierra Nevada and
Union consolidated mines, representing
Sl3, $4,000 Of assessments paid in and
81, l05, 200 of dividends paid out. have
'..poolcd their issues and combined to
sink another hundred feet. The share
holders Of the Consolidated Virginia
and California have been paving assess
ments for a long time and thousands of
shares have been forfeited and have
fallen into the treasury OF the companies.
1t remalns to be seen what will be the
result of the last desperate effort to win
a new lease Of profit and glory from
Comstock. In the meantime the devel-
opment OF the mines of Leadville, Col,
OF butte, Won't. and other new mining
districts takes the place of Nevada in
u bullion production.-Sprix2fel
(Mass.) Republican.
"A Nebraska girl writes home from
California that the stories about rich
and speedy marriages for women in that
Ell Dorado are pure humbug. There
are more men than women Int in har
opinion most of them have run away
from marital bonds elsewhere. "A
woman she says, ''is OF less cons--
quenee here than anywhere in the
world. The Chinese do most of TIE
washing and housekeeping, and work
At about the same wages that girls and
women would find necessary. There Is
mighty little marrying and giving +,
marriage here. "-DenUer Tribune.
The saying is, that every dog has
his day. but did it ever occur to YOU
that every uay has it's dor2, W.: