The Billings herald. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1882-1885, 1885-02-21
TIMES IN NEVADA.
ANOTHER SILVER STRIKE NEEDED
TO BOLSTER UP THE STATE.
Tho Population Diminishing aad Costly
Mining Machinery Standing Idle
Is the Old Comstcck lode DO.
fnitivcly Playe'i Ont?
Virginia City Cor. New Icrk Sun.1

gre isnlan Its ups and downs have COIN
cided with the ups an downs of its mines
When they yielded wei it.; towns have been
full, its bu,ine IS houses prosperous, an it'
people com oaratively numerous When
they have produced lttle or nothing it ha:
gone into tn, DUMPS, as it now is, and
everything that has pert to it has put
on sackcloth aau ashes, and awaitel the
next strike.
If Nevada is ever called upon to decide
presidential election for thi, country, the
beauty of thu creation CT such states will bo
apparent to the dulless observer. In tho
last campaign, if In LLAMA and Connecticut
Lad voted for Blaine, AMI if Cleveland had
cariial tho southern states and New Jersey
and New York, Nevada would have had tn,
deciding vote. 1t could have namel t;.e
presi len. The people here expect some day
that such situation will arise, that it will
be discounted before election, anl that the
stru2gb which will take piac, for the
supremacy Eere will pay better than a
bonanza. There ar, now only 1900 voters
in the state, a decrease of 5000 since the
last presidential election. If no moro big
silver discoveries are made, 1883 will find it
with a population still further reduced.
The conditions which obtain in Nevada are
such aS-tannot be found elsewhere in Amer
lea. Everything depends upon the mining
industry. One of the largest states in tho
Union i'll territorial sens,. tho few people
who live in it are gathered together in the
mining camps, and save for one or two fer
tile valleys, the entire state is wilderness;
deet n ID to remain such forever. Silver
must be found here or nobody will live here.
As it is lille to cxpc:t that the precIou,
metal will aiway, b, prodlcel i'll paying
quantities, it is plain that the time must
some tim, come when Nevada, as q state,
Will be even more Of q white scDul.h,r than
it now j. 1t maintains it, pre- elt prete:l-
slOns only ecause the various mining COM
ranies are continually prospectin :, and there
is bare chance that some of them may
make strike of sufficient masnitu !e to put
things on their feet once again.
This is not the first time that Neva Ia has
Eeen in the slough of despo2d, or that it
has been predicted that tho ComstOck was
played out During the Hale & Norcross
and Goull & Curry excitements, from 1868
to 1860, the state filed up with miners and
adventures to the number of ,O)0 or more.
As the mines showed signs Of exhaustion,
th, was stampede, and not more than
1900 people remained Houses We're moved
away or lurnel down, AMI men sold what
they could not move for a soly. Tho next
great boom occurred when Jones' the pres
ent senator, unearthed tie Crown Point
mine. Jones was foreman of the Gould &,
Curry mine and considering the prospects
good below that property, toward Col | Hill,
he located CAIN which he called tho
Crowl Point. He got capital only VITA the
greatest difficulty, and from the first he
met and overcame financial obstacles which
seemel almost insuperable. Early in
1871, while Jones was drawing a sal
ary of SIS, month from the dis
heartcned Lollers of the $1,000 shares of
Crown Point, and the stock was selling at 25.
to 50 cents, en- assessment Of 81 cents a share
was levied TGcre was general refu al t.
pay on the part of tn, stockholders, aat.
Wien tho sixty days went by til, greas bulk
of the stock was defaulted on.
In the mean tim, n rich lie lye had been
struck at the mine, AMI when the announce
ment was made public som, days after the
default, the stJck jrmrel to 81 900 share.
Enormous masses OF ore were taken out, and
dividends of SO were pal l. This mine finally
ran into the Belcher, i'll which Sharon, Mil>.,
and the Bank of California made great
fortunes, but when that was exhausted
paralysis again seized upon the state and tho
depre sion became universal. Towns of d.
900 to 10000 people died away into mere.
hamlets, and as people became convinced
once more that the Cumstock was exhau ,ted
they turned toward more promising fields.
In 1873 James G. Fair, who wa superin.
tendent of the Gould & Curry, formed an al
lance with M:ckey and Flood and secured
control of some abandoned Gains north of
tho Gould & Curry embrace lg about 1905
feet of grounl. Fair conceived the idea of
running drift north from the Gould e.
Curry into these claims at a depth of l 800
feet. No companies were organized at first,
but eventually they formel the Consolidated
Virginia and tie California. Without max
ing any shafts from tho surface they ran
their drift north, as originally intended, and
came upon the big bonanza, deposit of
silver Of unexampled richness, from which
more than soOo, ,OOo, 900 was taken
TIE excitement caused by this discovery
was prodigious. Mining properties of every
kinl went ballooning. Asses ments were
levied AMI pail with promptness and tho,
various camps illel up onco more with
miners, prospectors, spectators, gamblers
and all manner of tradesmen Virginia
City became town of $4,000 people,
with many of the advantages of a me-
tropolis. Everybody had money. The Sutro.
tunnel WIGS built Mining machinery of the
most expensive kind was put in and appear
ances indicated that the state had entered on
permanent prosperity. Then the bonanzas
died out. For u long time hopo was kept
alive by reports of brilliant prospects. Tun-
nels, shafts. and drifts were dug. Lower and
lower tho miners descended until they had
gone ), 800 below the earth's surface. but moth
ing was found In the meantime the other
mines had not been yielding much, and an
other siege of hard times began to stare the
people in ihs face. One by one they drew
out. First the big capitalists then the gam
blers and sports, and last the workingmen
and women and tradesmen vanished, until
now Virginia City does not boast more than
5000 people, all told, and the entire state has
not more than $4,000 white inhabitants.
Once again the impression is general that
the Comstock is played out. There must be
another strike soon, or the suspicion will be-
come a conviction.
Just now tho prospecting is going on
anywhere, on the surface, and deeper and
deeper into tine bowels of the earth. Of the
forty mines in the state, only few are max
ing any pretencc of working. Hundreds OF
thousands of dollars worth of machinery
is standing idle. The various companies
continue their assessment; on stockholders
of a few cents share to keep up some ap-
pearance of activity AMI prevent outsiders
from coming in and jumping their claims.
If one mine should make lucky strike every
other one would Immediately levy heavy
assessment 1t would be paid without grum-
bling, and money would once again he free
as water. On such slender thlea Is as these
docs the future of Nevada as a state depend.
A Philadelphia doctor is treating thirteen
cases of spinal disease, whic;, he says have
been brought on by bicycle riding
~ <ho >,diat. ~ came. I