The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-02-05

The Population diminishing anS <ostiy
Mining Machinery Standing IdfS

mining NnCukntry stunning lNi&
Nevada is deserted mining camp
which has two United States Senator,
and one Congressman. Its ups ano
downs have conceded with the ups and
downs of its mines. When they yield
cd we'll its towns have been full, il
business houses prosperous, and it,
people comparatively numerous. When
they have produced little or nothing il
has gone into the dumps, as it is now,
and everything that has pertained to it
has put on sackcloth and ashes and
awaited the next strike.
If Nevada is ever called upon to de-
eide Presidential election for this
country the beauty of the creation OF
such States will be apparent to the
dullest observer. In the last campaign,
if Indiana and Connecticut had voted
for Blaine, and if Cleveland had car
ried the Southern States and New Jer-
sey and New York, Nevada would have
named the President. The people
here expect that some day such stu
aion will arise, that it will be dis
cOdnted before election, and that the
struggle which will take place for the
supremacy here will pay better than
bonanza. There are now $1,000 voters
In the State-a decrease of 5000
Since the last Presidential election.
If no more big silver discoveries are
made, 1883 will find it with o popula-
ton still further reduced.
The conditions which obtain in Ne
vada are such as cannot be found else,
where In America. Everything de-
ponds upon the mining industry. One
of the largest States in the Union in o
territorial sense, the few people who
live in it are gathered together in the
mining camps, and, save for one or two
fertile valleys, the entire State is a
wilderness destined to remain such for
ever. Silver must be found here or no
body will live here. As il is idle to ex-
pect that the precious metal will always
be produced In paying quantities, it is
come when Nevada, as q State, W ii be
even more of whited sepulcher than
it now is. 1t maintains its present
pretensions only because the various
mining companies are continually pros
pecting, and there is bare chance that
some of them may make a strike of suf-
ficient magnitude to put things on their
feet once more.
Virginia City became town OF 20, 900
people, with many of the advantages of
metropolis. Everybody had money.
The Sutro Tunnel was built. Mining
machinery of the most expensive kind
was put in, and appearances indicated
that the State had entered on q perma-
nent prosperity. Then the bonanzas
died out For long time hope was
kept alive by reports of brilliant pros
poets. Tunnels, shafts, and drifts were
dug. Lower and lower the miners de-
scended, until they had gone $500 feet
below the earth's surface, but other
mines had not been yielding much, and
another siege of hard times began to
stare the people in the face. One by
one they drew out. First the big cap
italists, then the gamblers and sports,
and at last the workingmen and women
and tradesmen vanished, until now Vir-
ginia City does not boast more than
5000 people, all told, and the entire
State has not more than 10000 white
inhabitants. Once again the impress
sion is general that the Comstock is
played out. There must be another
strike soon or the suspicion will become
conviction.
The State Government of Nevada is
convenient means of giving two silver
kings seats in the United States Senate,
but beyond that it is curse to them
and everybody else. With almost no.
body to govern, it is one of the most ex-
pensive institutions of the kind in the
country. Big salaries are paid to all
officials, for they were fixed when the
boom was on, and when $4,000 or $10,-
900 was considered small pay for any
body who could write his name without
sticking his tongue out. Men who
could not or did not make money in
the mines did so in politics. The SEN
atorial elections have been saturnalias
of corruption. The particular bonanza
man who wanted to go the Senate had
to pay all the expenses of the campaign,
sometimes amounting to hundreds of
thousands of dollars. Ordinarily these
so-called fights have been made with
out much opposition, but, in order to
get what appeared within easy reach,
the aspirant has been compelled to pay
as literally as though another just like
him were in the field against him.
Once Tom Williams, Democrat from
Kentucky, made the race against Sha-
ron with $4,000 behind him, but, as
against the expenditure of his rival,
his campaign fund made no impression
at all. The State can be carried at any
time by bonanza man, without refer
ence to his politics, so long as he is not
opposed by another of his kind. If
two of them should ever be pitted
against each other, it would be great
day for Nevada. - Virginia City letter
A Great Scheme.
r r.