, 1885-07-15
MINING OzcAogacE our wgsT.
1ho coiastook, Eureka, and othsr Mines
Speculation In 'Frlsco-Operator%.
fCor Chicago Herald

H
1he coiastoek. Eureka, aud othsr Minis
Speculation la 'Hrlsco-operator-.
fcor. Chicago Herald
No Official report of the silver yield OF
the country for 1885 has yet been made
public, but it does not need statistics 10
show that, so far as the region west Of
the Rocky mountains is concerned, the
production Of silver has fallen to but a
fraction of former years. The great
silver state Of Nevada, for instance, has
fallen from S4s, 900, 900 in 1875 to less
than s., 900, 900 in 1854, and now has to
be rated second to several OF the terri
tories. Tho great Comstock lode alone,
which has produced $j71, 900, 900 in
gold and silver, does not now turn out
enough to pay for oil 10 run the ma
chinery OF the mines. The Eureka,
" hite Pine, Phoebe, Austin, Tuscarora,
and other districts which once turned
out their millions, are nov almost
wholly unproductive.
Tho whole state of Nevada. indeed, is
marked by abandoned shafts and tun
nels. and strewn with idle and rusting
machinery, while the population of the
state has dwindled from 65, 900 in 1880
10 less than 10. 600 in 1886 There were
but ~, 900 votes cast In the whole state
in 1884. Utah and Arizona, the only
other silver producing regions of the
Pacific coast, are not so unproductive
as Nevada, yet their glory has. in q
great degree, departed. The mines Of
Tombstone, Pinal, Bisbee, | rescott, and
8 ayapai, in Ari ona, have all fallen
of, and dividends now are like the Wis
itations OF angels, few and far between.
Nowhere is this wreokage of the min
ing interests Of the west more apparent
than in San Francisco. Speculation in
mines and mining stocks is as dead here
as literature on the { ongo. Tho streets
formerly devoted to the business of
speculation, and which were the head
quarters of hundreds of mining com
panies. are deserted and quiet. The
thousands Of feverish operators who
made the air ring with their shouts and
the excited hum OF business have scat
tered to the four winds. some are in
ew York; some who saw in time the
coming of the end retired with fortunes.
some are in Washington begging offices
from the new admin stration; many
have gone to farming, Others wander
listlessly about the streets, seedy and
poverty stricken, and II few, alas III
suicides graves
The massive stone stock exchange,
erected at a cost Of 81, 900, 600, stands
desolate, its windows dotted with pla-
cards TO Let" and its great ''toawoodn
doors yawning for victims. Its portals
are thrown open once a day-R little
knot of gray and haggard brokers, each
grasping for the fraction Of a commits
sion which he would have scorned in
the days gone by, gather In the middle
OF the noor, make their little transac-
tons involving a few hundred dollars,
and the business of the day is over. To
those who remember the excitement and
uproar and swirl o ten years z the
sight is almost lud~icrous, for it seems
like children playing at speculation in
the back yard.
Keene, Mills and Hood type, long since
vanished from the scene. lent, hob
erts. Latham, Hall, Sherwood, Grayson,
Dodge, Budd, ! eckham aud scores of
others Of a later period, have not been
seen on the toor Of the exchange for
years. Some of them are dead, others
scattered. The wealth which poured
into their laps often in a night has for
the most part gone with them. In some
cases it has been dissipated and its
for or owners reduced to penury.
With the d%ecadence of speculation
there has come, too, an end to sensa-
tional mining. There are no longer ais
coveries which set the public wild. In
deed, there has been nothing of great
value found by any Of the vast army OF
prospectors since 1872. Vow and then
a gold pocket is found in the quartz re.
g on of California, which yields a for
tune to a few lucky individuals, but it
has no effect upon the public. The
Il nd" is not extensive enough o arouse
mole than n passing interest.