, 1885-01-24
TIMES IN NEVADA.
ANOTHER SILVER STRIKE NEEsED
TO BOLSTER UP THE STATE.
Tho Population Diminishing and Costly
Mining Machinery Standing Idle
Is the Old comstoch Lode De-
nnitvely Played outs


Virginia City Cor. New York SUM-
Nevada Is a deserted mining camp which
has two United States senators and one con-
gressmAn. Its ups and downs have coin
cided with the ups and downs OF its mines.
When they yielded well Its towns have been
full, its business houses prosperous, and lbs
people comparatively numerous. When
they have produced little or nothing 1t has
gone into tho dumps, as It now Is, and
everything that has p~ertained TO 1t has put
on sackcloth and nshes, and awaited the
next strike.
II Nevada Is ever called upon 10 decide a
presidential election for this country, the
beauty Of the creation OF such states Will b
apparent 10 the dullost observer. In the
last campaign, IL Indiana and Connecticut
had voted for Blaine, and IL Cleveland had
carried the southern states and New Jersey
and New York, Nevada would ave had tho
deciding vote. II could nave named the
president. The people here expect some day
that such a situation Will arise, TINT it will
be discounted before election, and that the
struggle which viii take place for tho
supremacy here will pay better than a
bonanza There arc now only 1900 voters
in tho state, a decrease of 5000 since the
las- presidential election. II no more big
silver discoveries are made, 1888 will find il
with a population still further reduced
Tho conditions which obtain in Nevada are
such as cannot DO found elsewhere In Amer
lea Everything depends upon the mining
industry. One of tho largest states in the
Union In n territorial sense. the few people
who live In 1t are gathered together in the
mining camps, and save for one or two fer
tile valleys, the entire state Il a wilderness,
destined to remain such forever. Silver
must be found hero or nobody win live here.
As it Is idle to expect that the precious
metal viii always be produced in paying
quantities, 1t Is plain that the time must
some time come when Nevada, as a state,
viii DO even more Of a whited sepulcher than
It now a. Il maintains its present protein
sions only because the various mining COM
panies are continually prospecting, and there
IL a bare chance that some of them may
mako a strike of sufficient magnitude to put
things on their feet once again.
This is not the first time that Nevada has
been in the slough OF despond, or that It
has been predicted that the Comstock was
played out During the Hale & Norcroz
and Gould & Curry e-xcitements. from 1868
to 1855, the state filled up with miners and
adventurous to the number Of 10, 900 or more.
As tho mines showed signs Of exhaustion.
there was a stampede, and not more than
1000 people remained. Houses were moved
away or burned down, and men sold what
they could not move for q song. The next
great boom occurred when Jones, the pres
emit senator, unearthed the Crown Point
mine. Jones was foreman Of the Gould &
Curry mine, and considering tho prospects
good below that property, toward Gold Hill.
he located a claim which he called the
Grown Point. He got capital only with the
greatest difficulty, and from the first he
met and overcame financial obstacles which
seemed almost insuperable. Early In
1871, while jones was drawing a sal
airy of $3.50 a month from the dis
heartened holders Of the a. 200 shares of
Grown Point. and the stock was selling at %
to 80 cents, an assessment Of 80 cents a share
was levied There was q general refusal to
pay on the part Of the stockholders, and
when the sixty days went by the great bulk
of the stock was defaulted on
In the mean time a rich ledge had been
struck at the mine, and when the announce
mont was made public some days after the
default, the stock jumped to 81, 900 a share.
Enormous masses of ore wero taken out, and
dividends Of $40 were paid. This mine finally
ran into the Belcher, in which Sharon, Mills.
and tho Bank of California made great
fortunes, but when that was exhausted
paralysis again seized upon the state and the
depression became universal Towns Of 49,
600 to $1,000 people died away into mere
hamlots, and as people became convinced
once more that tho Comstock was exhausted
they turned toward moro promising fields
In 1873 James g. Fair, who was suporin-
tendent of the Gould & Curry, formed an al
lance with Mackey and Flood and secured
control OF some abandoned claims north of
the Gould & Curry embracing about 2, 1000
feet OF ground. Fair conceived the idea Of
running a drift north from the Gould a
Curry into these claims at a depth Of ]. 800
feet No companies were organized at first,
but eventually they formed tho Consolidated
Virginia and. the California. Without max
Ing any shafts from the surface they ran
their drift north, as originally intended, and
came upon tho big bonanza, a deposit of
silver Of unexampled richness, from which
more than 5000, 600, 900 was taken.
The excitement caused by this discovery
was prodigioua Mining properties OF every
kind went b~allooning. Assessments were
levied and paid with promptness and the
various camps filled up once more with
miners, prospectors, spectators, gamblers
and all manner OF tradesmen. Virginia
City became a town OF 10000 people,
with many OF the advantages Of a me-
tropolis. Everybody had money. The Sutro
tunnel was built Mining machinery Of the
most expensive kind was put In and appear
ances indicated that the state had entered on
a permanent prosperity. Then the bonanzas
died out. For a long time hope was kept
alive by reports Of brilliant prospects, Tun-
nels, shafts, and drifts were dug. Lower and
lower the miners descended until they had
gone 8, 800 below the earth's surface, but moth
ing was found. In the meantime tho other
mines had not been yislding much, and an
other Siege OF hard times began to stare the
people in The face. One by.one they drow
out First the big capitalists, then the gam
blers and sports, and last the workingmen
and women and tradesmen vanished, until
now Virginin City docs 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
tho Comstock is played out There must be
another strike soon, or the suspicion will be-
come a conviction
just now the prospecting is going on
everywhere, on tha surface, and deeper and
deeper into the bowels of the earth. or the
forty mines in the state, only a few are max
ing any p~retence Of working. Hundreds OF
thousands Of dollars worth OF machinery
is standing idle. The various companies
continue their Assessments on stockholders
OF a few cents a share to keep mp some up
pearance OF activity and prevent outsiders
from coming In and jumping thei- claims.
II one mine should make a lucky strike overy
other one would Immediately lovy a heavy
assessment 1t would be paid without grum-
bling, and money would once again be free
Is water. On such slender threads a these
does tho future of Nevada as a state depend.