St. Paul daily globe., 1891-09-13
A GREAT MINING "BOOM. !"
BY C. F. PARSONS.


Many years have passed since e
famous Sierra Nevada ''boom" occurred,
but so impressive were its results that
probably some tn usands of persons
still retain lively, if not pleasant,
recollection of the event. Things had
been too quiet on the Comstock Lode
for the interests of the handful of men
who really ruled and ran the San Fran
ciso stock market. The public, whose
speculative eagerness alone makes
market, had for some time been shy of
investment. The plain truth was that
they had been plundered so frequently
and so mercilessly that not only were
their pockets empty, but their faith was
staggered. There is no limit to
public credulity in such matters,
but to keep this foible at
the working stage it is neces-
sary to hold out at least an occasional
show of possible gains, and it is gener-
ally held best to let few outsiders
make little money now and then, so
as to preserve something like tradi-
tiou of fair play. AS a matter of fact.
no game of "three-card monte" or
"chuckalucll" could be more essentially
and Systematically fraudulent than the
manipulations which controlled the
market; and the evidences of this were
so abundant and recent that the way
faring man, though fool. might have
realized the truth. But there is moth
ing so binding as greed, and the av-
erage stock gambler always thought
that, no matter how many of his neigh
bors had been taken i'll, his Sagacity
would enable him to come out
a winner. Rapacity and self-con-
ceit together reinforced the stock
manipulatOrs at every turn, and en-
abled them to do very much as they
pleased. A time had come now when
in their Judgment new dear was in
order, and. curiously enough, it was
just at the moment that rumor about
the Sierra Nevada mine began to get
abroad.
The stock of that mine was down to
five dollars a share, and it was known
that the working prospect was not en-
couraging. But it was now whispered
that the superintendent had been sink
ing an experimental shaft; that he had
struck a great body of ore; that the as
says were enormously rich; and that
Sierra Nevada was the best buy in
the market. So far all was rumor and
conjecture. No report was published.
No official intmation was vouchSafed.
1t was at this decidedly haZy juncture
that young broker of Virginia City,
New, named Joe McGirk, learned for a
positive fact that the report was sub
stantiaily true, and, though shrewd and
skeptical by nature and through much
business experience, began to feel the
first exciting influence of the coming
''boOm." Sierra Nevada began to rise.
In one days board it went to 25. Then
it was whispered that the stockholders
and managers were trying to get hold of
all the stock before the truth was
known generally; and upon the strength
of that suggestion the stock bounded TO
80. BY this time the ''boom" was fully
under way, and when an official report
from the superindent was published,
confirming the most exciting rumors,
the public threw themselves upon the
mine like famished wolves. AT the end
of week the stock stood at 200, and the
movement was still upward, while
everybody had gone stockmad on the
subject of Sierra Nevada.
1t is indeed the chief characteristic of
all ''boOms" that they bereave people
of their senses, and that they level all
distinctions of intelligence. The sharp
est and most experienced broker or bus
mess man, banker or capitalist, pro-
feSsional Speculator-nay, even the
makers of booms themselves, fall under
the spell. yield to the c0ntaglon pre-
ciSely as in an epidemic, and throw eX-
perience, Judgment and reflection to the
winds. Joe McGirk was smart young
man, and under everyday conditions
could take care of himself very well.
But mere was a cyclone of excitement, a
tornado of gold-hunger, sweeping every
thing before it. and it took him off his
feet. A broker IN mining boom is eS-
pecially exposed, indeed. His Office is
beset by customers, old and new,
who clamor for stock, who want
it on margin, who mortgage
their homes rather than not
buy, who become craZier every hour as
the bulletins show that the pet stock is
still rising on the exchange. And it
must be said, sadly enough, that at such
times the women seem even greedier
than the men. They are certainly more
reckless and more excited. Joe Nc
Glrk was besieged by fair customers
who wanted him to put their diamonds,
their wardrobes. their houses, their
horses and CARRIAGES, everything they
possessed, up on margin. The whole
population of Virginia City was in the
same frenZied condition. Every serv-
ant girl. every porter, every bootblack
IN the town had something at
stake. When Sierra Nevada stood
at POO. all manner of strange
stories were going the rounds.
This mans cook had made a hundred
thousand dollars; that mans table-girl
was richer than her mistress. His
honor, the mayor, estimated that the
three servants who waited on him rep
resented half million dollars more
than he himself could sigma check for.
1t was a revolution. The bonds of So
cety were loosed. Every Imaginable
combination was tried. No one believed
any freak of fortune to be impossible or
improbable. AS for Joe McGfrk, he was
~Sgaged to very nice girl who taught
in the public schools, and, when Sierra
rose to twenty-five, had advised her to
invest five thousand dollars-all her lit
tie fortune-in the stock. and then to
hold on to it like grim DEATH"
Naturally, she took his advice-not
being as yet married 10 hlm-and sat
down to wait till Fortune came along
and filled her lap. When the stock lose
to 200. she would have been willing to
sell, but her lover would not hear of it,
for by that time he had become as crazy
as his customers, and he had committed
the fatal error-for broker-of specu-
lating on his own account. This was