Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1892-06-02
WHERE TONS OF GoLD.H
In the sub-Treasury on Wall Street, New
York, 1t Is Stored IN Sacks.
Now Nnrk rress.1

9Oll from TINS port are so enormous
visit TO the city's greatest storage
place Tor thu precious metal is partic-
ularly interesting. 1t is the sub-treas
ury on Wall street. by the courtesy
of Assistant treasure Ellis Ii. Rob
erts "A representative of the Press WAS
permitted TO pass through the room
where millions are counted weekly and
watch the shining coins slip under the
delt fingers oi tile counters before they
were put into bags and stored away
with the millions in the vaults
The gold and silver colns are count
ed and examined in the room on the
east side OF the building, while the
minor coins. nicsel~ and pennies are
handled in the room on the west side.
Bags of money come in from all over
the country to be exchanged ior silver
or gold certificates. The theory is
that all the COINS are sorted before
they are sent TO the sub-treaSury hut
depo-itors sometimes forget tins. and
the coins are received IN sal mixtures
pennies, nickrls dimes and silver and
cold OF all denominations jumbled to-
gether in one bag. They must. of
course be sorted into denominations
before they can be counted. Most OF
them come from railroads and other
large corporations. and theeompanies
which own the drop cent in the slot
machines send BAGS AMI bags ot minor
coin.
Mr.. John Wiuchell is the goid expert
OF the snlI-trraSury. For nIneteen
years lac has stood ut one bench i'm
the gold room, slipping the yellow
sinners from the bench into his hand
AMI from his hand into the big scales
and thence into canvas bags. His
years OF experience have given him an
adroitness that places him at the
head of gold handlers. Mr.. WinchtlI
is today The best gold com expert i'm
the world. lie is also the most rapid
counter of coins i'm the sub-treasury,
whore rapidily is second only to pre-
cision rs requirement. A few weeks
since he examined and counted, verify
ing his count 10y weighing afterward.
$500, 900 in gold. This is good days
work, but Mr.. Winchell has counted
81 900, 900 in double eagles between
- O'Clock in the morning and 4 in the
afternoon.
Look here" Mr.. WinchelI said,
taking II iiVedollar gold piece from his
pocket and throwing 1T into a pile OF
similar coins, that coin is two grains
200 heavy. Nov, I'll lose it in the
Others, like this" stirring the mass OF
god with his hand. Now find il"
Spreading the coins out on the bench
"a scauh was made for it. No one
found It until Mr. Wlnchel picked il
fuTt,f44ts I4.
You can readily See" continued
the expert, ''LhHt no fingers could be
trained To psIlcct accuracy. But ths
eye L. quick and accurate 10 detect n
! coin which deViHtcS from the United
STATES standard This j. u counter
felt OF gold and platinum"
After the coins are counted they are
dumped into Il scale and balanced
with a weight ut eighteen pounds six
ounces for every -, 900. Then they
are placed in bags which are marked
and stored in the vault down stairs.
Light weight coins are marked l. and
returned to the sender. They are then
good as bullion only. CounterfeIts
are mutilated and returned also. For
| the good gold certificates are issued.
This il Just OFF the large room where
the clerical work is done. The four
walls OF vault are lined with small lock
ers, each one ot which is capable Of
holding hall a million in gold coin.
| The aggregate is a tremendous sum OF
money. Think of il When the vault
is filled there are 81 &c, 600 900 in this
room alone. Only seventy-tive or
II. .hty millions were there when the
Press reporter called.
When the treasury people speak OF
hall million by weight they say "a
! ton" hut in exact figures this sum
weighs $50 pounds. This makes
200 hounds to the million dollars.
30 when the gold vault IL filled it CON
tains the enormous weight of 5O3,-
100000 pounds.
On the side OF the building opposite
to this Is the vault where the certlti-
cafes are stored.
! The thing first noticed By the visitor
\ to this room is the peculiar odor. 1t
is the smell OF millions of dollars OF
the promissory notes of the United
States. This room also is lined with
lockers, which in this instance are
filed with neat bundles of notes. The
artist who made the accompanying
looked at a bundle of $4,000 silver
certificates which Cashier Muller placed
in his hand and feebly gasped out,
"IIow much - there in II ~ He had
to be supported when he learned that
he was holding SlO,OOO,oOO in one
. hand. lie fcehly remarked that 10,
could carry il away with ease. But
his too evident desire met with no EN-
couragement. so he reluct antly hand
e,l the package back to MIR. Muller,
and took his revenge 10y making this
picture of that genial gentleman as lac
sat on the table with the SIG, 1000, ,0oO
in his hand. explaining that there We're
$50, 900, 900 ia the room.
Now we'll 90 the silver vault, - said
Mr.. Muller. There is more weight
down there. but not so much value.
In going toward the stairs which LED
to the silver vault, the vaults where
[ the pennies and nickels are ~ ored were
passed. There were 4, ,OOO, 900 pennies
all counted and packed in bags anC
stored away a. carefully as the coins
of greater value.
The silver vault is a rather gloomy
place, lighted with several gas get,
, which are kept continually burning
1t looks like Il huge wine celler, only
that instead OF bottles of rare olC
, grapes and sunlight, there are rows OF
rows OF canvas bags, each bag con
tanning 81 900. The vault is separated
, into bins whose sides are made o
, iron. so great is the pressure OF TIN
silver that these iron sides have beer
bent 10y the weight against them
Forty thousand dollars only was il
the vault, but this is not more thar
hall il 5 capacity.
1t is the custom OF the assistant
cashier, when ercorting young ladie
through the silver vault, to offer eaci
one OF them three bags OF coins il sh
can carry them away at one time
They weigh sixty pounds each, so h
: is pretty safe in his offer. But fey
| dars since he made the offer To q ladl