The San Francisco call., 1896-11-22

ard shinn: New Y York: D. Appleton q Co. For
saif sr 80, by william D01ey' Palace HOTEL price
The industry OF mines and mining is so
bound up with the history of California and
OF the States bordering upon it, that any liter
; ature bearing upon the two can always be
sure OF a welcome at our hands Mr.. Charles
Howard Shinn of the University of California
has contributed to Appletons Story of the
West series q work entitled, "The Story OF
the Mine, as illustrated by the Great Comstock
Lode of Nevada
From the editors preface we learn that Mr..
Shinn "does not aim at comprehensive his
tory" but he "illuminates its salient points"
As will be seen from the title he has taken up
for review more particularly that most roman
tic event in the mining history of the State of
.Neyada-the discovery of the Comstock lode.
: He has quoted statistics, facts and figures.
IfBut he has USED these as background only.
N connection with them he has painted
correct picture of the life of the miner from
the days of the gold rush of 1S4S-50 to the
present. He has besides entered minutely
into the processes used in finding. testing and
working ores, has described the great me-
ehanical problems solved by the prospe ctors,
= and has shown how mining communities have
been productive of men with vast capacities
for love and hate, for sarcasm and laughter,
for terrible wrath and for sublime self-sacri-
fee"
1t is interesting to learn that no less per-
sonage than the late Horace Greeley made q
remarkable prophecy regarding the then
neglected region, afterwaId covered with
prosperous mining camps in q speech de-
1iVered on the plaza of Placerville in the
summer of 1859. He said: Lastly l have
come across desolate and terrible country, q
land seemingly worthless forever-the great
American desert. But I believe that the
Almighty has created nothing in vain, and as
have passed over this awful region the
thought has fixed itself in my mind that since
tbs certainly useless for every other purpose
it may be land of vast mineral wealth. If
that be so it will take 100, 900 Californian
miners 100000 years even 10 prospect it,"
Certainly remarkable prediction viewed in
the light of after events.
The first quartz prospectors spoken of by
Mr. Shinn were the unfortunate Grosh
brothers. They had no capital and few
friends. Notwiths tanding the fact that they
were the virtual discoverers OF the rich Com
stock lode they seem to have been pursued by
ill-fortune and died without reaping the bene-
lit OF their vast N ineral discoveries.
"Old Pancake Comstock was working IN the
mining district which afterward took his
name at about the time the Grosh brothers
were engaged in prospecting. Mr. Shinn de-
scribes Comstock as "a curious combination of
shrewdness, vanity ignorance and spasmodic
energy. 4 Canadian by birth, he had been
SANS~SS-fCA9
Comstock appears to have possessed a char
acieristic additionally attributed to Ameri-
cans, of claiming everything in sight No
sooner was strike made than Mr. Comstock
appeared and informed the lucky prospectors
that they had been working his claim. This
seems TO have been the sole reason why the
rich mining region in the southern part of
Nevada bears even to-day the name OF the
Comstock lode.
The days OF the Great Bonanza are dmirably
described by Mr. Shinn. He has written some
really good character sketches OF Stewart.
Sharon, Mackay, Fair and Flood. A striking
instance OF Sharon's way of doing business is
furnished in a conversation held between
Superintendent James OF the Sierra Nevada
Company and Sharon, who was then in control
ot certain mines at Virginia City.
SHARPLY and without word of explana-
ton Sharon said:
James, can you run q railroad from Vlr-
ginia City to the Carson Riyer?
"'Yes'
".'Do it at once.'" Inside OF twelve months
the road was completed.
Some OF the figures quoted by Mr.. Shinn will
be found interesting. Take the discovery of
the Consolidated Virginia mine for instance
: At first the stock consisted of los, 600 shares
Two hundred tons of ore per day was being
taken out and $3.50, 900 OF bullion per month
was marketed. In September, 1874. the shares
were worth $37 So carefully was the dis
covery guarded that nobody knew the value of
these stocks excepting those who were work
ing in the mine. The greatness of the discov-
cry was not appreciated. In December, 1874,
Consolidated Virginia was worth 1910
share, and one month later S7OOl Then the
Western papers gave the fnews, and it was
stated that in one mine there was $116.00O,-
600 in sight and by some it was set down at
S300,0O0OO0l
This is, of course, the bright side of the
Great Bonanza, but Mr.. Shinn is quick TO see
and appreciate the reverse OF the picture.
Here Is clever piece of description of
scene once only too familiar, now happily lar
less frequent: There, in Pauper alley, one
can walk any time in business hours and see
creatures that once were miIlionaires and lead
ing operators. Now they live by free lunches
in the beer cellars and on stray dimes tossed
10 them for luck. Women, too, form a part
OF the wretched crowd that haunt the end
OF the alley where it joins its more pros
porous neighbof streets and beg every specu-
letor to give them pointer or to carry
share of stock for them. These are the dead
'mudhens' es the men are the dead ducks of
the stock-share gamblers Horrible things one
sees and hears of here. Old friends you
thought were prosperous, but had not heard
of for years. SHOVE themselves out of the hud-
die and beg for the price of glass of whisky.
There stands once prosperous printer in rags.
He took flyers on the street too many times.
Yender beggar lost $4,000 in a single sum-
mer, all good geld. The ghost of many mur-
dered happiness walks unseen among these
halfinsane paupers as they chatter like apes
of lost fortunes and of the prospects of their
favorite stocks. Really it is frightful thing
to walk there and look at the seamy side of the
'silken garment OF fortune"
solid chapter is devoted TO the building of
the Sutro tunne-that marvellous enterprise
whicn was contemptuously referred to by the
contemptuous opposition to its builder
"coyote hole" One cannot but admire the
man who, deserted by powerful syndicates
and financial hackers, stood alone and finally
succeeded in saving his property from de-
struction. even his enemies" says Mr..
Shinn,. "began to yield unwilling admiration
to his bulldog tenacity. THAT little German
Jew will undermine the Comstock' became a
saying among the capitalists"
Included in the present work are some in
teresting chapters touching upon the interior
workings of a mine. These are fully fllus-