The herald., 1896-01-19

| had many of such instances pointed
out to me, but as / could not begin to
mention them all it would be quite un-
! fair to name any particular one.
OF course it would be quite absurd
| to infer from this that Cripple Greek
/ stocks are one vast swindle, though it
would, | think, not be unfair in saying
that they are one vast gamble. Some
of them may represent good specula-
tive investments, as gold mining invest
ments go. But even here you may de-
pend upon ono thing. That is, that
there is an abundance of capital in Col
orado to develop and operate every
mine that seems to Colorado capital
lists to offer well. 1t is a very great
mistake to think that Colorado poor,
and that its mines ara going begging at
ridiculously low figures. Exactly the
opposite is true. For a young and
western state Colorado has an eXcep-
tionally large number of wealthy men,
and for the most part these are heavy
operators in mining properties. If
you think that they are not shrewd
and clever men, and that, Furthermore,
they are not watching for every avail
able opportunity, you know little OF
them. They not only understand the
mining business as no eastern man
possibly can, but further than that
when the chances seem good they are
willing to take every reasonable risk
and sometimes, perhaps, unreasonable
ones.
Thus for thirty-foot hole in the
ground, which was the beginning of
the great Victor mine, David H. Moi
fatt, the wealthiest man, probably, and
the heaviest mining operator in Colo.
rado, agreed to pay 100000. There
were shrewd men around Cripple Greek
who said, "Well, Moffatt made an aw-
full mistake in not buying a control in
the Portland when it was offered him,
from being too cautious, and now he
seems TO be outplunginy everybody"
And they were quite sure that $6000C
was an absurd and eXtravagant price
to pay fer an incipient gold mine. But
the thirty-foot ole-in-ths-ground de.
veloped into mine Of extraordinary
richness, and Mr. Mofett afterward
| parted with q minority interest for
many times wat he had paid for the
/ whole property. Il is his stock, by the
way, whicn was chiefly disposed of to
the gag women of Paris, who like to
take flyers in goli mines.
| Then there are some dividend stocks
which yield return of % or 30 pei
cent per annum on their present mar
| ket value. This seems an extraordinary
/ dividend to an eastern man, and he re-
CARDS the price at which the stock i;
hel with amazement. The reason is
this: Iour Colorado man, wary and
experienced, understands that at any
moment in the pork;,g of a gold mine
the vein is liabls 10 pinch out" or E
"fault" be struck, and of sudden c
, mine that has been worth million:
from that day onward may be abso
! luteiy worthless. The chances are thai
! if it has been a rich mine it will bs
| worse than worthless, for it's owners
will go on, sometimes for years, spend
ing enormous sums of money in a vaiI
and fruitless endeavor to find tho ore
again. Youl Colorado man recogniZes
| this risk, and he demands large re
turn on his investment, representing
anywhere from 70 to 33 per cent, where
an eastern man thinks that II or Is pei
cent is an extraordinary dividend.
This is why so many Cripple Creel
stocks look 80 tempting to the visitor
Then again the stock gambling excite
ment has only been on for about ,
year, and this period has witnessed
many extraordinary rises. Thus, lit
tie over year ago stock in the Port