The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-17
THE FORTUNE THEY LOST.
LUCK OF THE DIsCOrERERs OF TIE
RICH OPHIR MINE.
Ola JIua Constock and His Purchased wire-
First Gold Taken from the Orhir-now tho
Original Owners Were TricLed Out or
nnnIIona-Tho search for tho nnthsr Innn.

Original Owners We're TricLed Out or
Hrilions-Tho search for the Mother Lode.
POMONA, Cal, Oct. 8.-"I remember as II
Il were yesterday when tho Ophir mine was
found" said Col. James Dixon as he sat in n
circle OF mining men from Harrisburg at the
Pnlomares the other evening. The conversation
had turned on the possibility OF finding in
Alaska the golden ledge from which tho mar
vcllously rich placcrs along the Klondikc creeks
have been fed. Dixon is known all over this
region as one Of the half dozen persons now
alive who were on the scene at the discovery
OF the richest body of gold ore yet found in a
single locality in the United States. 1t was in
tho vicinity of Gold Hill and Virginia City,
New, where tho bonanza gold miners, Flood,
Fair, Mackny, o'Bricn. and sharon got their
immense fortunes n few years later.
81 was a young man, just out from England
when the Ophir was found" continued Col.
Dixon, and I had been working as a day la
borer for n mining company in Placerville, Cal.
| had n. cousin who was running n saloon at
Forest City. in Nevada, near the California State
line. In June, 1859, / went over to see my
cousin and get q job in the new diggings in
Nevada. 1t was a long, hard journey across
] the mountains, past Bonner Lake, and for two
days / lay hid in a cafon on the east slope of the
Sicrras for fcar.of death ut tho hands of the
piute Indians, who were tho most ..murdcrous
of any savages we knew in the West in those
days. ! got my job and went to work for a com
pany in which william Sharon, aftcrward a
millionaire United States Senator, was Presi-
dent. l knew intimately old Comstock, after
whom the wonderful Comstock lodo was
named, and'I was a witness to the first dig.
gings that led to finds of gold and silver which
have added some $l7s, 900, 900 to the wealth
Of the United States. l remember Jim Com
stock as a peculiar, rough, plainsman and
miner Of about 80 years OF age. He was known
as old Comstock. / never knew a man who
could swear with the facility Of ComstOck. He
was a genius Mt inventing strings OF picturesque
oaths, and the case with which he could roll
them Off his tongue at the least provocation
was surprising. even among the proficient Dor
dcrland swearcrs.
"Comstock and six semi. partners. Joe Win
tiers. John f. Clark. Patrick Mclaughlin, Peter
Reilly, Emanuel Penrod. and 'Kentuck' Os.
borne, were washing gold dust along with
about forty other men, from a dry wash known
as Mansanita Creek, four miles from Forest
City, when I went over to Nevada. They
were making good money, and felt like kings.
Every one envied them. when they would each
get an ounce or two Of dust in a day. At the time
/ went TO Forest City it was reported that Com
stock and his three associates had taken out
OF their claim n two-ga!lon can of gold dust in
a month, and we sat up nights discussing the
mine, which we thought was about the richest
sort OF diGgings TO be had since the Forty-nine
days in Eldorado county. Old Comstock was
immensely ticklcd at his rapid fortune making,
little dreaming that that very locality would
in a decade more yield the greatest individual
fortunes in gold and silver mining known in
the history of the world. / remember hearing
Joe, Winters say in my brothers saloon one
Boys, w cleaned VI, ten pounds Of gold in
our camp In the last two days. Ii wont be long
before we. can buy all the mines in America at
that rate.
that night he walked over ore that five years
later was worth $1,000 a ton. and in which he
Il remember well the day in that summer of
1853. when old Comstock felt SO rich that he
bought George Sa rte wife Y l happened ned to be
over at Comstock's camp. Among his work
men mem was ss,o ysI Ing 6 dsGps1 ,r cart Mi,, whp had M;db jp Sss
couraged at the hard life he had had to lead
away from his old home He had been married
brunette OF about 25 years, She was the only
white woman in all that region. and lots OF men
used to come over to the camp on Sundays to
have a look at a white woman.
We'll. the day | was loating about the Com
stock camp old Comstock and Carter had had a
row about the wages that were paid Carter.
o oSan acfo sat- s shs saic y n at ' cart ,g9s'I pra lais
schooner, where Carter and his wife lived.
su !! d !Gs5r1 he l SSa'sa q pRf. "Rs s" thanked hard uD.
Now, what will you take for your wife, cash
down. don't know. wb.t1l YOU pjve, oD,versa
L " hiI' va" - s'u ' iio"tlV
~ don't know. I've never had dealings with
stock, pnrfinE thNuKhtfnily at his pipe.
Well. how about 81 DOOR
oh, that's too %blankcty. blank much for any
woman, said Comstock.
" You're rich. and you tell me what you'll
I've been thinking it over. and I'll give you
$500 spot gold
you've got to throw in that mule harness and
your shotgun
Comstock went over to see Mrs. Carter, and she,
knowing that old Comstock had n good $40. 600
in gold dust while her husband was not a
dollar ahead. fell in with the idea. Comstock
and Carter went over to the merchant at Forest
city. VINO was the bcst-educated man there at
of Mrs. Carter along with the harness and shot.
gun. George Carter got his money and went
carter went to live in Comstock's camp. Car.
ter stayed about Forest City for a few months,
spent all the msonsyS he got from the sale q his
stock married Mrs. Carter, four or five years
i%.fT' a row 'H %it iaS co ! 5 Hssfe and an "s t6e she w ssa a. a.
vorccd. That was in 1858, when Comstock
was living in Grass Valley. Cal. and was fairly
'Comstock and Joe Winters and Many Pen.
rods dry, waShings began to peter out in Octo-
they are now, one by one pulled up stakes and
struck out over tho mountains. looking for color
tf% 0riKl'' Osborne "'Ai He ' wa" a very very e Observing M'an man man
anu u natural DOTI pTOsIctlOI.
'iaintuck, this here sand looks b~lankety.
blank good said he. I'm going to try it. I've
been thinking about it for weeks
"lIe filled his hat with the sand and carried
it TO camp. After the noon meal he got out a
pan and WASHED. it.. Tho richness was ap.
parent at once. I've been told by Osborne that
The first pan ran over ~: That was the first
'Kaintuck, said Comstock rs he PANIED out
sand, this is tho biggest thing yet, and well
THAT very might the whole Comstock camp
moved over TO the new digRinEs and made their
claims on the soil over which they had trampcd
sores of times and across which several hun.
drcd men, searching for richness in mines. had
passed without thought that over 800, OOO, 900
Of yellow metal and rs much more in silver
lay there below them in the di ri and rocks, only
awaiting some one to claim il. There were
with tomstock at that time John +. Clark. Joe
Winters, 'Kentuck' Osborne and Pete Reilly.
That was in the lattcr part of Octolrr. 1852.
The men made their claims and went to work
next day. They hauled their chute over from
the former ~diggings and made II new chute 80
As TO carry water down from "A spring u mile
away. The lines OF the mine were plainly
visible. Tho pay dirt was about ton feet across
md uhput fnrfy long never su ~ amy richer