The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-17

$1,000. any day, When tho dirt had been
washed away to the depth OF a dozen or 30 feet
the men came came, on n q srayish.hued fin,y rock
been prospectus, for ten years, and had never
discovery OF the true Comstock lode-thc quartz
that made the greatest mining Kings OF the
world. One would naturally wonder now why
ComstoCk and his partners did M. have the
rock assaycd there, but mining was a crude
science in the West thirty.scvcn years ago. and
the best. Of miners knew little OF metallurgy.
Tho Ophir owners examined carefully the
quccr.looking rock, and several Of them were
sure It was iron ore; Cornslock himself was
for a month or No, when they decided to spend
several hundred dollars and have it tested by
whole wagon load OF the grayish rock. and with
"A string OF mules sent IL over To sacramento
to an assaycr. 4 sharp young lawyer at vr,
Sacramento on business, and he WINS sent along
to get the assayer's report on the stun. The
back to virginia CITY whiio Walsh was ab.
sent. l remember seeing him on his way, to
Sacramento at that time with his load Of rock
the first OF the bonanza ore.
"Walsh's return to virginia City was not
awaited with much anxiety, Comstock and his
iron. When Walsh did get back. along in July,
1850. he said that the asslycr had made'a long
written report, which he, W alsli, had lost IN ms
strange rock vas iron ore with traces OF silver
and gold, a week later several men from
City. They had evidently comc in haste over
the mountains 10 the new mining camp. Al
most at once they began Offering to buy Com
stocks and his partners, shares. or course,
they were atroit to %conccal. their motives. Com
stock, however, was suspicious, hut me other
iieyed the ore was richer than Walsh had said.
and that he would not sell until he kncw the
assay of the rock. Kentucky Osborne and Pen.
rod believed in Walsh, and each sod a sixth
interest Tor $4,000. ColnstoCk.s bought wife
Say fS4 $500. &c to G Thnn ciarR R" so ID i for 4 10 "oS.
Reilly held out IA week longer ana got S4o,ouo.
Joe Winters decided to hold onto what the
strangers from Sacramento and Frisco wanted
SO badly. SO he never sold for several years.
| believe he got about S:i0O,0Oo for his share
when he sold, and he had got as much more
Just as soon ms the mine had passed into the
new hands the facts of the assay came ont.
JENNY! but there was u roar OF astOnlshnlnnt
and anger up in the little mining camp OF Nir-
ginia City then. Old Comstock was almost
II was found that the wagon load of ore that
Walsh had taken to the assaycr was worth
a SSS ton st tibnt the }n" money Of ley" had nSif be ess"dd sp o al stS in a
Frisco who, had been let into the secret were
Iron in III Not u bit. Walsh had been made
one OF the syndicate that had come on to buy
the Ophir mine, and had concealed the written
report of the assay. Pcnrod never smiled
again after he saw how stupcndously rich tho
lode was of which he had sold his sixth interest
California, and l have heard he never. wanted
to see the ophir again after he heard how IL
wa Iul ing u I'll VI SDp,NV' u lOlt HE
share in the mine would have brought him
fully $l2.oOo,0oo in fifteen years had he but
known the correct assay and held on.
work in 1861 to develop the lode. They were
scientific miners for those days, and they brought
the finest machinery known in mining to Ne
vada. james e.. Fair. aftcr"ard the famous
bonanza miner, and once United States senator
from Nevada, went to Virginia City in 1862
AS a superintendent in the Ophir, and John ".
Mackay went there in 1860. They had the
means OF getting the best knowledge of the
lode. They soon saw that the Comstock lode
Vas far richer than its buyers had ever dreamed.
They set about finding from the indications in
the shafts and tunnels how far thu Comstock
lode reached. and its dip and course. In that
RR@{S ea oHsr the IN tb ope noriS of Of th fee o S1GrFa G pS,s tns
OF men spent small. fortunes trying TO get the
southerly course OF the Comstock lode. Joe
Winters spent all the money he had made as
trying to determine how far out the lode
reached to the southeast. He consulted ~astrolo.
s ssan and m BBoid l %i0nsS{N to to { ha n@m 5yst of wiid, sSss
Of reading, the secrets of the earth at 500 a
day and all expenses paid. But Flood, Mackay,
located south of the ophir the bonanza mines,
the Crown Point, Belcher, and Consolidated
Virginia, and no sudden fortunes like theirs
in the world. In 1872 the four bonanza kings
took out over $54 900 900 in clean profits from
the Comstock lode. I have heard Penrod tell in
while he sobbed. how he had sold a sixth in.
terest in that lode for a pitiful 50. 900. He
lived in Virginia City for years and was one
"In 1876 the limits of the Comstock lode were
reached. Prospectors have tried for over
twenty years 70 find j. again among The b hills and
or course. that lode. although broken and
twisted. extends somewhere, and some day It
may be relocated: There's no reason why 1t
should not be as rich elsewhere as the mines in
1t have already been. and it may make another
set Of bonanza millionaires."