The Grit-advocate., 1900-05-04
COMPARED WITH THE FIERCE
WOOING OF FORTUNE.
That Was the Regular Thing When
Virginia City Was Loaded With Gold
in Olden Days-Much More Tame
Than In Years Gone BY.

~N---
Wood. Wood is an oldtimer. He has
followed the hunt for gold ever since
he was boy, and now his hair Is gray
and his shoulders stopped. He return
Cd from the Klondike last month.
Wood has two claims in the new land
OF gold. He is just as certain that
these will pan out as he has been Of
hundred others that he has staked
out, but from which he never took
enough to grub-stake him for the next
prospecting tour. There's gambling,
sure enough, but it is not as 1t was in
the old days. guess people have
more sense, or maybe the work is done
more on business principles. The
heaviest gambling l ever saw was in
Virginia City, New, in the early '70's.
Most of it was done, too, by men who
had little more money than they
gambled with. They were the days
when gold flowed like water and the
penniless workman of today was the
millionaire Of tomorrow. The famous
Comstock mines, which made million
aires Of Flood, Mackay and Fair, were
yielding $4,000 day clear profit. Men
who a few months earlier had been
glad to get laborers' wages were build
ing palaces and drawing incomes of
100000 to $150,000 year. Some men
had balances In the banks running in
ito five and even six figures. There is
little wonder that money that came
SO easy went just as easy and that
men lost as much in a single night as
would have kept them in luxury for
the rest of their lives. Virginia City
bristled with gambling saloons, but
none could compare in elegance with
that Of Hiram Sentry and Dan Crit
tenden. 1t was nothing but frame
building, rough on the outside, but
inside 1t was dream. The bar was
Of onyx and the floor was of colored
marbles arranged in mosaic. Mirrors
ran all around the rooms from ceiling
to cellar, framed in solid silver, orna-
mented with gold. The drinking ves-
sells were Of solid silver or OF cut glass
nearly as costly and the decanters be-
hind the bar cost IS 900 in Paris. The
gambling rooms were furnished SINH
larly, and it was common to see dir
ty, unkempt miner, mud from head to
heel, walking on carpet that cost $40
yard. Champagne flowed like water.
and the proprietors spent $4,000
year In entertaining their guests. They
could afford it. More than once l have
seen a rough miner, whose entire out
ft would have been dear at dollar,
walk in with bag of rust that weigh
ed up for more than $4,000. lose 1t In
half an hour and walk out whistling,
as unconcernedly as though it had
been 30 cents.
There were others, however, be-
sides the rough miners. One room at
Crittenden's was set apart for United
States officials, senators and represen-
tatives. Here the play ran high.
have seen poker games that lasted
for "a hours without stop, and the
chips cost man from $75 to 800 each.
More than once a man would get up
from the table. after playing all night,
richer by $4,000, and winnings OF
$4,000 and $4,000 were common. One
particular game began at O'Clock
one evening and lasted until o'clock
the next morning. The smallest chip
cost $1,000, and the jack pots held
anything up to $4,000. Money was
Shanging hands at the rate of $4,000
1linute. Senator Sharon was one of
the players, and at the end Of the
game he cOunted I'm $40 600 in win