Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-01-22
GOLD COIN BY THE TON.
Work Done Yearly at the Mint in San
Francisco.

+, - ONNA-
Francisco.
Ordinarily people speak Of gold bull
lion when quantities are mentioned as
so many ounces, except in San Fran
cisco, where the receipts of gold bull
lion at the United States branch mint
are referred to as SO many tons for
certain days It sounds like an enor-
NOUS boast, bordering on the fabulous,
yet it is true. The mint books show
it; the bullion was received, coined and
turned over to it's owners. One day in
August last four tons Of the precious
metal was received at the mint for
coinage, while in October, 1897, the re-
ceipts for one day were six tons.
That exceeds the receipts of any other
mint as far as known, and so does the
total coinage of the San Francisco
branch mint exceed that of any other
of recent years and is still on the in
crease.
The coinage of the last fiscal year,
ended June 80, 1899, according to the
report just completed, was the largest
in the history of this mint. It con-
sisted of 133,873,375 pieces, valued at
$63 1862, 275. That coinage has been ex-
ceeded in amount in the coinage his
tory of the government on two occa-
sions only At the mint in Philadel-
phia in the year 1861 some $70,000,OO0
was coined, and again in the same
place in 1881 something over $76,000,-
| 900 was coined. Since then California
has pushed forward and now holds the
front rank for amounts.
| The largest amount heretofore coined
in the San Francisco mint during any
/ calendar year was in 1878, $50, ,oU0.
| This year the coinage is expected to at
least approximate that of 1898. Prior
| to 1897 and for fifteen years preceding
| the coinage of the San Francisco mint
averaged about S25,000,000 a year. In
that year the amount took a sudden
| leap and went up to $40,084,291.
The largest number of deposits for
one month in the history of the mint
was in August, 1899. They reached
1853, aggregating nearly 100000
ounces, value about $12,50O,000. For
| the three years prior to that time de-
posits averaged from 500 to 700 a
month, which was considered very
good business. The heaviest deposits
for one day in that month aggregated
four tons of gold. A large consign-
ment of English sOvereigns arrived
that day from Australia and was sent
to the mint to be recOined; large lot
of dust and nuggets was landed from
the Klondike, while some gold came
from Pacific coast mines and Mexico.
This was only exceeded once, as far
as the records show, and that was one
day in October, 1897. The deposits for
the month were 955, and the coinage
SO, 100000 But six tons of gold came
in one day, valued at about 100000,
rating a ton at $5O0,000 which is the
accepted valuation. This deposit con-
sisted largely of British sovereigns
from Australia, though there was con-
siderable Klondike gold received that
day.
For the first two months of the cur
rent year the coinage was$10, 272 1856,
do against CAC NO11 CSPOAAOAAA5 C"o
months of the last fiscal year, $40 697,-
1874. Nearly all the gold from the
Klondike and Cape Nome has found
it's way of late to San Francisco. Last
year the gold was sent from Seattle to
Philadelphia for coinage.
Now that bulk of the gold product Of
the north comes to San Francisco the
| best record of the output is Obtainable
here On Sept. of this year $9,421, 493
was deposited from that section.
Since that date about $1,500,O00 more
has been received at the San Francisco
mint, making practically $11,0OO,0OO
| from the KIOndike this season thus far.
Judging from the receipts Of last year,
it is safe to estimate the total output
for the year at $14,000,000. If this be
realized it will exceed the output Of
last year by 100000.
While the mint at Philadelphia has
produced larger number of coins dur
ing the same period requiring twice
the force, the coinage of the San Fran
| cisco mint exceeds that Of Philadel-
phia, and, perhaps, of any other mint
in value Philadelphia turns out more
subsidiary coins, but San Francisco
has produced more gold coin in the ag-
gregate than Philadelphia
During the week just passed three
| car loads of silver have been received
at the San Francisco mint from Phila-
delphia, quite an unusual thing. The
shiDment of that bulliO? to this CITY is
due to the great demand for subsidiary
coin. The large surplus which has