Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1903-10-09
The COMSTOCk EXCITEMENT.
Disastrous Results Following the
Great Discovery.

The volcanic excitement incident 70
the discovery Of the Comstock Lode in
Nevada, the Indian War, with the death
Of Major Ormsby and Fred Storey,
the rapidly Of the building Of the spl-
endid wagon road from Placerville,
with its six horse stages, Wells Fargo's
fast freight lines and the large number
Of ten and twelvemule teams that
were brought into service to carry all
kinds Of supplies for the building up
of Virginia City and developing the
mines, stands unprecented in the his
tory Of the Pacific coast. The people
Of San Francisco went wild; the spiri,
Of speculation was in the air and most
Of the tempting schemes were nothing
else. Cautious and conservative bust.
ness men were drawn into the mael.
strom Of gambling. Men made fortunes
In q day to lose the same quickly.
Stock gambling and the selling If
shares in mines that had NO existence
except upon the paper that the presi-
dents and secretary's names were
written upon, was carried on as a le-
gitimate business. lac streets Of San
Francisco were lined with curbstone
operators who traded and exchanged
their bits of worthless paper for all
kinds Of property and even real ed
tate. John Laws South Sea bubble was
an honest enterprise in comparison.
Many men saw their opportunity 70
make money II they could 60 into new
localities and locate claims and incor,
porate and dispose Of stock, and in a
short time thousands were scattered
into Arizona, Humboldt, Reese river,
White Pine and other districts with
the result that San Francisco was
flooded with mining stocks represent.
ing mines everywhere. Many who had
been unsuccessful in their efforts to
locate anything, took from some other
mans dump few specimens of ore
and had no trouble in finding parties
that would act as directors and in a
few days the company would be IN
operation and selling stock in mine
the whole of which was brought into
the city in the mans pocket. Nearly
all those engaged in locating mines
for this purpose had little or no know
ledge of mining and were liable to
bring in any kind of old rock and di,
not know horn silver from yellow
soap or silver in horn. which mos
of the specimens proved to be on as
saying The stock certificates tina
were printed of these wildcat ant
swindling operations would have pa
peTed the city.
There were. however, undountedl
some good mines discovered during tn
time. Later on ice and General Cobb
the auctioneers. sold stocks until PEE
pie would not take them away at an
price and the wildcat bubble was -
ploded But the gambling continue
undated in the Comstocks, fabulou
prices being paid sometimes for tn
shares. Andrew McCreary who ha
been a porter in Front street store
sold q hundred shares in the Goul
& Curry for over $4,000. Hale I
Norcross sold as high as $4,000 a shar,
Other shares in different mines On th
Comstock reached fabulous figure
Belcher and Crown Point, after tn
fires in these mines, went down to
dollar per share. When the bonon2
was struck that made Senator Jone
Seth Cook and many others million
aires, the stock in both mines advan
ed to $4,000 per- share from a dolla
Jas. R. Keene, the great New Yof
Wall stree king, who used to drive
milk wagon in the town of Shast
sold out his milk business and with
few hundred dollars started specula
ing In stocks and believe lost on Il
start, but after the pin feathers starte
he soon became full fedged darir
broker and power on the board.
The history Of the manipulating
the Comstock is partly a sealed boo
The ruin and robbery and thousan'
q men and women would require Il
times the space that there is in Il
Encyclopedia Brittanica. The graves
the suicide and heastbroken cover tn.
secrets. I believe the Comstock E
/. change has been swindle from Il
start and how much longer its belief
influence will affect legitimate mini,
ia hard to tell, for as long as sucke
will patronize the losing brace gar