The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-05

Three Thousand People Located in
the New Nevada Gold Camp
and the Rush Continues.
MINERS FROM EVERYWHERE
RICH CLAIMS CHANGING HANDS
EVERY DAY.
Especial to 1ne Herald.)

Manhattan, New, Feb. 4-When it was
first made, the prediction that Manhattan
would have a population Of 1900 in a few
months was considered q wild guess One
thousand people have reached here in the
last ten days or two weeks. and there are
now fully 300 souls in camp. They come
from everywhere. Conductors on the
Southern Pacific highway on the north
say that fully fourth Of their passen-
gers going both east and west are ticket
ed Hazen. the junction with the new
line going to the southern Nevada gold
fields. Conductors on the Tonopah and
GOldfield railroads report crowded trains
gong south Most of the passengers are
headed for Manhattan, but the GOldfield
travel is heavier than for some time past.
In two saloons last night there were
fully 900 men coming and going, LOCO all
told. A majority Of the me mare very ap-
parently Rocky mountain miners. They
come from all over the great west. They
love the mountains and the prospector's
life and seldom stray TAR away from their
calling, although they roam from Wash
1ngton on the north, possibly from Alas
ka, too, to the Black Hills, Colorado, ATi-
iona and Mexico and all the intervening
territory. But the east is well represent
ed, and among the crowd are men and
boys from the mercantile pursuits Of
Chicago, New York and Boston, as we'll
as farmers from Nebraska and Iowa. The
south also contributes its quota. There
are about as many southerners as Eng
nshmen, the latter always having a
penchant for mining and for adventure.
Work Has SIackened.
While the camp is growing at such
phenomenal rate, work on the mining
properties has perceptbly slackened and
While new strikes are continually being
made, there is q. lack of blasting and dig
ging where the results are expected to be
the most telling. This is because claim
owners are being besieged by would-be
purchasers and are more interested in
he HT---r .,fH
looking for more gold. Claims are con-
tinudlly changing hands at prices ranging
from few thousand dollars to $50, 600, the
highest price recorded so far for a single
claim. AS the claims were all held a
Few weeks ago by poor or but fairly we'll
TODD prOSpectors, the elatiCn and emotion
Of these men is indescribable. But the
properties which have at this early stage
value are changing hands rapidly, and the
prospectOrs viii soon be out of the run
ming. They are the ones who find every
new mineral district, and they have their
reward, but II Is usually small compared
with that Of the capitalist who buys from
them either for the purpose of developing
mine or for the purpose of trading for
higher prices among themselves. Some
CT the prOspectors hang on to the stake
they thus make, but they never retire
from the life of prospecting. A large
number Of them buy homes and farms in
California and in the fertile valleys Of
the whole Pacific slOpe-and rent them to
others. 1t is always their purpose to re-
tire to those places after they have made
one more stake. They never really do it.
There is a large class of prospectors who
drop their wealth faster than it is earned.
1t is a common sight to see a miner with
a long green roll one night-at the gam
bling table-and the next day starting
life over again. He is usually a philo-
sophtcal bird-h2ppy while in the pay
streak; hopeful when in search Of it.
Many New Corporations.
Meanwhile, the men with money who
are flocking thither are, as stated, ac-
curing mining properties and organizing
mining companies through which to ope-
rate them The idea Of one man or set
Of men acquiring q property and working
T. in their own name is now an unheard-
Of thing. Some mines in other states are
known to belong to- individuals ard part
nershipS, but every mine in Nevada be-
longs to a corporation. An ambitious man
might acquire all the stock In the corpora
ton, but usually the most any one man
does Is to acquire controlling interest.
This is the stage of speculation in
claims in Manhattan Very soon will fol-
low speculation III mining stocks.
But during the lull in digging for gold
gold IS being found. On the April Fool
claim, already made prominent because it