The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-23
NEVADA'S YOUNG MINING KING.
GEORGE WINGFEELD HAS WON
MILLIONS IN A YEAR.
The s=Sst Noted Figure At GOIdncId- u ntil
Recently n Cattleman and amber
Worth From $4,000 eco to SIS
NOw-In a Gold Mine.

Worth From sI2.OOO.C eco TO SIS
100000 MOVIE a Gold Mine.
GoLDFIELD, New, Dec. IL If anv one
wants to get a single impression of the real
value of the golden bait hat has lured
5000 men to a bleak, barren, windswept
frozen desert where three years and a half
ago there was nothing but ~sagebrush and
coyotes, let him consider the fact that at
the present moment the day wage mine
workers employed in the various Goldfeld
mines are getting away with precious ore
at the estimated rate of about sl5O,OOO a
month.
In plain words they are stealing that
amount from their employers, and so rich
is the property on which they are working
that their thefts are blandly winked at by
the men they daily rob. 70 come dow
, TO figures again, the theft of gold bearing
ore at the rate Of 50. 500. 900 "A v ear is regarded
as mere peculation, so vastly greater is the
ore that remains.
This daily stealing on the part of the
miners is called high grading, for the rea-
son that all the ore stolen is selected in
ANAL humps from the richest ore in the
mines. 1t lie a comparatively simple matter
for a miner who W working in a rich vein Of
ore to sneak I'VE or three Jumps into his
pocket when the foreman isn't looking, and
when the ore runs it's best ii takes only two
or three little Jumps TO make a total Of
from SIS to $50 in value.
.. So general is the practice of high grading
among the mine workers that the mere
days wage of IS or $3.50 is scarcely an
object. Many of the mine superintendents
have difficulty in getting the men to come
around to sign the payroll and get the
money at the end of the week. What are
wages with high grading 30 ~profitable2
Little secret is made of this practice.
The owners and superintendent all know
about it. Some of them even Joke the
miners about it and the workers laugh
about it and discuss it among themselves
quite openly. regardless Of who is about to
hear them.
It's We'll. Jack. what did you do to-day,
hey?" and "Oh. just fair. just fair: twosbr
three nice ones to-day. How did they run
fer your"
This thieving could be stopped and would
be stopped if it were not for the strength
of the miners union. Ii could be stopped
by having a dressing room and compelling
the mine worders to change their clothes
there on emerging from the mines at the
end Of their days work.
But any attempt to put such a rule in force
would undoubtedly precipitate a strike that
would tie up every mine in Goldfield. This,
the mine owners think. would cost them so
much more than the miners steal that in
the end they would be the losers. So they
shut their eyes and the daily robbery goes
merrily on.
OF course it is only in the richest mines
that high grading can be made to pay and
in these mines the foremen are overrun
with applicants for work, while some Of the
others can scarcely get men enough to keep
things moving. Most of the mines are now
being operated by lessees.
In the case of the Mohawk, for example,
the lease runs out January /. Here time is
money as it seldom is on this earth and with
the ore coming out at the rate of perhaps
OIL, 900. 600 a month. the lessees are not going
to chance stopping the work for a paltTy
loss of say S25, 600 a week. There is some
talk that when the leases expire and the
real owners Of the mines take control there
will be some organized effort TO stop the
high grading, but that it can be done with
out a fight with the union is very generally
doubted.
Goldfield is probably the most optimistic
mining camp that ever existed. Every
body is booming Goldfeld. Everybody is
excited and hopeful.
There are so many new-made rich in
town that everybody else expects his turn
will come. Of course, it won't come for
all Of them, but it is safe to say that the
majority of the Is goo who have rushed to
Goldfield and kept their eyes open, worked
hard and used horse sense rave made
money.
A good many have made money out Of
GoLdfield who never saw the town and never
will see it. But good many more in this
class will lose money through lending a
crcdulous ear to the sweet songs Of pro-
motors and takers who trade upon the
genuine success of the really valuable
properties to boom enterprises whose sole
assets are a name, a few acres of sterile
rock and endless adbectives displayed in
big type.
=. 5,Ihat Goldfield c~Cntains some Of the most
valuable mining properties the world has
ever seen cannot be doubted and is 70 de-
clared by scores Of mining experts who nave
made ia partial Investigations, and most Of
then say that the ground has only been
scratched as yet. The result Of thiss sincere
and we'll informed opinion is visible in the
fact that from October 7 TO November 7 the
stock market values of the shares Of thirteen
Goldfeld companies increased over $50 ,OOO,-
600. Naturally somebody made a heap Of
money out Of this phenomenal jun p.
In one Of the little banks of Goldfeld are
stacked tiers of bags Of ore. They look for
all the world like bags of oats.
Late every night. when most places are
fast asleep. but when Goldheld's Tenderloin
Is lust beginning to get lively, a two horse
team in from the mines with a new
load guarded by three men who know how
70 shoot and shoot straight. Thus the heap
grows, tier by tier.
OF course it isn't oats at all, but some Of
the richest gold ore the world has ever
known. IL Is the selected high grade OF
the richest OF the Goldfield mines, set aside
especially for shipment in one carload.
Tine owners OF the mine say that by january
] there will be a carload OF IL and that It
will be worth 81 100000. So far as is known
II will be by tar the most valuable carload
OF gold bearing ore ever shipped to the
smelters.
In the first two weeks Of October seven