Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-17
Ccontlnusd from raee onel

n gambling cStaDnShment at IOnopahs
and finally to a business partnership
with a United States senator. The
story goes that Mr.. Wingheld, who Is
but 20 years old, so impressed Nixon as
president Of the banking institution,
that the senator refused to accept
diamond solitaire ring as security for q
loan, and gave the required money
without note, upon the word OF the
ponniless applicant that he would re-
paw him at later date. When Wing
field arrived in Tonopah he wrote again
TO President Nixon of the bank at Win
nemucca, asking for more money, ana
the same was promptly forwarded TO
him. Wingheld was a shrewd gambler
and his business in Tonopah prospered
more and more as the days passed. He
gained many friends among the rough
men of the camp and gained much IN
sight into the mining discoveries around
about. He gradually obtained control
Of claim after claim, always cutting
in" his former benefactor, Mr.. Nixon,
for one-half, until gradually he obtained
control of many Of the best prospects
IN the state. From then on his influence
grew. Backed by the strategy OF the
older men, he bought and sold and man
ipulated until his purchase for the sum
of 10000 900, of four of the great mines
of Nevada and their consolidation into
one, made him the joint owner of eleven
producing properties in that golden
state. AS he became richer and richer
his money went into other fields and
Wingf1eld, the ex-rancher and ex-card
sharp, became Wingfield, the mine own
er, the banker, the great promoter OF
business enterprises and man whose
influence is felt throughout the length
and breadth Of the state. The stories
of his kindness to his former associ-
ates, of his generosity to his immediate
a
are typical of the largesse which seems
to flow from the hands of these men
who are engaged in a pursuit In which
dollars count as cents and thousands
are reckoned even as hundreds are esti-
mated in other vocations.
Capital Is Needed
The startling question today in Ne
vada is not the future but the imme- |
date now; the paramount Individual
question of gaining sufficient capital to
develop the discoveries already made.
1t is not improbable that there are in
the known gold district of Nevada to-
day a thousand claims that have the
making, & not of a Mohawk, at least
of great producing mines, and they re-
main unknown simply because the In
dividual acquainted with the discovery
is not equipped with sufficient capital
to sink shafts and run the drifts neces-
sary to convert the prospects into an
organized producing mine.
1t is safe to say that Nevada's great
porphyritici belt, extending from the
Comstock, with it's record production,
to Searchlight, and embracing an area
400 miles from north to south and go to
1e0 miles from east to west, is rapidly
being proved the richest gold bearing
zone in the world. But while develop
70 n have l,
to this great zone score or more of
mining camps, of them all Goldfield has
proved itself the richest.
While Tonopah, thirty miles to the
north, is sending an output to the smell
ters averaging $40 per ton, and Bull
frog. seventy miles south, is making
history with the production of ore hav-
ing a tonnage value of $50, the Gold
field district, situated geographically in
the center Of the great Searchlight belt,
is maintaining an output of ore having
an average value per ton of from $500
to $500. l.
High Average Of Values
Compared with other records, no
where in the worlds history of mining ]
can such a high average of values be
found. The average value of produc- |
tion of Cripple Creek was $50 per ton.
In the Black hills the mines are out {
putting ore Of an average valuation of
less than IS. The general value of ore
mined in California ranges from $5 to
$40 per ton. Altogether, the African
production of gold in the Transvaal
shows an average tonnage value of SIT
per ton. This feature of Nevada's pro-
duction has had and will continue to
have an important bearing on the part
this wonderful state is destined to play
in the worlds output of gold. In the
history of mining it has almost intari-
ably been found that exceptionally rich
ore veins possess little if any per-
lnanency. The rich lodges of ore that
have been encountered have proved
"pockety." This was proven true of
Cripple Greek, where practically all
the exceptionally rich ore has been
found in narrow streaks and stringers.
Stratton's great Independence mine has
produced some phenomenally rich ore,
but its average output has not attained
a valuation above $40 per ton. The
Portlands output has not even attained
this aver 50, while the Ell Paso prop
erty, which heretofore has produced
the highest grade of ore in Colorado's
great gold camp, has yielded a tonnage |,
having an average value OF but S55.
While there were many who were
emphatic in their declaration that the
ore bodies would not go down, all of
these theories have been proven fall
eFty ore has grown richer with depth,
as has been the cass IN th Combina-
tion mine and in the l, or workings Of
The Jumbo, the Red Top and others.
The gray-blaek ore OF the Mohawk is
the richest of them all, while the Pc
culiar formation OF the ore and the
richness Of the value is a surprise and
a revelation 20 the miner and the min
ing engineer alike. The occurrence of
gray copper in the ores of the Florence l.
January and other prominent proper
ties Is considered an indication Of the
permaneney of the ore bodies. After
Tonopah had been discovered by jim
Butler aad his recalcitrant burro the |
belief in the richness of the entire dis
tFiet extending south from Tonopah
was firmly implanted In the mind OF
the desert rats" who made their liv-
ing first by prospecting and then by
turning over heir prospects for enough
capital to provide them food for a
month and day.
a