Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1908-01-18
LIKE CoMsTocK.
LIKE GOLDFIELD

I ~. oAfA
Wingtield have lost control Of tbe
Goldheld Consolidated, and hat a
syndicate of Eastern capitalists head
ca by the famous Barney Baruch are
in the saddle.
II his is SO, it is but another case
OF history repeating itself. Take the
comstock, for instance. Not only did
the original discoveries of the great
lode sell for a song, but the man who
bought them out did not e a the
enormous profits.
Judge Walsh of Nevada CITY. or
Grass Val'v rs the man that cana
across the II luntains in the summer
OF 1853 and bought out Comstock
and his partners. Who he was. what
became Of him when he disappeared
from local history are things as dark
to the Comstock Of today as are the
Identity and history of the first pros
pector that located a claim in the
land Of Ophir in the days of King
Solomon.
Certainly he built no castle on
sutro Heights, constructed no Palace
hotel, ran no railroad from San Fran
cisco to Santa Cruz, laid no cable
from the coast to Manila, nor did any
other deed resembling the enter
prises Of the men who later made
their pile out of the bounteous
%storehouse OF precious metals.
And those men-Mackey, Fair,
Sharon, Williams, Flood, O'Brien and
the rest-were obliged to run no such
risk, withstand no such competition
as Wingfield and Nixon are meeting
or will have to meet. The Comstocit
of those days was a terra incognita,
so far removed from Wall street that
such a thing as a Comstock quota
tion was never heard Of there. What
warfare had to be waged for control
was with San Francisco inanciers,
and they We're so engrossed in other
affairs, and so ignorant Of the won
derful possibilities that lay at their
very door, that when Mackey and
Fair needed money to carry out their
big projects they were forced. either
by inclination or necessity, to call to
their aid not a banker or a broker.
but two saloon keepers James Flood
and William O'Brien. In this. very
likely they were either very lucky
or very wise. The saloon men were
satisfied with an equal division Of
the profits, whereas the professional
%inancier ultimately would have want
ed it all, and Fair and Mackey would
have wound up. fguratively speaking.
in the poorhouse.
Since that golden age OF primitive
mine manipulation and trust Of part
ner in partner, the halcyon days have
disappeared. Gold mining is no long
er a speculative proposition and Wall
street is closer to Nevada, in a sense.
today, than San Francisco was yes.
terday Observe the change, in one
instance that We know of. When
Senator Nixon wanted money for the
Goldheld Consolidated, he was forced
to 80 70 Barney Baruch, one Of the
keenest-witted, sharpest bargain driv-
ers in the New York market-a mar
who could cut Nixon's eyes out and
run rings around while the Winnie
mucca banker was saying, Good
morning: how dye do?"
Whether Baruch drove so outrage
ously unequal a battle with our jun
Tor senator as some of Mr.. Nixon's
critics assert, is not for the Reveilia
to say, for the simple reason that (
doesnt know. But it would be abb
suta "a entertain for a moment the
notion that Baruch did not make
something out of the deal. And with
men OF the Baruch type, the scent Of
money is what the taste of blood is
TO the tiger-if II be worth while. If
there be enough of it, they are going
back to eat all they can. And as the
Goldfield Consolidated is a chunk of
beef well worth the while. one can
readily imagine Royal Bengal Baruch
stealthily shifting. purring and prowl-
ing about ready to make the leap
yer the bounds OF the corral and
carry OF to its Wall street lair the
priced booty which it is the chief
business of Messrs. Wingheld and
Nixon 70 defend.
The Nevada Mining News says thar
Barney has already brought home the
beef. Time will establish the truth
or error of that assertion. But #
Barney has not already got It, the
future will witness a pretty battle
for the prize, with the prestige of
possession to favor Wingfield ruI,
Nixon, against the sagacity am =.