Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1914-11-27
WRITER
ON CALIFORNIA
AND NEVADA

The following article is from the
pen OF Sam c. Durham. one Of b
best known mining writer's Of the
West, whose poems Of the Yukon are
known wherever mining men forega-
Their. 1t was printed in n recent issue
of Western Opinion:
This is the most propitious tine in
the history of mining for the legiti.
mate exploitation of the meritorous
gold mine. With all the great dynas'
ties of the old world lettering to their
fall, the domain OF gold mining is the
only principality that remains undis-
turbcd, for its product is, always in de-
mand by all nations of the earth, and
ut this appalling juncture is command
ing L big premium. Among all the
monarchs of the world, gold is the
only one that now sits secure and Sc.
rene on his throne.
The mother lode of California, en-
bracing the five counties of AmadoT.
FL Dorado, C%alaveras. Tuolumne and
M%ariposa, with the four counties of
Placer. Nevada, Sierra and Plumas,
lying to the north in the order named,
constitute the great gold belt which
was the scene of the wonderful dis
coveries OF lSiS and 1919 that turned
the tide Of civilization toward the Pa
cific coast. This is the country i'm
m~ortaiized by Bret Harte. In 20 years
the gold it infused into the sluggish
arteries of the worlds III set
civilization a full century ahead.
During the 6i years from 1919 to
the close of 1913 California produced
principally from the area the stupcn.
dOus sum Of 81. 500. 0O0, 900 in gold. or
nearly as much as all the other min
Ing states combined. During all these
years the gold output of California
averaged nearly S25, 200, 900 per year,
or more than 50. 900, 0OG a month. The
state still maintains the lead in Amer
lean gold production, the output for
1913 being a little more than twenty
million dollars.
The ever.incrcasing army OF pros.
pectors and gold miners spread north.
ward and eastward, and 10 years la
ter the famous Comstock lode was
discovered, just over the line in Ne.
vada. The tremendous output OF sill.
yer and gold from the COmstock
mines, added to the large contribu.
tons of the yellow metal from Cali.
tornia, saved the credit of the nation
at a time when not only her political
integrity but also her financial status
was in danger, and made possible the
adoption of tie fourteenth amendment
to the constitution of the United
States.
But the service rendered by Call.
ornia and Nevada TO the nation dur.
ing that trying period was eclipscd BY
the worldwide influence of this SUI.
sequent achievement In and
finance. They poured into the lap OF
commerce the greater volume any.
where In the same space of gold and
silver ever produced time. They sent
their miners to sit among the princes
OF finance In the parliaments OF in.
dustrial progress and commercial en-.
tcrprise. They sent others to the sen.
ate or the nations. Upon others they
bestowed the judges crmlnc and the
bishops mitre.
They raised a host from penury to
~aiiIuencc, and scattered millions in
that now obsolete form of charity that
let not the left hand know what the
right hand was doing.
They rcvolutionized the langIishing
industry of mining and their great
mining camps became training
schools for the p~re.cmincntly efficient
mining engineers, m~ctallurgists and
practical mine workers who later de.
Veloped the vast mineral resources of
Australia and South Africa.
They laid railroads across the noun.
tains and the deserts and tied the
East TO the West with bands of steel.
Their telegraph wires arc strung
from ocean to ocean, and their cables
unite the continents and bind us to
the Orient.
Strange that descendants OF the in.
trepid pioneers who accomplished
these great things should DO so blind
to the wonderful opportunities that are
still b%eckoning to them from the prac.
ticaily ~incxlIaustiblc g~oldnclds that
stretch for hundreds OF miles along
the Slerras!
o