The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1919-11-13

reka, Nevada, or the p"henomenally
rich ore encountered in the Eureka
Croesus and Eureka Holly, and that
man is w. 8. Purdy. secretary and
director of the Pacific States Build
ing & Loan Company. secretary OF
the Midway Gas Company, and gener-
ally prominent in the life OF the
financial district, write Dennis Homo
hoe in the San Francisco Examiner.
Pardy was born at Austin and
reared at Eureka. where his father
established the pioneer bank Of that
then booming silver camp. He first
saw the property now called the Eu-
reka Croesus in 1879, and as a child
played around the mine and about the
Stag dumps from the furnace where
this rich silver ore was being treated.
Sitting In his San Francisco office,
he told the romantic story of the rise
and fall of Eureka. He said:
my father. William Pardy, moved
I'D IxtlTthd III 1917 anu NctdbitSiiNu o
bank there; and there he remained
until 1889. The Eureka Croesus was
most familiar TO me as a boy and a
young man. II was then known as
the Ruby Dunderberg group. and was,
owned and operated by an English
syndicate.
&c. ]. Bowling, an English mining
engineer. was manager. and the prop
erty was phenomenally rich and the
profits were huge. In a single half
year as much as s2S5,00 was taken
out Of the mine. The company main
tanned a furnace at Eureka where the
ore was smeled. and %recoveries of
$50 a ton were the rule rather than
the exception.
"Then came the repeal of the Bland
act and the rapid progressive decline
in the price of the white metal. In
1883 Bowling received a telegram
from the company in London order
ing him to close down the mine and
pay off the men
"I was then a lad of twenty, and,
representing my fathers bank, I ac-
companied Bowling and the superin-
tsndent of the property. j. c. Powell.
on their mission. When the miners
heard the news there was almost a
riot At that time the ore showing
was enormous and the ore was grow
ing richer at depth. Thirty men were
working there. and every drift In the
mine was faced by this wonderfully
rich silver ore.
'The miners were so certain that
there was a fortune to be made out of
the property that when they were
PAID off they voluntarily went to work
as 'tributors'-that is to say. they
worked the property On shares.
AS the Ruby-Dunderberg furnace
was shut down. every ton of ore taken
o by these 'tributors' was trans
ported from the mine in wagons to
Eureka and thence shipped by rail
to Salt Lake City. Silver continued
to fall, however. and despite the rich
ness of the ore. the expenses ulti-
mately ate up the profit and the men
finally stopped work and moved away.
Another attempt was made In 1890
and 1891 by the English syndicate to
operate the mine. A. Payne Gallwey,
a famous mining engineer. was sent
out from London and worked sixty
men on the property. shipping all the
ore to the Salt Lake City smelter and
making a fair profit. Then the price
of silver went still lower and the
mine was permanently closed down.
1T was closed, not by reason of the
exhaustion of the ore. for the ore
continued wonderfully rich, much of
it running over $3.50 a ton at the
then reduced price of silver. l have
seen large Jumps of ore weighing
fifty pounds or more taken from that
mine which ran 81 a pound in silver
ana soAu NalueS.
Before the by-Dunderberg was
permanently closed down, my father,
in association with General p. Ed
ward Connor. the famous Indian fight
er, and hrother-in-law of b. f. Oliver
OF this city, financed the opening OF
the Eureka tunnel. with the intention
OF tapping these big ore bodies at
depth. They drove this tunnel into
the mountain $500 feet and at one
time worked a crew of $50 men on
the property. These claims. you can
say. were about on what is now the
Croesas group. Much rich ore was
encountered In driving this tunnel.
AS for the Eureka Holly, when I
first saw il in the early SOS a man
nameS naxfs rafor 1lNSo1v ;aa,tsGoa