CHAPTER LIX.

PAY-DAY AT THE MINES.

The majority of the miners at present working in the silver-mines of Nevada are honest in the true and best sense of the word, and are the most charitable men, as a class, to be found on the continent; and the same will apply to the owners and officers of mines.

The money annually donated by the miners of the leading mines on the Comstock must aggregate a very large sum. When a brother miner is accidentally killed it is not at all unusual for the men of the mine in which he worked to make up a purse of from $1,000 to $1,500 for his widow and orphans.

A small sum is generally given at once—say, two or three hundred dollars—then on the first of the next month, which is always pay-day in the mines, each man, as he receives his wages, leaves in the hands of the officer who is “paying off” from one to two dollars, to be given to the person to be assisted. There being in the leading mines from five hundred to eight hundred or one thousand men, a large sum is in this way speedily raised. Each man gives cheerfully and as a duty, for he does not know but that on the next pay-day his brother-miners may be giving a share of their wages for the support of his own widow and her children.

When men are hurt in the mines the companies always render them assistance and they are also assisted, if long disabled, by their comrades. There are three Miners’ Unions, one at Virginia City, one at Gold Hill, and the third at Silver City, the object of which is the protection of the interest of the working miner and the keeping up of wages to the standard of four dollars per day—eight hours. These Unions have handsome and commodious halls in which they hold regular meetings, and, thus far, the principal officers and leading spirits of the several organizations have been men of such honesty of purpose and have shown such fairness in all of their demands that there has been no trouble between miners and mine-owners.

These Unions always have money with which to assist the distressed in case of emergency. The excursions of the Unions, and balls and benefits of all kinds, are always very liberally patronized by all classes of citizens, and thus, when their treasury has been depleted by some calamity in the mines—as a fire—large sums of money are speedily placed in their hands.

The relations existing between the miners and the superintendents are generally very cordial. The men are always respectful and obedient and the superintendents by no means haughty or austere in their intercourse with their men, conversing as freely with a miner upon all subjects, when conversation is in order, as though he were a millionaire. The same may be said of the foremen of the mines, most of whom have been raised from the ranks, as also, have not a few of the superintendents. The miners always have it as an incentive to good conduct and the acquiring of skill and knowledge in mining, that they may one day be promoted.

Most superintendents take a good deal of pride in their men—in having men who are industrious, skilful and reliable in every emergency—and they not infrequently take an interest in the pecuniary affairs of those who are found to be deserving, lending them a helping hand occasionally and always advising them as well as they are capable of doing, when their advice is sought in regard to any little investments they may think of making.

[Illustration: MINERS’ UNION HALL.]

[Illustration: AT WORK AND AT HOME.]

The miners in return take a considerable degree of interest and feel a certain pride in a mine in which they are at work—in the richness of its ores, the power and perfection of its machinery, and, in short, in all connected with it. As sailors are proud of belonging to a first-class ship, so miners are proud to be able to mention a first-class mine as that in which they are employed. In short, thus far the relations of miner and mine-owner have been all that could be desired, and there seems to be no danger of any trouble in the future, as it is generally conceded that the miner who risks his life in the mines and toils in the sweltering lower levels should receive at least four dollars per day.

The mining superintendents themselves lead no easy life, as they make daily visits to the mines in their charge, descend into the lower levels, and pass through and inspect all manner of dangerous and disagreeable places. Often they are in the lower levels for hours at a time, and sometimes are obliged to descend into the mine three and four times in one day.

As a rule the superintendents of the mines on the Comstock lode are men much above the average in understanding, culture, and education—men of marked ability and such as would be leaders in any line of business in which they might engage—captains among men, as it were. The foremen are men of much the same class as the superintendents, but are generally less prominently before the public. Their time is spent in the mines among the men, and though they do not labor with their hands, they have by no means an easy time of it, as they must be almost constantly on their feet, and are obliged to climb and crawl into all manner of dangerous and difficult places. When anything is going wrong in a mine—ground settling, and timbers giving way, a fire or a rush of water—they have little rest until all is again secure.

But for the better wages and the honor of the position, the ordinary miner has a more desirable place in a mine than that occupied by a foreman, as he has nothing to do but work his shift, of eight hours, when he can go home and leave care behind—he has no responsibilities, nothing about which to worry. To do an honest day’s work is all his care.

The engineers, station-tender, pump-men, and the watchmen on the lower levels, all occupy positions to which are attached grave responsibilities, the lives of their fellow workmen being constantly in their hands. The miners receive their pay—$4 per day—regularly every month, from the first to the third day of the month. Pay-day is a happy day with the men. They go to the office of the time-keeper as they come up out of the mine, at the change of shifts, and “get their time” for the month—that is they get a slip of paper on which is an account of the number of days they have worked during the month. With this they go to the office of the secretary or head-clerk of the mine where they form in a line, as lines are sometimes formed in a post-office or at the polls on an election day, and each man in his turn receives his wages.

Over half a million dollars are paid out on the first of every month along the Comstock, to miners, mechanics, and others who are employed in and about the mines. The monthly pay-rolls of some of the leading companies are as follows: Consolidated Virginia, $90,000; Crown Point, $90,000; Belcher, $65,000; Ophir, $33,000; Savage, $22,000; Chollar-Potosi, $25,000; Hale & Norcross, $20,000; and a long list of companies whose pay-rolls amount to from $10,000 to $15,000 per month. Even at mines where they are merely sinking a prospecting-shaft, from ten to fifteen men are employed and there is paid out per month in the shape of wages from $1,500 to $2,000—as mechanics, carpenters, blacksmiths, and engineers, receive from five to seven dollars per day.

Besides the money that is paid out monthly to the men about the mines, the wages of the men employed in the many mills about Virginia City, and Gold Hill, and along the Carson River amount to a large sum. There may be added to this the wages of the men employed on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, over which ore is sent to the mills, and lumber, timber, and wood are brought to the mines; also, the men employed in the saw-mills and in other branches of the lumbering business in the mountains are paid monthly, and all this money is expended in the towns along the Comstock.

Such large sums paid out every month to working men—who scatter it broadcast in the land—causes money to be quite plentiful in all the towns. In case of business being a little dull toward the close of any month, merchants, shopkeepers, and others do not grumble. They merely say: “Never mind, the pay-days are near at hand!” It is not as in agricultural communities, where when a bad crop is made all must wait for another year before good times can be expected.

Besides the money paid out every month in the shape of wages, dividends are paid each month by such companies as are in a sufficiently flourishing condition to thus gladden the hearts of their stockholders. The Consolidated Virginia alone pays $1,080,000 per month in dividends.

In many kinds of business the persons employed are paid every week, and the merchants, and business men in general, square all accounts of transactions among themselves every Monday; hence Monday in Virginia City is sometimes jocularly termed “steamer day,” as corresponding to the old “steamer day” of San Francisco—the day when the steamer sailed for New York, and when all business men were expected to make good all their coin contracts.

When the miners receive their wages the first business of the unmarried men is to pay the rent of their lodging room, and the next is to pay their bill at the restaurant, while the married men settle their bills at the meat-markets, the grocery and provision stores, and the dry-goods stores. Happy is the man who can square up every month and have a few dollars to put by for a rainy day. Some, as in every country, are always behind, but the most miserable of the miners are those who gamble. Much of the time they are working to pay for a “dead horse,” for when they have lost their wages they borrow as long as they can find friends to lend. But whether gambled away or judiciously and economically expended, the money paid out each month to laboring men makes lively times for a fortnight or more—all have coin jingling in their pockets, even check guerillas and thieves.

[Illustration]