CHAPTER LXIII.

FLUCTUATIONS OF FORTUNE.

What are now known as the “bonanza mines” are in great part made up of small mines that were located to the southward of the Ophir soon after the discovery of silver. The big bonanza lies in the Consolidated Virginia and California mines, and its northern extremity extends into the Ophir, as is supposed; it is also thought that it will be found to extend into the Best and Belcher, which is the first mine south of the Consolidated Virginia.

The north end of the vein is divided into claims at this point, as is shown in the accompanying diagram.

The California mine contains 600 feet on the length of the ledge, and is of whatever width the vein shall prove to be, as the owners have a right to follow it, wherever it may go. It consists of the original California of 300 feet to which has been added by purchase the Central mine No. 1, containing 150 feet; the Central No. 2, 100 feet, and the Kinney ground 50 feet. There are 900 shares to the foot, or 540,000 shares in the whole mine.

The Consolidated Virginia mine contains 710 feet of ground along the lode, and is made up of the Dick Sides ground, 500 feet, and the White & Murphy ground, 210 feet. There are 108,000 shares in the mine. The Ophir, which lies next north of the California mine, contains 675 feet and is divided into 100,800 shares. In 1874, 600 feet were taken off the north end of the Ophir and incorporated as a separate mine, which was called the Mexican. The Mexican contains 108,000 shares.

_Longitudinal Section of the North End of the Comstock Lode._

+-----------------------------------------------------+ | NORTH. | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | Sierra Nevada. 2657 ft.| | | | | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | Union Consolidated. 600 ft.| | | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | Mexican. 600 ft.| | | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | Ophir. 675 ft.| | | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | California. 600 ft.| | | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | Consolidated Virginia. 710 ft.| | | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | Best & Belcher. 224 ft.| +-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | Gould & Curry. 921 ft.| | | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | Savage. 768 ft.| | | +-----------------------------------------------------+ | SOUTH. |

The bonanza mines are situated in the northeast part of Virginia City, and many buildings stand on the ground under which they lie. Small bodies of paying ore were found in some of the mines composing the California mine in the early days, but they were soon worked out, and for a number of years the ground lay idle. In the Dick Sides and White & Murphy, the two mines from which was formed the Consolidated Virginia, very little ore of any kind was found on the surface or even at the depth of three or four hundred feet, and these claims had also lain idle several years before they were purchased by Messrs Mackey & Fair and their associates Messrs Flood & O’Brien, of San Francisco. However, on what is now the Consolidated Virginia ground, a shaft had been sunk to the depth of six or seven hundred feet from the bottom of which had been run a drift of considerable length.

Ore was first found in the Consolidated Virginia, in March, 1873 at the time when Captain S. T. Curtis (in 1875 superintendent of the Ophir) was in charge. The ore then found was a body about twelve feet in width, which was encountered at the depth of 1,167 feet below the surface in a drift run from the corresponding level of the Gould & Curry mine. At the same time two other bodies of ore—the largest seven feet in width—were found, which yielded assays averaging $60 per ton. At this time their present main shaft was down 710 feet, and was being sunk at the rate of three feet per day.

In October, 1873, the main shaft had reached the 1,167-foot level and in drifting southeasterly a distance of 250 feet a very rich deposit of ore was reached—the top of the big bonanza, in fact. The work of breasting out and regularly extracting ore from this body was commenced October 16, and by the 29th a chamber had been opened in it from six to nine sets of timbers in width (the sets are five feet apart each way) and four floors or sets in height, with solid masses of ore in sight on all sides. A drift had then been run lengthwise through the ore a distance of one hundred and forty feet, while the nine sets of timbers showed it to be fifty-four feet in width. Although all this wealth was in sight in the mine, the people of the town, walking over and around the mine knew nothing of it. What was in the mine was only known to those at work there, and to the officers of the company. I had the satisfaction of being the first “outsider” to descend into the mine and inspect the deposit in regard to which—the mine being closed to visitors—there had been a thousand surmises, favorable and unfavorable. I took samples from all parts of the ore-body and had them assayed. The highest assay obtained was $632,63 per ton, and the lowest, $93,67,—seven samples being tested. Thus it will be seen that even the top of the bonanza was wonderfully rich.

The company continued to explore this body of ore in all directions, running drifts and cross-cuts through it, sinking winzes upon it and making upraises. They followed it down to the 1200, the 1300, 1400 and to the 1500-foot levels, with the same rich ore everywhere. Although people knew in a general way that there was an abundance of rich ore in the mine, they did not get excited about it, nor did they trouble themselves much about it in any way, further, perhaps, than to say: “Well, I am glad to hear that the Consolidated folks have a big body of ore; it will be a good thing for the town.” The mine did not attract more attention than many others, until in October 1874, when the work of opening out on the 1500-foot level was begun. The ore then found was of such extraordinary richness, and the ore-body appeared to be of such unprecedented extent that people began to talk about it, and then some few began to visit and examine it, all coming to the surface greatly astonished at what they had seen. The reports in regard to the great wealth in sight in the mine, brought to the people of the upper world by scores of reliable men and capable mining experts, soon caused not a little excitement, and everywhere in the streets persons were to be heard talking of the wonderful wealth that was being developed in the Consolidated Virginia mine. Day after day the excitement grew as the reports came from the visitors to the mine that the cross-cuts had been advanced fifty feet, seventy-five, then one hundred feet into the big bonanza and still no signs of getting through it were seen. The cross-cuts still contained in a solid mass of ore of the richest description and each day found them advancing in the same, even after they had gone one hundred and fifty and two hundred feet.

At this time no cross-cuts had been made into the California ground, but the most northerly cross-cut in the Consolidated Virginia was but a few feet from the California south line, therefore this would serve very well to test that portion of both mines. All who comprehended the situation being now confident that the great body of ore which was slowly being explored in the Consolidated Virginia must extend far northward into the ground of the California Company, the stock of said company was soon in brisk demand. As drifts extended southward from the Ophir mine into the California and they encountered rich ore in two or three places, it was considered certain that a mass of ore extended all the way from the Consolidated Virginia to the mine first named, a distance of six hundred feet. Although the stock of the California was but $30 or $40 per share in the beginning, it finally reached $750, for the old shares—afterwards increased five for one.

At this time, although there were no cross-cuts in the California section of the bonanza, there was a main north and south drift extending from the Consolidated Virginia mine to the Ophir, through the west-country rock, and, from this, cross-cuts had been started, and at no distant day reached the ore.

As the progress of these cross-cuts in the rich ore of the bonanza was made known from time to time the excitement gradually increased until it reached fever heat, both in Virginia City and San Francisco. Never were the people more fairly treated on the occasion of any big strike on the Comstock lode than they were by the Consolidated Virginia and California Companies during the time the big bonanza was being opened and explored. All who desired to do so were allowed to descend into the mines and see for themselves what was being done. Often there were such crowds of visitors as to very seriously interfere with all underground operations. There were times when for days together the miners did not do more than two or three hours work on a shift, so frequent were the interruptions caused by persons visiting the drifts and cross-cuts that had penetrated the ore-body. One party had no sooner been shown through the two mines than another arrived. All were allowed to dig into and examine the ore, to carry away samples for assays, and, in short, to try whatever experiments they chose in order to satisfy themselves in regard to the value of the deposit.

The men who visited the lower levels and made themselves most familiar with the developments thereon, were the men who purchased more freely, and those who were experts in mining matters were those who were most astounded at the great richness and vast extent of the body of ore opened into. These men bought on their judgement while the mercurial masses bought at random, and under the influence of contact with persons as much and as blindly excited as they themselves were.

It was the coming in of the multitude, as, indeed, it always is, that sent not only the stock of the bonanza mines, but also all other stocks rushing sky-ward with rocket-like celerity. When the people start in _en masse_ to buy stocks they—to use a very elegant illustration—shut their eyes and rush in like a hog going into battle. They exhibit startling vigor, activity, and enthusiasm, for a short time, but the moment they stop to “get their wind,” that moment they are in a fit condition for a panic. The least thing now startles them, and they take wing and are off like a flock of pigeons; or, to carry out the simile, turn tail with a snort, and make for the canebrakes. As many of these unusual dealers in stocks have bought at the highest figures, and on margins to a ruinous extent taking all manner of desperate chances, a panic among them speedily demoralizes the money-markets, and persons who have made their purchases with the best of judgement lose, as all stocks are driven as much below as they were before forced above their real value.

In the time of a grand panic the coolest of persons and men of best judgment are forced to sell their stocks in self-defence, or because it is, as they say, “business” to sell when it is plainly to be seen that the tendency of prices is irresistibly downward; and in this way the crash is made still more complete and sweeping. Men no more take into consideration the real value of a stock at a time when there is a crash in the market than they do when the market is unduly excited and everything is going up with a “rush.” The condition of the mines is not taken into consideration on the occasion of a panic. Rich developments in the mines undoubtedly are the prime cause of an advance, and this advance is generally such as is justified by the mineral wealth brought to light until the people “rise up in their might” and take a hand in the business, after which time no man can say what will happen.

As the masses purchase without knowing anything of the mines except what they have heard, so they sell in spite of all that may be told them. Having never seen or examined the mines into which they have bought, when a panic occurs they are more ready to believe that there are no mines at all than to believe that they still exist and remain the same as when they made their purchases. Thus at the time of the panic, in 1875, there was actually a vast deal more ore in sight and the mines were looking better than at the time that the highest figures were reached—that was daily being brought to light the existence of which had formerly only been surmised. Men, however, were not dealing in the big bonanza as it existed in Nevada, but as it appeared on California street, San Francisco. They had lost their interest in the mines and were thinking only of their money.

At the time of the panic men who had seen and examined the great bodies of ore developed in the Consolidated Virginia and California mines, not only held on to their stock but continued to purchase as long as they had money—buying more and more as the stock receded, and in this way some of even the best-informed “came to grief,” as, looking only at the mines and not at California street, they bought on margins, and the call of the brokers for “mud” soon distressed them and forced them to make ruinous sacrifices. In speaking with Mr. John Mackey, the mining millionaire and one of the principal owners in the bonanza mines, about this time (February, 1875), he said to me: “We have not yet fairly started in upon the California. It will require steady work for at least six months to show what that mine really is.”

In regard to the Consolidated Virginia (then yielding at the rate of $1,000,000 per month), he said: “Some persons think that the stock has already sold for more than it is worth. The truth is that it has never yet sold for one-half of its value; but all this will be seen in good time. People will see it after a while.”

Speaking of the crash in stocks, Mr. Mackey said; “It is no affair of mine. I am not speculating in stocks. My business is mining—legitimate mining. I see that my men do their work properly in the mines, and that all goes on as it should in the mills. I make my money here out of the ore. Had I desired to do so, I could have gone down to San Francisco with ten thousand shares of stock in my pocket, and, by throwing it on the market at the critical moment, I could have brought about a panic and a crash, just as has been done. Suppose I had done so, and had made $500,000 by the job—what is that to me? By attending to my legitimate business here at home I take out $500,000 in one week.”

Mr. Mackey, indeed, troubles himself very little with the ups and downs of the stock-market or with the chicanery and wire-pulling of the stock manipulators. As he says, he is content to see that all goes well in his mines and mills, and, as it were, scoops his coin directly from the lower levels into his pockets. He wants to make no money by engineering crashes in stocks which ruin thousands on thousands of industrious and worthy persons. During a short conversation with him, Mr. Mackey repeatedly said: “My business is square, legitimate mining, I make my money here from the mines—from the ore itself. Both here and in San Francisco,” continued he, “persons are constantly coming to me, or writing to me, to ask—‘What shall I buy?' I say to all that come to me—‘Go and put your money in a savings bank.’”

Indulging in a quiet laugh, at this point, Mr. Mackey said: “You should see some of them stare at me when they hear this advice. They evidently consider me a strange kind of mining-man. But in speaking so I mean just what I say, and my advice is good. I never advise people to buy mining-stocks of any kind.”

In this Mr. Mackey is right. He can never know what jobs may be put up by the “stock-sharps” to break the price of almost any stock on the list, merit or no merit. By giving no advice he escapes all reproach, and pursues the even tenor of his way, digging his dollars out of his mines, regardless of the fluctuations in stocks and the machinations of the “manipulators.”

[Illustration: SURROUNDINGS.]