feet. Average width of ore, 15 feet; length along the vein, 500
feet; cubical contents, 190,000 tons; value of ore, $37,500,000.
3. Savage.—This was a continuation of the Curry bonanza, but
not so rich. The ore continued down in the Savage claim to the
very bottom of that mine, which is now 2,300 feet below the
outcroppings.
4. Hale & Norcross bonanza.—This body was struck at a depth of 450
feet. It averaged 10 feet in width, was about 200 feet long, and
stretched down to the 1,200 foot level. Cubical contents, 75,000
tons; value, $5,500,000.
5. Chollar Potosi bonanza.—struck at a depth of 500 feet; width of
the vein worked, 100 feet; has extended with but few interruptions
down to the present bottom of the mine, which is over 1,700 feet.
Cubical contents, 1,500,000 tons; value, $24,000,000.
6. Gold Hill bonanza.—This body extended from the surface to a
depth of 500 feet, and for 300 feet on the vein. Contents, 300,000
tons; value, $10,000,000.
7. Yellow Jacket bonanza.—Discovered on the surface, and extended
downward for over 700 feet. The ore on this body was quite poor,
and never yielded much profit. Its total production was about
$5,000,000.
8. Kentucky bonanza.—300 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 400 feet
deep. This ore was very rich. Contents, 100,000 tons; value,
$10,000,000.
9. Crown Point and Belcher bonanza.—Discovered on the 1,400 foot
level, and extended downward for 600 feet. Is still producing in
the Belcher. Contents, 1,500,000 tons; value, $50,000,000.
10. Consolidated Virginia and California bonanza.—This last and
greatest ore body which the lode has yet developed, was found by
drifting eastward from the 1,500 foot level into what was supposed
to be the last country rock. The bonanza lies above and below
this, and is believed to contain $140,000,000. It extends for
about 700 feet along the vein, is 600 feet in height, and nearly
100 feet in width. Up to the present date, it has yielded over
$30,000,000, though discovered less than two years ago, and is now
producing at the rate of $120,000 per day.
The Comstock now furnishes employment for over 2,000 miners. Its daily
output of ore is nearly 2,000 tons, and its yield, for the year 1877,
will approach $50,000,000. One-half of this (or, more correctly, about
forty-two per cent.) is gold, and the balance silver. When the amount
of ore now in sight is taken out, the lode will have produced in all
something over $300,000,000 in precious metals.
VII.
SPECULATIONS IN NEVADA MINES.
MINING SPECULATIONS.—SWINDLERS IN NEW YORK AND BOSTON.—THE
AUTHOR’S EXPERIENCE.—HOW HE WAS CAUGHT.—THE HOOK AND THE WAY
TO BAIT IT.—LIMITED INVESTMENT.—THE ADVENTURER’S STORY.—FACTS
AND FIGURES.—THE ROMANCE, AND THE SUBSEQUENT REALITY.—ONE
HUNDRED PER CENT. A MONTH.—IRISH DIVIDENDS.—EXPLOSION OF
THE BUBBLE.—THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FATE.—NANKEEN TROUSERS IN
WINTER.—AN ADVENTURER’S EXPERIENCE IN LONDON.—HOW HE CAUGHT A
CAPITALIST.—HELD BY THE GLITTERING EYE.
Among the various mining operations, there are many in which there
are tunnels, and levels, and shafts of a metaphoric as well as of a
literal character. This is peculiarly the case in our great cities:
copper mines on Lake Superior, gold mines in Colorado and California,
silver mines in Nevada and Utah, iron mines in Pennsylvania and
elsewhere, have been exploited, in many instances, much more
successfully in New York and Boston than at the places where they are
located, or supposed to be located. In many instances, the mines which
are sold have no existence whatever; millions of dollars have been
paid in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities, for mines
which had no existence, or next to none.
[Illustration: SPECULATORS AT THE MINES.
DEMONSTRATING THE VALUE OF A SILVER MINE.
MINES AND MINING ON PAPER. FAMILIAR SCENES.]
[Sidenote: SELLING A SILVER MINE.]
Some years ago, it was my fortune to become infected with the silver
mining fever. It was at a time when speculators from the far West
and the Pacific coast were abundant, and their operations upon the
credulous and unsophisticated natives of Manhattan Island were
wonderful to behold, and became disagreeable to remember. What poor
innocents we were! I had had some experience with gold mines, and
other mines, and I knew, or ought to have known, that honesty did not
abound among their manipulators to any alarming extent. Most of those
who came to New York with mines for sale were men of pleasing, though
rough exterior, and their tongues were as flexible as the hair-spring
of a watch. They could talk the ears from a donkey without moving
a muscle; and the strangest part of it was, that the donkey would,
generally, lose his aural appendages without knowing it: he would
listen, and would deliberate, and, like the woman who deliberates,
he would be lost. His hand (on the supposition that a donkey
possesses hands) would go down to his pockets, and he would place the
money—whether honestly or dishonestly acquired nobody knew—into the
hands of the beguiling speculator; and the speculator thereupon would
retire to the fastnesses of his hotel, and waste the substance of the
verdant New Yorker in riotous living.
I was introduced to one of these adventurers, who owned a silver mine
of wonderful richness. Figures were exhibited, and a plan of the mine
was spread before us: it was a gorgeous parchment. The mine, with its
dips, and spurs, and angles, was carefully delineated.
There was a picture of a crushing mill in full operation, and there
was all the machinery portrayed on that parchment for running a
first-class mine. A dozen of us were invited to meet the speculator
the next day in a cosy little office where we could see specimens from
the mines.
The speculator was there at the appointed hour. We came, we saw, and
_he_ conquered: there was a fortune before us.
“Gentlemen,” said the speculator, “this is the finest mine within
forty miles of Frogtown.” Frogtown was the name of the city nearest
to the great mine; I believe he called it the Revenue mine—good name,
that, to enterprising men who wanted to increase their revenue.
[Sidenote: A GLITTERING BAIT.]
“Gentlemen,” he continued, “before this mine was discovered a good
many people around Frogtown talked of moving away, but as soon as it
was opened nobody wanted to leave. The population has increased a
thousand per cent. in three months, and it will continue to increase
quite as fast; in a year from now we will have a population of fifty
thousand, and we can employ three thousand men at least in and around
the Revenue. I won’t sell the whole of it, gentlemen; you have not
money enough in New York to buy the whole of this mine; but what I
want is to raise money to develop it. There is a mine there worth a
hundred millions of dollars, at the very least; but you see it may be
worth millions of dollars, and at the same time it will want money to
develop it.”
“I don’t exactly understand,” said I, “why you came all the way to New
York to get money if the mine is so rich.”
“Why, the thing is very plain,” said he; “the people that came there
have a use for all their money. Money is readily worth twenty-five per
cent. a month at Frogtown, and it is hard to get it at that; men can
do so much better there.
“I have in mind, now, a man who came there over six months ago with
two thousand dollars; he has invested it in such a way that it is
returning him four thousand dollars a month. Any man who knows
anything about the business there, will readily put in his money where
it will make him a fortune: it is the best place in the world for
investing money.”
“That does not answer the question,” said another: “why can’t you get
the money in some place near Frogtown, from people who know about your
mine, and know how rich it is? and, any way, if you have so valuable a
mine, why do you want to raise money?”
The Frogtown adventurer smiled a sarcastic smile, as if amused at the
ignorance of the questioner. The smile was brief, but convincing, and
gave full weight to the statement which followed it.
“Suppose now,” said he, “that you are in a house where you had a clear
title to anything you discover. Going through the cellar of the house,
you find an iron chest: you strike that chest, and you are sure you
hear money rattle inside of it. You attempt to lift it, but find it
too heavy: now what do you want to do? Plainly you want to open the
chest; but it is firmly locked and is very solid. You look around for
some implement with which you can break it open, but nothing of the
sort can be found. There may be other men standing around, but nobody
among them has any tools that will help you. You look all through the
house, but not a tool can be discovered: plainly you must go out of
that house to find something that will help you to get at your money.
“Now, that is exactly the fix that we are in: our mine is the money
chest, Frogtown is the cellar, and Nevada is the house. To open that
mine, to make the shafts and to get the machinery, we must have
money. The silver is there, plenty of it; but before we can put it
into the market we must dig it out and refine it, and that is exactly
the position. Your money chest will be of no use to you until it is
opened, neither is the mine of any use until it is at work. You might
have a property worth a million of dollars and not have a shilling to
buy your breakfast with.”
[Sidenote: PLAUSIBILITY OF A SWINDLER.]
He repeated that winning smile, and we were convinced.
He continued, “I will not sell the whole mine for all the money in New
York, but I am ready to put it into a stock company, and sell half of
it for sixty thousand dollars; and as soon as the money is paid in, we
can go to work and develop the mine. It will return you, gentlemen, a
hundred per cent. a month on your investment, and it will begin to pay
dividends within three months, and the dividends, gentlemen, will be
paid in coin, dollar for dollar.”
This was better still; gold was then at a high premium, or, what
amounted to the same thing, greenbacks were at a heavy discount.
Twelve hundred per cent. a year in coin was something not to be
despised. We thought we ought to get more for our investment, but were
willing to begin at that rate.
We made up the company, and were only allowed to put in one thousand
dollars each. The speculator was a philanthropist: he wished to
benefit as many as possible of his fellow-men; he would not consent
that so great a blessing should be enjoyed by a few. “I want,” said
he, “as many men as possible to have an interest is this matter. I
want to show everybody that I am dealing fairly and honorably; and to
satisfy you that everything is correct, I have plenty of references.”
[Sidenote: IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR.]
He mentioned several gentlemen more or less well known.
Among them was one who, by a lucky circumstance, was in the very
building where we were assembled. He was sent for, and came to our
meeting.
He confirmed all that had been said by the rosy-lipped speculator; in
fact, he confirmed a great deal more than had been said by the latter.
Our thoughts, as we listened to him, were like those of the Queen of
Sheba when she looked at the bank account of King Solomon.
We hastened to pay our money and secure our shares of the greatest
silver mine of this or any other age. In a few days we obtained the
certificates of our stock. They were beautiful specimens of the
lithographer’s art, and nearly as large as a first-class morning
newspaper. Of course there could be no doubt of the genuineness of an
undertaking that was set forth on certificates like these.
Time passed on; that is to say, a few weeks passed on. We visited the
office of the company every day or two, and heard nothing but the most
glowing accounts. We heard daily of unfortunate and grief-stricken
individuals who had been left out in the cold, who were seeking
frantically to obtain some of the Revenue stock, but found, to their
sorrow, that none was to be had. Each of us had invested his one
thousand dollars, and was not allowed to invest more. Those miserable
beings who had not been in on the ground floor, and were anxious to
buy, were offering,—so we were told,—a hundred per cent. advance for
shares, but none of us would sell. We scorned to double our money when
we should soon begin to receive every month an amount equal to our
investment. Never did a bull-dog cling with more tenacity to the under
jaw of another bull-dog than we clung to the stock of the Revenue.
[Sidenote: MORE MONEY.]
But soon our picture of coming wealth began to lose its brightness.
Our first dividend was an Irish one. As soon as the sixty thousand
dollars were paid in, we were told that the sixty thousand dollars had
gone for the purchase of the mine; that is to say, our half interest
in it. Thirty thousand dollars were now needed for the purchase of a
mill. Of what use would be a mine without a mill?
We admitted the force of this reasoning, and, not without much
grumbling, we raised the money to purchase the mill. With the
innocence of toothless and milk-imbibing infants we supposed that the
purchase of a mill would put our mine in a paying condition.
The mill was bought, and then we were told that money was required
for transporting it from San Francisco to Frogtown. About that time
I began to see a hole through the ladder, and concluded there was
a large-sized cat in that beautiful meal tub. I determined to send
no more good money after bad money, and refused to pay any more
assessments.
Some of my friends, however, who had gone into the enterprise,
determined to stick to it. They paid the money on their share, or as
much as was required for the transportation of the mill. When this
was done, there was a call for more money to purchase a steam engine.
Then the confounded engine had to be transported from San Francisco
to Frogtown. More money. Then a mill site had to be purchased. More
money. Then the mill site must be prepared for setting up the mill
and machinery. More money. Next, the mill must be set up. More money.
Next, a wood ranche must be bought; you could not run a mill without
fuel. More money. Next, a shaft must be opened. More money. Next,
a road must be built from the mine to the mill. More money. Next,
chemicals must be bought for extracting the silver from the crushed
ore. More money. And so it went on.
One after another my friends dropped out of the enterprise, and if
they had not dropped out, I believe that every month would have
brought forth some new device for tapping their pockets. Every one
of them who stuck to the speculation longer than I did, became as
financially dry as the middle of the Desert of Sahara.
“I’ll tell you what it is,” said one of them; “I have speculated in
this silver mine all summer, and now I must wear nankeen pants and
gaiter shoes all winter. A sitting of draw poker with one of those
Mississippi fellows, who ‘does not know anything about the game,’
but somehow cleans you out before you leave the table, is nothing
compared to speculating in a silver mine.”
I fancy that a great many men could tell a story very much like this.
The game was cautiously and carefully played. We were baited with that
very gaudy fly which only allowed us to put in a thousand dollars
each. We did not see the point at first, but we saw it afterwards.
When a man has invested a small sum of money he is more likely to let
the swindler go unprosecuted that if his investment is a large one.
Had we invested five, ten, or twenty thousand each in the enterprise,
according to our financial condition, we should have devoted time,
and trouble, and money to the prosecution of the speculator and his
fellow-conspirators; but as our investment was comparatively small, we
allowed the matter to drop. And then we were more readily deluded than
if a larger sum had been demanded.
Swindling in mining speculations has become an exact science, and to
carry on a swindle successfully requires a good knowledge of human
nature, and of the expense of lawsuits.
[Sidenote: COLLAPSE OF THE REVENUE.]
The Revenue silver mine never paid a dollar to anybody, except to the
man who sold it. A small quantity of machinery, and a steam engine,
of about four dog power, were transported to Frogtown and set up; but
they were seized afterwards, and held for a claim of the San Francisco
iron merchant.
A shaft was sunk—that is, a hole was dug—about six feet deep, where
there was no more prospect of finding silver than in the back yard of
a Fourth Ward boarding-house. The deepest and most profitable shaft of
the Revenue silver mine was sunk in the pockets of those who bought it.
As for the speculator, I believe he subsequently died in Nevada. As
John Phœnix would say, “He was one day addressing a large audience,
and when his speech was concluded, he dropped from the end of the
wagon where he was standing, and the rope which fastened him to the
tree being too short, he fell, and broke his neck.” At any rate, I saw
his name one day in a paragraph from a territorial newspaper, which
read about as follows:—
[Sidenote: A NECK-TIE SOCIABLE.]
“John Smith, equine abductor, was treated to a neck-tie sociable
yesterday morning at sunrise, under the largest tree that could be
found in the vicinity. The boys got up a nice surprise party for him.”
The day of mining speculation of this sort has not passed away, but
the capitalists of New York and other eastern cities have had their
eyes opened, and are not so easily taken in as they were of old.
Some of the enterprising speculators have transferred the scene of
their operations to Europe, and are making very profitable shafts and
tunnels in the money bags of the capitalists of the old world. I know
some of them who have gone there with mining claims, which they have
represented to be worth millions of dollars, though not really worth
ten cents, and they have returned to America with a goodly amount of
capital.
I once heard one of these gentlemen tell his experience with a heavy
capitalist in London. “The old fellow,” said he, “was very cautious. I
had a talk with him two or three times, and finally brought him some
magnificent specimens. He looked at them very quietly, and then asked,—
“‘How much of this stuff is there?’
“‘O,’ said I, carelessly, “any quantity of it. There are five or six
thousand tons of it in sight—right on the surface of the ground. The
vein is ten feet wide. We have a claim five hundred yards long, and we
think it is at least two thousand feet deep, and the farther down you
go, the richer it gets.’
“The old fellow took the specimens once more, and I saw his eyes
glisten. I knew then that I had him. The next day I sold him the mine,
and got the money. Once I had got it, you bet I took a train for
Paris; and I have not been in London since.”
VIII.
MINES AND MINING ENTERPRISES OF NORTH AFRICA.
MINING AMONG THE MOORS, BERBERS, AND ARABS—THE FRENCH
CONQUEST—GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS—MINERAL WEALTH OF ALGERIA—A WONDERFUL
IRON MINE—_MOKTU-EL-HADID_—HOW THE MINE IS WORKED—VISIT TO A
MOUNTAIN OF SALT—A REMARKABLE FORMATION—ARTESIAN WELLS IN THE
DESERT—SCENE AT THE OPENING OF ONE—EFFECTS ON THE PALM TREE—A
PROPOSED INLAND SEA—THE SUEZ CANAL AND ITS HISTORY—HOW IT WAS
MADE—ADVANTAGES TO THE WORLD’S COMMERCE.
Northern Africa is a country of great mineral wealth, but it has
been only slightly developed. The Moors, Berbers, Arabs, and other
inhabitants of that region have never been famous for their mining
industry. They have very little knowledge of geology, and understand
the working of only a few metals. Most of the gold and silver which
they make into filigree and other jewelry comes from Europe; in fact,
they have no mines of these metals that are worth mentioning, and when
their supply from Europe has been cut off by war or for other reasons,
they were obliged to bring it by a long journey from Timbuctoo and
other points to the South. The Moors that occupied Spain took back
with them, at the time of their expulsion, a knowledge of mining, but
they seem to have lost it almost completely in the course of two or
three generations.
Among the native people of Northern Africa, the Kabyles, in Algeria,
seem to possess more mining knowledge than any other tribe. They
have been quite industrious in working the iron mines which abound
in their country, and many of their processes display considerable
ingenuity. They are excellent workers in iron and steel, and some of
their knives, sword-blades, and other tools and weapons, are of a fine
quality, and admit of a high polish and finish. Their gun-barrels
have long been famous throughout Africa, and the terrible execution
of which they are capable has been practically demonstrated on many
battle-fields.
Down to 1830, with the exception of an occasional brief period, no
part of Northern Africa had been occupied by any European power. Spain
had several times occupied small portions of Morocco and Algeria, and
the English and French had shown their force by descents upon the
coast, but none of these changes had more than a few years’ duration.
But in 1830, a new state of affairs began.
[Sidenote: FRENCH ARMIES INVADE EGYPT.]
France was exasperated by the depredations of Algerine pirates and
the perfidy of the Bey of Algiers. She sent an expedition, which
landed a few miles from Algiers, and in less than a fortnight the Bey
was a prisoner on his way into exile, and his city, with an immense
accumulation of treasure, fell into the hands of the invaders.
The French went to Algeria to stay, and they have carried out their
intention. They sent their armies to overrun and occupy the country,
and for years kept up an energetic warfare, until the Arabs were
conquered. There have been occasional insurrections, some of them of
considerable magnitude, but all have been unsuccessful, and there
is at present no power in Algeria which can drive out the French.
They have created harbors, have opened railways, have made hundreds
of miles of wagon-roads, have introduced new modes of agriculture,
planted forests, and taken many other means necessary to a permanent
occupation. The country is progressing rapidly, and at present few of
the wealthy and prosperous Arabs would be willing to exchange the new
state of affairs for the old. There are many natives who would like to
see the French expelled, but they are not among the most influential
classes.
One of the first things which attracted the attention of the
French, was the question of mining. In the very first year of their
occupation, a geological survey of the country was ordered, and a
corps of engineers was sent from France for that purpose.
Their report was of the most favorable character. They found copper,
lead, silver, zinc, mercury—bath cinnabar, and sulphide—and in
several places they discovered gold, but not in paying quantities.
Many concessions for working these mines have been granted; some of
them have been profitable, while others have been the reverse, owing
chiefly to the lack of means of transportation. The steady increase
in the number of railways and wagon-roads is doing much toward the
development of these mines, and rendering profitable the working of
those which have thus far been managed at a loss.
[Sidenote: EXPLORATIONS OF THE IRON MINES.]
But the greatest mineral wealth of Algeria is in its iron mines,
which abound all along the coast, and so near to it that the matter
of transportation is of no great consequence. The ore is of a
remarkably good quality, as it contains very little sulphur, arsenic,
and phosphorus, which frequently render otherwise valuable material
almost worthless. Much of it contains a great deal of manganese, which
is very useful in smelting and reducing the metal, and renders it
unnecessary to supply that article in making the flux. The ore is so
rich that it pays to transport it to England, even though it comes in
competition with the iron ores of that country.
The principal use of this Algerian iron is for manufacture into
Bessemer steel, and it is said to be vastly superior to all other iron
for this purpose. The advance in iron and steel in the past few years
has been greatly to the advantage of the iron miners in Algeria, and
the most of them are making their fortunes with great rapidity.
One of the richest mines in the country is near Bone, in the Province
of Constantine. During a journey through Algeria, I paid a visit to
that place, and embraced the opportunity to investigate the iron
question.