APPLE.—MINERS OF ANCIENT TIMES.—DISCOVERY OF STONE IMPLEMENTS.—THE
INVENTION OF FIRE.—HOW GOLD WAS FOUND.—COPPER AND BRONZE.—THE
BRONZE AGE.—IRON AND ITS USES.—MINERAL PRODUCTIONS OF DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES.—QUICKSILVER IN SPAIN AND CALIFORNIA.—THE WEALTH OF
NEVADA.—ROMANTIC STORY OF THE COMSTOCK LODE.—MINERAL FUTURE OF
AMERICA.
The most extensively worked mineral substance at the present day is
coal, yet it is the most recent of mineral discoveries. Iron, copper,
tin, and nearly all the metals were dug from the earth, and used long
before the value of mineral coal was known.
In the earliest days of mankind, tools for various uses were made of
wood, bones, or stone. The first tools were undoubtedly of wood, but
the material was so perishable in its nature that no specimens from
those early days have come down to us. Stone, being a harder substance
than wood, and much more durable in its character, rapidly took its
place. The period when the human race was in its infancy has been
properly classified as the “Age of Stone,” for the reason that man at
that time was ignorant of the use of metal. Many implements from the
stone age have come down to us, and are found in various parts of the
world. In the copper mines on the shores of Lake Superior, many tools
have been found which were used by a race long extinct, and of which
we have no history.
In opening one of these mines, several years ago, more than a hundred
stone axes and wedges were discovered near a large mass of native
copper, which had been moved a short distance, and supported upon
sticks of timber.
No implements other than those of stone were found, and all of
these had been broken in an unsuccessful attempt to cut the mass of
copper in two. In various parts of America, Europe, and Asia, stone
implements from the early days of the human race are found, and at the
present time there are many savage tribes belonging practically to the
stone age.
In some islands of the Pacific the people have not yet emerged from
what is to us a very remote period. Barbarism under some circumstances
may almost be considered perpetual.
The history of the early days of mankind upon the earth is very
largely a matter of conjecture: much of it comes from tradition, and
much of it from calculation. The great antiquity of the human race
is a recognized fact, and geologists have shown that the period of
early barbarism may have extended over tens of thousands of years.
Civilization, properly speaking, began only with the discovery of fire
and metals.
[Sidenote: DISCOVERY OF FIRE.]
Some of the Greek mythologists say that Prometheus stole fire from
heaven. The more prosaic fact is, that fire was first discovered
by means of lightning, which set fire to the forests, and thus
revealed to mankind a new element in nature. It is probable that
our first parents in the garden of Eden had no knowledge whatever
of this element, or of the metals, or even of implements of wood or
stone. Consequently the enthusiastic artist of the middle age, who
drew a picture of Adam and Eve standing in front of a fire to warm
themselves, and represented Eve holding a knife in her hand, with
which she was cutting slices from the fatal apple to give to the
waiting Adam, was guilty of anachronism.
There are other conjectures of the discovery of fire, but they are
purely conjectures. Fire may have been known from the earliest ages,
through volcanic eruptions and streams of lava.
People who lived far away from volcanos may have discovered it from
the spontaneous combustion of wood after hot and dry summers, or of
masses of weeds and rubbish thrown together, and forming peculiar
chemical combinations. It is possible that other people may have
discovered fire by means of flint, or they may have obtained it by
rubbing two pieces of dried wood against each other, according to the
practice of the present day among many savage people.
At any rate, it is probable that the discovery of fire led to that of
metals. Fires built against certain rocks may have calcined them, and
caused the metals which they contained to be fused together. By some
it is thought that the first metal discovered was gold, which existed
in the sands of the streams, and would naturally attract attention by
its shining appearance.
Even if gold were the earliest discovery, it exercised no great
influence on the civilization of the human race; but it was otherwise
with the discovery of the commoner metals. From the time these were
known, the human race made rapid progress, and written history began
with them.
The discovery of copper and tin preceded that of bronze, which is an
alloy of these two metals. Copper may have been discovered in its
natural state, or in combination with other substances, which could
easily be removed by the action of fire. The metal was soft and easily
fashioned, but there are many purposes which it could not be made to
answer. The localities where this metal was first discovered are not
positively known. Some contend that it came from India, while others
give credit to that part of England known at the present time as
Cornwall.
[Sidenote: THE AGE OF BRONZE.]
The alloy of copper and tin for the formation of bronze grew into very
rapid use, and it was made of various degrees of hardness, according
to the purpose for which it was intended. Wedges, knives, axes, saws,
fish-hooks, ploughshares, picks, and a thousand other implements for
the uses of peace or of war, were made of bronze. It could be melted
and cast in moulds, or it could be hammered and fashioned at the will
of the smith. With bronze the art of moulding began. Bronze was used
for money. It was cast into utensils for kitchens, and parlors, and
other apartments of dwellings. It was fashioned into statuary, and
sometimes into statuary of a very vulgar character. Weapons were made
of it, such as the heads of arrows, lances, and javelins, swords,
shields, and helmets; while it was useful in peace, it was likewise
useful in war. A French writer has said, “The art of killing one
another will advance at the same time as all the other arts.”
Lead, silver, and quicksilver were discovered about the same time as
copper. A long period may have elapsed after the discovery of bronze
before that of iron. Doubtless this was in a great measure because
bronze supplied all the requirements of the arts of peace as well
as of war, and would naturally precede iron, because it was more
readily and easily worked. The reduction of iron ore has always been
a delicate process, and is attended with more or less difficulty. A
strong current of air was required to give sufficient heat to melt the
iron. It is quite likely that the first blast furnace was made from
the hollow trunk of a tree containing a piston, moving up and down
like that of an ordinary pump. This method is still in use among the
Malays and the African negroes. While the Polynesians are still in the
stone period, the Malays and negroes are just entering the first cycle
of the iron period.
Some of the philosophers suggest that this is by the desire of the
Ruler of the universe, in order to guide the civilized man of to-day
in the study of the early history of his race.
[Sidenote: THE AGE OF IRON.]
For a long time iron was only used in its malleable form. The
discovery of cast iron was not a prime necessity, since its place
was well supplied by bronze. Historians tells us that cast iron was
discovered about the time of the invention of gunpowder. It was used
for making shot, and afterwards for making the guns by which the shot
were projected. The English were the first to adopt them, and tried
them against the French in the battle of Crécy, about the middle of
the fourteenth century.
Step by step furnaces were constructed, and almost every decade
witnessed some kind of improvements in their management. Then came the
invention by which steel could be manufactured on a large scale. The
rapid increase in the use of iron dates, as before stated, from the
general use of mineral coal.
Pages could be covered with details of the uses of iron and steel.
The production and consumption of these metals amount to millions of
tons annually, yet the demand never exceeds the supply. They are fast
replacing timber and stone for many uses, and they are substituted for
bronze in ornamental castings. No tools or weapons can be made without
them. They constitute parts of nearly all machinery; and turn where we
will,—wherever civilized men are to be found,—we shall see iron and
steel occupying prominent places.
[Sidenote: COUNTRIES THAT PRODUCE IRON.]
Deposits of metals are found in all parts of the globe. Great Britain
is rich in lead, and tin, and iron, and in some localities gold has
been discovered. She furnishes other countries with some of her
metals, and those which she does not find in sufficient quantities for
her own wants she brings from abroad. Many of the metallic ores of
other countries are sent to England to be smelted and reduced. On the
continent of Europe there are copper mines, silver mines, iron mines,
and mines of nickel, zinc, and tin. Some of the deposits of metallic
ores are very great. In one place in Swedish Lapland there is a hill
rising out of the swampy ground, where there are veins of iron ore,
some of them two hundred feet in thickness. Belgium, in proportion
to her size, produces more iron than England. Along the valley of
the Rhine and its tributaries there are rich deposits of the various
metals, some of them of great extent. Russia is rich in mines; and
as we go from European to Asiatic Russia, we find that the richness
continues.
France has large supplies of iron, and on a small scale she possesses
the other metals. In Spain there is great mineral wealth, and some of
the mines of that country have been exploited for thousands of years.
The most celebrated quicksilver mine in the world is that of Almaden,
situated in Spain; and it has been continually worked for three
thousand years. Until the discovery and working of the New Almaden
quicksilver mine, in California, the famous mine of Spain controlled
the quicksilver market of the globe. In Northern Italy there are many
districts rich in metallic ores. Throughout Asia, from the Arctic to
the Indian Ocean, there are mines of all the metals, some of them of
great richness. Mining industry in that part of the world is still in
its infancy, and great discoveries and great progress may be looked
for within the next hundred years.
In Africa, as well as in Asia, there are rich mineral deposits, though
comparatively little is known about them. The new world is not behind
the old in its mineral wealth. Every known mineral substance is found
here; and there are evidences that the mines were worked thousands of
years before Columbus made his famous voyage across the Atlantic. Some
of the largest metallic veins in the world are in America.
Mexico, Peru, and other Spanish settlements on this side of the globe
are almost unparalleled in richness. California alone has furnished an
immense amount of gold to the hard money circulation of the world, and
is destined to furnish still more.
[Sidenote: SILVER IN AMERICA.]
Nevada and the territories lying around it have a wealth of silver
unknown, and doubtless inexhaustible. The copper mines of Lake
Superior have become famous throughout the world; and the iron mines
of the great Mississippi valley and the Atlantic slope may yet supply
the world with the most useful and most generally needed metals.
Probably the richest mines yet known are those situated on the famous
Comstock lode, in Nevada.
From 1862 to 1865, including both these years, the mines on that lode
yielded about forty-eight millions of dollars, and since that time the
return has averaged more than twenty millions of dollars annually.
The produce of silver from the Comstock vein is about one fourth of
the entire amount furnished by all the silver mines in the world. It
exceeds the aggregate produce of all European countries, and equals
that of the entire western coast of South America.
A French engineer, who visited Nevada some years ago, wrote of it as
follows:—
“Its extraordinary productiveness has made the Washoe region more
famous for its mineral wealth than many places where silver ores have
been found, and mined for centuries. It has attracted an enormous
civilized population. It has built cities in the desert, and roads
across high mountain ranges, accelerated the union by steam of the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America, created a new branch of mining
industry in the Pacific states, and given successful employment to
large amounts of capital.”
The original mine of the Comstock vein is known as the Gould and
Curry. It originally belonged to two men whose names it bears. Gould
sold out his share for a pair of blankets and a bottle of whiskey.
Curry disposed of his interest for a horse and two thousand dollars.
One of the mines on the same vein was bought one day for two thousand
dollars, and six weeks afterwards was sold for nine hundred thousand.
Some of the most remarkable mining speculations ever known in the
history of the world have occurred in Nevada.
A long story could be told of the various countries of the world,
and of the productions for which they are famous; but it is hardly
necessary in this place, and very likely would become tedious.
Scarcely any part of the globe can be mentioned where some mineral of
value is not found, and the various substances seem to be distributed
in such a way as to develop intimate relations among the various
members of the human family, and to draw nations nearer and nearer to
each other.
[Sidenote: MINERAL EXCHANGES.]
England exchanges her iron and coal for the produce of other nations.
Spain sends her quicksilver. Chili sends her copper. Mexico and Peru
send their silver, and receive in return the articles which they need,
and other nations can spare. Other countries send their minerals to
distant markets, and receive in return the products of the countries
where those markets exist. America, with her mines, is comparatively
in a state of infancy; but the day will come—and it is not far
distant—when she will be the great supplying centre of a large portion
of the globe.
LXIV.
DIAMOND AND OTHER SWINDLES.
THE GREAT DIAMOND SWINDLE OF 1872.—HOW IT WAS
ORGANIZED.—MAGNIFICENT PLANS OF THE SWINDLERS.—PLANTING A DIAMOND
FIELD.—HOW THE FRAUD WAS EXPOSED.—A NEAT SWINDLE ATTEMPTED IN
SAPPHIRES.—HOW IT WAS DISCOVERED.—A MYTHICAL COPPER MINE.—FATE OF
THE SWINDLER.
The great diamond swindle of California will probably go down in
history as one of the most magnificent frauds of this or any other
age. There are some facts about the matter which have not yet been
given to the public. When the operators first started their “plant,”
they went to New York, and endeavored to enlist capitalists in that
city. A friend of mine was thrown into contact with them, and from him
I learned the points. They wanted half a million dollars for their
claim. He looked at the diamonds, which appeared to be genuine, and he
was allowed to apply the usual test of rubbing with steel files and
with emery. They stood the test, and he offered to put ten thousand
dollars into the scheme. Another friend (a friend of my friend)
came forward, and as he had some money to spare, he was allowed to
investigate the business; the twain were prepared with more files and
emery, and they rubbed more of the diamonds.
The test was going on satisfactorily, when my friend, whom I will
call Sharpley, happened to lay hold of a stone that yielded to the
hard substances against which it was brought. Sharpley tried another
side of it, and again it yielded. He was handling a piece of common
crystal, and not a diamond, and his eyes were beginning to open. He
became inquisitive enough for a son of Paul Pry, and the result of his
questioning was, that he didn’t put his money into the speculation.
Straightway he sought his friend, and actually found him arranging
to draw the check that would have made him a twenty thousand dollar
stockholder in the great diamond mine of Arizona.
[Sidenote: DISCOVERING A FRAUD.]
Sharpley talked to him like a Dutch uncle, and with some difficulty
induced him to withhold the money for the present. I say with
difficulty, for Sharpley’s friend had become as enthusiastic over
the diamonds as a damsel of sixteen over her first beau, and was
determined to go in anyhow. He half suspected that Sharpley wanted
to keep others out so that he could get more stock for himself, and
subsequently, when the stock was all taken, he upbraided Sharpley for
keeping him out. He does not upbraid much now, but, on the contrary,
quite the reverse. When the exposure came out, he thought how his
twenty thousand dollars had been saved, and remembered that Sharpley
had been the cause of its salvation. He sent a basket of the best
champagne to Sharpley’s office, and it was while drinking a glass of
the beverage that its recipient told me of his diamond experience.
“It was one of the best laid plants I ever saw,” said Sharpley, “and
if it had not been for stumbling on that piece of crystal, I might
have been taken in. They tried to explain to me that the crystal got
in there by accident; but as they had previously told me that every
stone in the collection had been examined by an expert, I knew there
was a lie somewhere. They had a few rubies, which they claimed were
found in the same locality, or near them. I looked at them, and was
allowed to take one of them to a jeweller, who pronounced it genuine.
That night I overhauled my encyclopædia, and studied up the character
of diamonds and rubies.
“I found that the diamond consists of crystallized carbon, while the
ruby, sapphire, and all that class of gems, are crystallized alumina.
Next morning I went to one of the best geologists in New York, whom I
happened to know well, and asked him if crystals of carbon and alumina
could be found in the same locality.
[Sidenote: SCENE OF THE PLANT.]
“‘Most certainly not,’ was his reply. ‘Such a thing may be possible,
but I doubt it very much.’
“‘What would you say,’ I asked, ‘if a man showed you a diamond and a
ruby, and told you they were found side by side?’
“‘I should ask him if he knew the man that put them there; and if he
insisted that they were natural deposits, I should change the topic of
conversation for fear of saying something to wound his feelings.’
“I left the professor,” continued Sharpley, “and made up my mind to
have nothing to do with the speculation, although I confess I was
greatly puzzled. Apart from the statement of the geologist, and the
discovery of the crystal which first caused my suspicions, everything
appeared right enough. The parties were respectable, polite,
intelligent, and wanted a good price for their property, or rather for
half of it, as they only desired to obtain money to work their claim.
They would not reveal the locality of the discovery, as it was upon
unsurveyed ground, and they desired the passage of a bill by Congress
to confirm their title to it. The _mesa_, or diamond-bearing ground,
was minutely described, and was very much like the diamond-bearing
localities of Brazil and India. Professor Janin, a scientist of
repute, had been there, and staked his reputation on the genuineness
of the discovery. He was sworn to secrecy, in order that there should
be no jumping of the claim by the adventurous fellows who abound on
the frontier, and to keep off everybody, in fact, until the proper
title was secured, and the company was ready to go to work. Several
persons who had investigated the matter as extensively as they could,
were convinced of its correctness, and were ready to invest.
“Furthermore, the operators were anxious to get the claim to their
land, and spent money to get it. General McClellan, Samuel Barlow,
and others went into the operation, and you may be sure they don’t
risk their money unless things appear pretty certain. McClellan,
Barlow, and the rest, whom I will call the New York party for the sake
of convenience, offered four hundred thousand dollars for the half
interest, and had the money ready to put up. I surely expected the
‘planters’ would take this and clear out, as they would then make a
handsome profit on the speculation. But they refused it, and, as they
could get no more, they took up their bags of diamonds and went away.
This again made the thing look genuine, and I was more puzzled than
ever. I began to wish I had put in my money, and it was then that my
friend, whose champagne I am drinking, blew me up for dissuading him
from investing. I soothed him, and we determined to keep our mouths
shut, and wait for what would turn up.
[Sidenote: HOW THE NEW YORKERS WERE CAUGHT.]
“Well, to shorten up the story, the planters went to San Francisco
and got Ralston, and the rest of them to go in. When the company was
organized, the New York party began to regret not having taken the
thing at half a million, and they felt so bad about it that they asked
the Ralston crowd to let them in on the bed rock organization. They
urged the time, money, and influence they had used to get the grant
from the government, and begged so hard that Ralston’s party finally
gave them a chance. They won’t tell how much they lost, but I think
there were five of them stuck for about twenty thousand apiece. There
were other small fry, but they were not of much account.
“Now, there is another thing that hasn’t come out yet, but I am sure
it will one of these days. There is a rich deposit of diamonds on this
continent of North America, and some of the stones which have been
exhibited came from it. Some of the diamonds used in getting up this
plant were bought in London, and came from Brazil and South Africa,
but there were others that certainly came from no diamond fields yet
known. At least that is what some of the experts say, and if all the
parties interested in the purchase of the Arizona mines,—I do not
mean those who sold, but those who bought the half interest from the
swindlers,—if all these parties were catechized searchingly, I have
reason to believe that some of them would or could tell something
that would be quite as startling as the original story of diamonds in
Arizona. They had already taken steps to secure this new locality
before the Arizona swindle was exposed, and had it not been for the
sudden death of a gentleman connected with the negotiations, the
business would have been completed ere this. The negotiations were
hindered by his death, and it may be months before they are completed;
but you can certainly look for a revelation some time in 1873 of great
interest concerning diamond fields of wonderful wealth.”
[Illustration: DREAM OF A DIAMOND SWINDLER.]
“Why,” I asked, “did not the Arizona swindlers get up their
speculation on the real diamond fields of which you speak? They could
have made more money, and avoided the stigma of dishonesty which they
must bear as long as they live.”
[Sidenote: A RICH MESA SOMEWHERE.]
“Simply because the swindle was much the easier thing. The real
fields are practically inaccessible, except to a large and well-armed
party, and under the sanction of another government than our own. A
concession to hold and work them must be obtained, and this would take
a long time. I will say this and no more—that they are north of the
Isthmus of Darien, and are not in the United States. You may guess
about their locality as much as you like, but for the present I can
say nothing more. You see it was much easier to get up an excitement
about Arizona or Colorado, and turn it into money, than to wait and
work on the genuine enterprise. Men are not generally inclined to
dishonesty unless they can make something by it.”
So endeth what I have to say about the diamond swindle.