Grant H. Smith The History of the Comstock Lode 1850-1920, Geology and Mining Series No. 37, University of Nevada Bulletin: Reno, Nevada, vol. XXXVII. 1 July 1943, no. 3, (revised 1966), Ninth printing, 1980. 305 pp., 1872, 1870s, 1860s
[p. 80] Chapter X The Early Bonanzas-The Ophir, The Gould & Curry, The Savage, The Chollar-Potosi, The Yellow Jacket, and The Original Gold Hill Bonanzas
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[p. 87] "In 1871, after the discovery of the Crown Point bonanza, John P. Jones and Alvinza Hayward took over the control of the Savage and ran the mine for the benefit of their mills.
[p. 87] "Hayward began to boom Savage stock early in 1872 by giving out mysterious reports of a rich strike, and by confining the miners underground-an old Comstock trick. The miners did no [p. 88] work and lived on the fat of the land. Great excitement followed. The price of the stock rose rapidly from $62 a share on February 1 to $725 on April 25. In May the Crown Point boom collapsed and Savage with it. There had been no rich strike; it was a cold-blooded stock deal that hurt many people. [Footnote:The San Francisco Chronicle of May 19 charges Jones and Hayward with unloading Savage on their friends.)
[p. 87] " . . . In the annual report of July 1, 1872, the superintendent, genial A.C. "Lon" Hamilton, stated that 47,505 tons of ore had been mined and milled at a loss of $3.25 per ton. The next year 33,414 tons were milled at a loss of $13.29 per ton, and assessments amounting to $640,000 were levied.
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[p. 126] Chapter XV The Gloomy Year of 1870-The Crown Point Revival in 1871-The Boom of 1872-Sharon-Jones Contest for Senate
[p. 131] The Boom of 1872
"It is a feature of stock market operations that a leader carries the market up or down. That was the invariable rule with Comstocks. Speculators, rich and poor, were always eager to buy on a rising market. If their means were small they bought the cheaper stocks, which were certain to advance. A discovery in one mine raised the prices of all of the stocks on the board, often higher proportionately than that of the mine in which ore had been found. This was largely due to manipulation. When stocks were low and mines perhaps closed down, more of the stock reverted to the treasury for nonpayment of assessments. Then, on the first indication of a boom, those in control would purchase [p. 132] the treasury stock at the market price and proceed to boost the stock by wash sales and otherwise.
[p.132] "The so-called "Boom of 1872," when 150 stocks on the board made such remarkable advances from January to May 1872, was a man-made affair, manipulated by Alvinza Hayward, who deliberately and openly boosted Savage stock from $62 to $725 a share on the pretense that a rich discovery had been made in the mine. The market followed as a matter of course.
"The stocks of the Crown Point and the Belcher had hung around $300 a share during the latter half of 1871, and were worth it. All of the others on the exchange had advanced with them, but there was no boom until after the first of January 1872. the developments in Crown Point and Belcher by that time were so favorable that all of the other stocks began to increase rapidly in price.
"It was then that Hayward launched his spectacular boom in Savage, partly for the purpose of furthering the senatorial aspirations of his partner Jones. They had taken control of the Savage from Sharon at the annual meeting in July 1871, in order to get its ore for their mills and to display their newly acquired power.
"Toward the end of January 1872, Hayward gave an unlimited order to buy Savage stock, which was then $62 a share. Next the miners were confined, and the public denied entrance to the mine. No one was permitted to see or tell of a rich strike-which had not been made.
"The whole market went up with a rush. Savage rose from $62 on February 1 to $310 on the 8th, fell to $230 the middle of March, rose to $460 on April 17, and to $725 on April 25. At that price the mine was selling on a basis of $12,400,000, which was almost as much as Crown Point and Belcher were worth.
"Crown Point rose to $800 on February 1, then hung around $770 until the middle of March, rose to $1,250 by April 17, to $1,700 on the 25th, and to $1,825 on May 5. Belcher followed along with Crown Point, and reached the top, $1,525, on April 25. The San Francisco Bulletin of May 7, 1872, reported:
The excitement in mining stocks and mining claims during the past few months had been without a precedent in the history of our mines. Mining incorporations have been multiplied like the leaves of autumn. The capital of existing incorporations has been increased in the most lavish manner. Prices has gone up like a rocket, and in some cases have reached altitudes never [p. 133] dreamed of even by the most enthusiastic. Yet it is noteworthy that out of the 150 claims offered to the public through the stock boards, only four are paying dividends. These are the Belcher, Crown Point, and two companies at Pioche, Nevada.
[p. 133] "The stocks in the 150 mines listed on the exchange (which included many scattered all over the West), had increased in value from $17,000,000 in January to $81,000,000 on the 5th of May. A crash was inevitable and was hastened by the moves of Sharon who was a rival candidate against Jones for a seat in the United States Senate. On May 8, Sharon let it be known that he had information that J.P. Jones had been instrumental in setting the Yellow Jacket fire in April 1869, in order to break the market at that time. The charge was baseless and almost absurd, although Sharon had the affidavits of several irresponsible men. The market had reached tottering heights and the sensation brought it down. Stocks dropped 30 to 40 percent. The panic that followed shook San Francisco like an earthquake; speculators saw their fortunes crumble. Crown Point fell from $1,825 on May 5 to $1,659 o the 8th, and to $1,000 a few days later. The Jones crowd raided Belcher, which fell from $1,400 to $750, but recovered shortly to $1,000.
"One of Lord's best stories is spoiled by a little fact. He says that because of Sharon's charge against Jones, Crown Point shares fell to one eighteenth of their former price and hurried on a general fall in mining stocks, overlooking the fact that on May 15 the capital stock of Crown Point was increased from 12,000 to 100,000 shares (8 1/3 for 1), which left the price $100 a share. A few weeks later it rose to $135. Belcher was increased from 10,400 to 104,000 on August 1, 1872, and fell to $108 a share, which led innocent writers to comment on the extraordinary decline in prices.
"The San Francisco Chronicle on May 19 says the financial wreck of the city is complete, and that "to Savage more than any other mine the wild furors can be traced, which, like a whirlpool, drew almost everybody in the vortex of speculation."
"About the first of September 1872, a drift in the Con. Virginia crossed a fissure containing low grade ore, giving strength to the market, which continued to advance for over two years as developments in the Con. Virginia became more and more favorable and the Crown Point and the Belcher were declaring millions in dividends.
[p. 134] Sharon-Jones Contest For Senate
[p. 134] "Sharon suffered his first defeat when Mackay and his associates took control of the Hale & Norcross in 1869. His supremacy was first challenged in 1871, when Hayward and Jones covertly secured control of the Crown Point soon after the bonanza was discovered. Five years later, the "Bonanza Firm" or the "Bonanza Crowd," as it was sometines called, completed his dethronement. The "Boom of 1872" made Sharon a millionaire several times over, but he was not content. He was a vain little man, not seeking popularity but fond of show and coveting power. A seat in the United States Senate would gratify both. The only man in his way was John P. Jones, who less than two years earlier had been one of his compliant superintendents.
"Jones, a genial man and a born politician, had a meteoric rise in Nevada. He was a large full-bodied man with a long chin beard and a benevolent countenance. A Welshman, born on the English border, he arrived in California in 1850; mined in several camps until 1852 when he settled in Weaverville, Trinity County. There he followed public life, serving successively as Justice of the Peace, Deputy Sheriff, Sheriff, and State Senator. [Footnote: Gold Hill News, August 29, 1873-facts evidently supplied by Jones.] In the fall of 1867 he was a candidate for the office of Lieutenant Governor of California. That year the Democratic ticket prevailed, and Jones was left high and dry-defeated, broke, and discouraged, and about to depart for the East, as he himself said. At this juncture, in November 1867, at the behest of his friend Alvinza Hayward, he was sent to the Comstock to become superintendent of the Kentuck, which Sharon, Hayward, and associates had just acquired. Jones was evidently appointed for his diplomatic qualities, for he had never mined in Nevada and had followed political life in the main. It was not uncommon for such appointments to be made. Capable mine foremen attended to the details. When the editor of the Gold Hill News heard of the appointment, he was indignant: "There is no better man in the Comstock than John D. Winters, the present superintendent." In 1868 Jones was made superintendent of the Crown Point, also controlled by Sharon and associates. The two succeeding years brought little comfort to Jones. The ore continued to fail and the mine was about to close down when the discovery was made. Then, almost overnight, he became a millionaire.
[p. 135] "Sharon was now to swallow another bitter pill. Jones, a seasoned politician, had himself called "The Commoner," spent his newly won wealth regally, and was triumphantly elected in January 1873-an office which he filled with credit to himself and his State for thirty years. Senator Jones was chiefly distinguished for his eloquent advocacy of silver and as the best story teller and poker player in the Senate.
"Ex-Governor James W. Nye, the incumbent Senator, who had served Nevada long and well, had no chance in that race.
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[p.138] "That wise mining engineer, Rossiter W. Raymond, in [1872] his U.S. Mines and Mining Report for 1873, written before the ore body was fully developed, warns the Comstock operators not to expect the ore to continue in depth:
"I do not doubt that the present year, while it cannot exhaust the great ore body from which the Crown Point and Belcher have obtained so much profit, and the proprietors of other mines so much hope, will nevertheless reveal more clearly than they are now known the limits of that body or of its richest mass. Whoever believes that these mines have now at last entered upon a solid and continuous body, extending indefinitely in depth, and precluding for the future the necessity of explorations, will find himself mistaken."
[Raymond was critical of the Comstock practice of "gutting the mines."]
[p. 138] "The stopes were so large on the 1300-foot level that square-set timbering alone would not hold up the ground without reinforcement, and both mines were required to use millions of feet of heavy timbers to fill in their square sets and build bulkheads as the ore was removed, just as the Con. Virginia and the California were compelled to do a few years later and on a larger scale.
[p. 241] Chapter XXIV Miners' Wages and Hours-Heat and Ventilation-Giant Powder, Burleigh and Diamond Drills-Lumber and Firewood-The V Flume.
"Ten hours was a shift during all of the early years, but, as conditions underground became more intolerable, the hours of men working in such places were reduced to eight. In 1867 the constitution of the newly formed Miners' Union provided that all men working underground should receive $4 for an eight-hour shift. That rule was not enforced, it appears, but became uniform after John P. Jones, then candidate for the U.S. Senate, ordered that on and after April 1, 1872, the eight-hour day should apply to all men working underground in the Crown Point mine. The other mines, most of them were controlled by Sharon, who was also a candidate, quickly adopted the same rule, which thereafter prevailed on the Comstock. [p. 243] "The Miners' Union grew into a benevolent institution.
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