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., 1874, 1870s, 1860s
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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. 82] "The Ophir bonanza was rich but comparatively small . . .
[p. 82] "The control of the Ophir passed into the hands of successive groups of speculators and the stock was one of the most active on the market for many years. In all its history the mine did not create a single millionaire. E.J. Baldwin, who was already rich, was wise as well as "Lucky" when he sold 20,000 shares to Sharon for $2,700,000 in November 1874 during the Con. Virginia boom.
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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. 135] "The aftermath of the Hayward-Jones friendship, according to the Virginia Evening Chronicle of December 12, 1874, was a quarrel over the Crown Point, in which Jones prevailed. "Now Jones and Hayward are at swords' points. They are even more bitter in their hatred of each other than Sharon and Jones ever were."
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[p. 162] Chapter XVIII Sharon Starts the Boom-A Wild Market-The Consolidated Virginia Boom-The Chronicle Boosts the Bonanza-The Market Reaches the Top-Extravagant Forecasts
[p. 162] "It takes a leader to start a boom. Con. Virginia was expected to do that but the members of the Firm were content to watch their stocks increase in value and collect their regular monthly dividend of $3 a share.
"It fell to William Sharon, an avowed candidate for the United States Senate, to start the boom. He had lived in San Francisco after Jones defeated him for the Senate in 1872, meanwhile growing richer month by month from the Belcher and the Union Milling Company, and nursing his senatorial ambition. When Stewart announced that he would not seek reelection Sharon again entered the lists, this time with full determination to win, whatever the cost. He first bought the Enterprise from editor Goodman who had flayed him in 1872, thereby acquiring a champion, then set out to obtain control of the Ophir in order to use the stock to further his campaign. Besides, the mine itself was promising to develop an extension of the Con. Virginia bonanza which would add to Sharon's prestige and furnish ore for his mills.
"Unfortunately for his plans the control of Ophir was in the hands of E.J. "Lucky" Baldwin, one of the shrewdest men on the Coast, who had been content to let the stock ride along quietly. Sharon found him a hard trader. As the annual meeting of stockholders was to be held on the 13th of December, it became necessary to acquire over one half of the 100,000 shares before that day in order to elect the new board of trustees.
"Sharon began to buy quietly. On August 11, 1874, Ophir stood at $20 a share, Con. Virginia at $80, and California at $40. A month later Ophir reached $52, while the two bonanza stocks had advanced but a few dollars. The sharp rise began toward the end of October, after Sharon bought James R. Keene's block of Ophir stocks and employed him to manipulate the market. "Jim" Keene [p. 163] was a genius but he could not pry Baldwin loose. Sharon not only began to buy but to sell "short" at the same time . . .
[p. 163] "Throughout November the market was in a ferment. Ophir reached $100 a share, Con. Virginia, $160, California $90, and all of the other stocks rose with them . . . The wild market that followed was caused not only by Sharon's manipulations, but by the amazing developments on the 1500- and 1550-foot levels of the Con. Virginia.
[p. 163] "Baldwin withstood all of Keene's blandishments, and Sharon was forced to pay his price for the stock, $135 a share for 20,000 shares. Sharon took over control at the Ophir election, but kept boosting the stock until he was elected Senator on January 12, 1875. Meantime the speculators had gone mad: Ophir sold for $315 a share on January 7, Con. Virginia for $710, and California for $780. The inevitable panic started on January 8, and the bottom fell out of the market.
"It was charged that Sharon had "unloaded" at high pries and then "shorted" the stock, thereby recouping all of his expenditures.
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