[K. R. Casper, Silver State Gold Surprises, Sunset, March 1906]

Silver State Gold Surprises

By K. R. CASPER

            THE surprises that are taking place in the sagebrush state, are simply the forerunners of others that will take place at almost any time. Nevada, today, is the most interesting state in all the west, and will continue to be so for several years to come. Venturesome men are swarming over the southern desert, where the foot of white man, or even Indian, never trod and the result is that new discoveries of mineral, especially gold, are constantly being made.

            Tonopah is so well-known and has received so much attention in the pages of SUNSET that nothing need be said about the place in this brief sketch, except that, it shows more mineral in sight than any other mining camp on the American continent today. Goldfield, the discovery of which was due to the overflow population of Tonopah, has proven by the quantity of mineral taken out and converted into cash in less than two years, that it is a world-beater. Men who walked into the Grandpa district, as it was first called, are now riding in automobiles costing $10,000; and one, at least, who, while not on the ground in person, had the nerve to have a prospector there whom he had grubstaked for twenty years, rides at will in his private car over every railway in the land. I refer to A. D. Parker of the Tonopah Extension mine at Tonopah, and of the Florence at Goldfield, who has become vice-president and general manager of the Colorado Southern railway company.

            A year ago, at this time, when the lessees were obliged to relinquish their leases on the Jumbo, January, Combination and other so-called prospects which produced something over $3,500,000 in twelve months, it was predicted that the Goldfield camp was played out. Look at it now ! Since then the Reilly on the Florence took out and shipped in six months something like $600,000. The Combination is as well-equipped as any mine in all the west. How much it is producing a month its present owners will not say, because it is nobody's business. H. T. Bragdon, of the January, which was said a year ago to have been "gutted," told the writer a few days ago, that there is pay ore in every shaft, drift, upraise and winze, and that they

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had so much ore in sight that they could not handle it with their present facilities, and no more truthful man than H. T. Bragdon stands in shoe-leather in Nevada, or any other state. His statement is endorsed by R. L. Johns, the president of the company, a lawyer well- known throughout the west as "straight goods."

            The famous Jumbo, which in twelve months enriched thirty or forty people to the extent of a gross product of $1,300,000, now that Charley Taylor, its principal owner, has gotten rid of troublesome litigation, is about to resume its former sway. The Red Top, belonging to Taylor and Dick Colburn, which was a baby a year ago, has thrown off its swaddling clothes, and stands a wonder. A year ago its stock went begging at eighteen or twenty cents a share—now it is selling at something over two dollars, and it has easily $2,000,000 in sight. The Florence, under the management of that veteran crusader, T. D. Lockhart, who was grub-staked by A. D. Parker for twenty years, and who never faltered, could produce $100,000 a month if called upon to do so. These are only a few of the many promising properties in Goldfield, among which famous Sandstorm should not be overlooked, because it was one of the pioneers, all of which are looking better than ever. In short, the writer, who went to Leadville, a tenderfoot in 1879 ; who was in the Kootenai, in British Columbia when the Le Roi was a prospect, who was in Cripple Creek when it had few mines and less friends, and who has stamped the sagebrush from the Columbia river to the Isthmus of Panama, here predicts that in less than five years the camp of Goldfield and its twin-sister, Diamondfield, and the surrounding territory will produce more gold per annum than does Cripple Creek today, and in predicting this he can truthfully say that he does not own a share of stock or a foot of ground in any of the districts mentioned.

            The old camp of Lida, which suffered some shock from the failure of the bank in Goldfield, a year ago, is rapidly recovering and looking well, and the Bullfrog district, seventy-five miles south of Goldfield, is holding its own splendidly.  It is here that the Montgomery-Shoshone is situated. A year ago in January this property was offered for $10,000, and found no takers—today it is rated at from $2,000,000 to $4,000,000. The Denver, National Bank, Bullfrog, Original Bullfrog, and others are showing no diminution in their merit.

            Silver Bow, Gold Dyke, Kawich and in fact every single camp which has been opened during the past two years, shows the merit and permanency. The towns of Tonopah and Goldfield possess modern office buildings, built of stone, which would attract attention in any metropolitan city in the country.

            The newest camp of them all deserves a paragraph—that of Manhattan, which lies about east of Tonopah. It has been

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known and spoken of in a general way for the past year, but it was only about the middle of November that its richness was proven. Ore is being shipped from more than a dozen leases. An old-timer whom the writer knew in Leadville a quarter of a century ago, made the trite remark that before the summer is over Manhattan will make Tonopah and Goldfield look like thirty cents, and it is quite possible, too. It has a population of 2,000. Wonders keep on

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OUT OF THIS TONOPAH HILLSIDE WAS TAKEN GOLD ENOUGH TO MAKE A NATIONAL BANK

increasing in Nevada just now at an amazing pace.

            Has San Francisco profited as it should by these discoveries? By no means! It has been people from Pittsburg like Charles M. Schwab, and H. T. Brock of Philadelphia, who have reaped the harvest in Tonopah, and men from Colorado principally who have made the money in Goldfield. And yet they were obliged to cross the continent to get to these diggings, while the San Franciscan can get on board a Pullman and land in either place in perfect comfort in twenty-four hours. It was the same way in Cripple Creek. The smart Alecks of Denver sent their experts to examine the camp, and they promptly turned the camp down—the small merchants of Colorado Springs and eastern people got rich and are getting richer every day as the result.

            It is not only in the rich gold discoveries that Nevada is attracting attention. The new irrigation project of the government looking to the reclamation of arid lands, known as the Truckee-Carson project will ultimately rival the mineral discoveries. This will benefit the state as long as time lasts and water runs. Approximately $9,000,000 will be expended and 350,000 acres of land will be reclaimed and the writer, speaking by the card, says, there is no richer land on the face of the earth—not excepting the valley of the Nile. Private enterprise at Lovelock has already demonstrated beyond question the richness of this territory. The limited space allowed for this article will not permit giving it the consideration it deserves, but it must briefly be said that the completion of this project will add to the permanent population of Nevada by many thousands, and if successful—as it undoubtedly will be, it will only be the forerunner of other similar projects to follow.

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            Taking it all in all, Nevada is not to be sneezed at. I say it from personal investigation and without the fear of successful contradiction that Nevada offers more and better opportunities to the poor man and capitalist as well than any other in all this aggregation of wonderful commonwealths. The time is not far distant when it is bound to lose its cognomen of the "sage-brush" state. It is no longer the "rotten borough" it was called for so many years as I will proceed briefly to show.

            With all due respect to the gentlemen who have represented the state in the upper branch of the National Legislature, I make the assertion that the state was never so ably represented as now. Both its senators are native sons of California transplanted to the silver state, as it has been known.

            Senator Francis G. Newlands, the senior senator and the father of the irrigation act (for which he has never received the credit he deserves), maintains a residence on the banks of the Truckee in the beautiful town of Reno, while Senator George S. Nixon has lived for the past twenty years in Winnemucca. Both are multi-millionaires, whom wealth has not spoiled. The senior senator inherited some money and then largely increased it—the junior senator has earned every dollar he has got in the state of his adoption. He is interested in a half dozen banks, and in mines innumerable, while his purse is ever open to any worthy project, as well as to any man who has brains enough to use it where it will be productive of good.

            To their credit be it said they both speak well and write cleverly, and it is safe to say their voices will be heard in the Senate when the occasion demands it, and not otherwise. At all events they will look after the interests of the state. Without bestowing fulsome praise upon them I should like to ask what western state possesses their superiors?

            When the Northern Pacific was being built through the former territory of Washington the watchword was : "Keep your eye on Pasco." I should like to paraphrase it and say : "Keep your eye on Nevada"—it will pay you.

GOLDFIELD, THE HOME OF BUDDING BILLIONAIRES