By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
HROUGHOUT THE WEST ONCD
of ). more is ringing that thrilling, that
electrifying, that magical word-—
“Gold” ! It's all because of the "New
Deal.” For ever since the lloose-
velt administration began bidding
up the price of this precious metal,
the gold fever has been coursing
through the veins of Americans
once more, Thousands of men and
women—yes, even children!-—are
* washing and sluleing the sands of
western streams, “panning for pay
dirt” just as the placer miners did In the golden
days of 40, Old shafts are being re-explored and
grass-covered dumps are being worked over
again, “Thar's gold in them thar hills” has be-
come again something more than a convention-
al literary joke.
In the old time gold camps of California, Mon-
tana, Colorado, South Dakota and Nevada, either
dead or sleeping these many years, there Is re-
newed activity, “Ghost towns” are coming to life
again. Old shacks are being patched up and
once more smoke rises from their chimneys,
Buildings along deserted streets are being ren-
ovated, repainted and repaired In preparation
for the opening up of new business enterprises,
Among these rejuvenated mining camps Is Vir-
ginia City, Nev., and the activity there recalls
once more the romantic story of the Comstock
Lode. And since President Roosevelt issued his
order for remonetization of silver, thus stimulat-
ing the mining of this metal again, there is all
the more reason for recalling the Comstock Lode.
For even though it was the search for gold which
led to its discovery, it was the silver in that lode
which made Virginia City the “greatest mining
town upon the continent” and set the stage for a
series of dramatic events, echoes of which are
heard to this day, even though the discovery of
the Comstock Lode took place three-quarters of
a century ago.
The story of the Comstock Lode has been told
and retold many times but seldom, if ever, has
it been told more interestingly, in all its rami-
fications than in two books by C. B. Glasscock
-—“*The Big Bonanza-—the St tory of the Comstock
Lode,” and “Lucky Baldwin-—the Story of an Un-
conventional Success.” “ho in recent
months by the Bobbs-Merrill company. The scene
of this modern fairy tale was a valley lo. Storey
county, Nevada, a few miles southeast of Reno,
and more particularly a mushroom mining camp
which had sprung up in Gold Canyon late in the
fifties,
Among those who eked out 8 bare existence
there were men whose names were destined for
future fame. “There was Henry Thomas Paige
Comstock, f lanky, loud voiced, boastful b
ing prospector with a short chin beard
shaven upper lip which gave him a sant vail
ous air entirely out of keeping with his real
character, He was known familiarly as ‘tld
Pancake,’ because he subsisted chiefly upon flap-
jacks, insisting he was alwass too busy to make
the sour dough bread of the miners,
here was James Finney or Fennimore, a
drunken, irresponsible teamster otherwise known
as ‘Old Virginia," for his habit of boasting of his
native state, who had drifted into the region
with the Mormon expedition of 1851 and re.
mained to become as famong asx he was biha
lous, There were Peter O'Riley, Patrick Me-
Laughlin, Manny Penrod, Jack Bishop, Joe Wia-
ters and a few other Avice spirits with some
ciaim to fame.”
One January day in 1X50 a group of these
Johntown prospectors took samples from the
slope on the upper east side of the canyon and
washed the dirt in & tiny spring uearchy., Each
pan of dirt showed from eight to fifteen cents
worth of gold This wasn't ‘a rich strike, of
course, but it was sufficiently encouraging so
that they set up tents and brush huts and es-
tablished a new settlement to which they gave
the name of Gold HIilL
After several weeks, pay dirt of sufficient rich-
ness to reward them with £215 or $20 a day for
their work was found, “That was enough fur the
Johntowners, who were earning an average of
£4. Johntown moved to Gold Hill, The slopes
swarmed with prospectors, But the rich ground
was limited. There was not enough to provide
profitable claims for the 70 or 80 men who made
up the settlement. They scattered, searching for
more. Prospecting Interest centered for a time
pear the head of Six-Mile canyon,
“There In the spring of 1850 Peter O'Riley
and Patrick McLaughlin, who had been mining
in the district for several years, opened a trench
from which they took a wage of $1.50 to $2 »
day. It was poor pay. The Irishmen were dis
couraged, They wanted to get away to a new
placer strike on Walker river, of which there
was much talk in camp. But they were broke.
They needed $100 for a grub-stake. So they re-
mained and tolled and sweat, and instead of
$100, received $43,500 I
And this is where the fairy story of the Com-
stock Lode begins. For these two Irishmen were
the real discoverers of the veln of precious metal,
the like of which has never been seen in the
world since but it bears the name of neither of
them. Instead it bears the name of that “lanky,
loud-volced, boastful, bullying prospector” Hen-
ry Thomas Paige Comstock, and it was thus
christened “by sheer force of a loud voice and
sothe cunning understanding of human nature.”
The story of the discovery by O'Riley and Me-
Laughlin and Comstock’s part In It is told by
Glasscock as follows
“It happened that upon the day when O'Riley
and Mclaughlin made their first cleanup,
amounting to more than $200, Comstock was
searching the slopes for a horse which he had
turned out to rustie for a living. He had found
the horse and was riding back to Gold Hill when
he came upon the Irishmen, cleaning thelr rocker
for the day,
“One glance was sufficient, ‘You've struck it,
boys!’ he shoutad, and promptly declared himself
in. *The only trouble Is that you've struck it on
my land, You know I bought this spring from
Old Man Caldwell. And I took up 160 acres here
for a ranch’
“The Irishmen protested, as well they might.
It was possible that Comstock bad posted a no
tice claiming the land for agricultural purposes,
Men of the time were always posting such no-
tices and never having them recorded or secur.
ing title. It was a fact that Comstock, with
Manny Penrod and Old Virginia, had bought the
water and some old slulce-boxes from a miner
pamed Onldwell In the previous year, But It was
VIRGINIA CITY IN THE SEVENTIES
also a fact that he had never recorded title to
the water rights
“But Comstock nevertheless made his demand
and his bluff cvnslneing. His legal rights were
negligible, If Indeed they existed at all, but his
character was such as perhaps might jastify
the fame which came fo him in this de uistiy]
manner with the naming of the Couistix ek |
The news of the rich strike spre ad and “there
vias sued wild activity as of ly a free Hy 1a CRIDD
can inspire, Ciaims were loc 1 in nll directions,
A few old prospectors hel 81 a ent experience
to trace the richer outeroppings and claim valo-
alle ground. But all were placer miners,
“Always they cursed and threw away the heat
lge-black deposit which clogged the rifles an
carried away their quicksilver. No one revognlzes
this black stuff as the rich sliver ore which
the true wealth of the Comstock”
an essential part of
story of the Comstock lode
real disc
ing It named after them
s
the fairy tale
overers fail to win }
of fate they also
source of
theirs,
Ar hi
has to d itl he n ing of the town that
sprang up there, *t} test mining town upon
the co It might nnpropriatel have bon
named for elth er MclLavg' lin or O Riles or even
for the spurious godfather of the source of its
Comstock. Then again it might have
been named for another man who was soon to
appear on the scene—Judge James Walsh, But
that honor fell to none of them. Instead. it went
to that “drunken, irresponsible teamster.,” James
Finney or Fennimore, “Old Virginia” And here
is how that came about:
greatness
Barly in the history of the new eamp, the
prospectors gave it the comparatively weaning
less name of Pleasant HILL Some of them called
it Mount Pleasant Point until a short time Inter
when a miners’ meeting decided to glve it the
official name of Winnemuacea, honoring the prin.
cipal chief of the Piute Indians who lived in
that country, Then Finney, “Happlly drunk as
he had been for weeks since money and whisky
had eirculated freels, finished a night's revel
by falling at the door of bis cabin and breaking
his bottle, Rising te his knees, he waved the bot.
tie neck and shouted ‘I baptize this ground Vir
ginia Town?” The name was promptly and gen-
erally accepted, though for rears the ‘town’ was
generaliy Ignored and ‘city’ finally was ap
pended.”
In the meantime Comstock had Induced O'Riley
and McLaughlin to Include the names of Manny
Penrod, J. A. ("Kentuck™) Osborne and his own
in the location notice which they had posted
on the scene of thelr rich strike. The claims of
these five men covered 1.500 feet of ground along
what was to beenine known as the Comstock
Lade. Within a short time they were taking out
$20 worth of gold a day.
Then in July, 1850, a Truckee river rancher
happened to visit the new gold camp. He picked
up a piece of the blue-black ore which was
causing the gold miners so much grief and ecar-
ried it away with him to Grass Valley, a gold
camp on the west slope of the Slerras, where
he presented it to Judge James Walsh, a lead-
ing citizen of that camp. Judge Walsh had It
assayed and this revealed the astonishing fact
that this bine-black ore ran $3,000 a ton in sliver
and $1,000 a ton in gold
Walsh did not hesitate a moment, Accompanied
by Joe Woodworth, a friend, he started before
daybreak for the Nevada diggings and only by
driving the mule, which they had packed, and
themselves to the Umit of their endurance did
they reach the Washoe district ahead of the
greater part of the citizenry of Grass Valley. For
news of the rich strike had lenked out and the
rush to the new diggings was on,
Walah bought Comstock’s Interest In the claim
for £11,000, Later McLanghlin sold his Interest
fer $3.500. Penrod for 88.500, Oshorne for 87.500
and O'Riley, who held on ionger than any of
the original locators, for $40000, And iff this
connection ft might be well to tell of the Inter
fortunes of these men, Mclaughlin became a
HENRY THOMAS PAIGE COMSTOCK
The “Old Pancake” for Whom the Comstock
Lode Was Named.
cook at #
: died a paoper. O'iley
lost his i
¢ £40000) In
died In an insane asylum,
died poor. “Old Virginia,
was thrown from hl
wk 8
man on Seg
Rut to return
“Casual placer mind in Nevada. gas way to
y the genesis of Virginia Clits
somet! far grealer opou the
Washoe
Law pol t}
Jistrict
the world
To it came
reporter on ti
ing newspaper of
perience there
of the books which ha made
Mark Twain famous, To It came two sturdy
young Irishie v. Mackay and James
Falr, and un th fortunes which they mu
there wern financed great telegra
lines, Other names which link Virginia
historic pust with the present and with several
great American fortunes were those of Darius
Ogden Mills, 3. Keene, James CC. Flood,
and John T Nor should there be neg.
lected that “rot ettucuing figure In all the
bizarre scramide for riches, the Hoosier who
never shoveled a pound of ore, yet made millions
from the Comstock Lode —"Lucky” Baldwin,
Ax the great mines which tapped the riches
of the Comstonk Lode ~the Ophir, the Crown
Point, the Belcher, the Yellow Jacket, the Im.
perial, the Kentucky, the Empire, the Gould and
Carry, the California and the Consolidated
Yirginia—came into being, Virginia City grew
and flourished,
More substantial houses replaced the rude
shacks that were thrown up at first. A theater
was bulit and on its stage appeared such world.
known figures as Modjeska, Booth, Barrett and
McCullough, There was an era of extravagant
living and extravagant spending, for the citizens
of Virginia City believed that the wealth of the
Comstock Lode was inexhaustible, "
They were confirmed in that belief by the
repeated discoveries of “bonanmas” great poek.
ots of rich ore, 10 in number, the last and great.
est of which provides the title for the Intest
Glasscock book--"The Big Bonanza” It was dis
covered In the Consolidated Virginia in 187%,
a mighty treasure vault contalning the greatest
mass of precious ore ever uncovered in a single
gpot, From It was taken more than $100.000.000
worth of gold and silver during the six years
that the Rig Ponanza lasted, No wonder there
was a wild orgy of speculation In mining stocks,
but like all such orgies it came to an end at
last,
By 1870 the treasure chest of the Big Ronanza
had been cleaned out, There had been a panie
fn San Francisco where nine out of ten people
had Invested In Comstock securities and thous.
ands who were rich one week were poor the
next. Stock that had been pelling for £500 a
ghare dropped to £1.25 and thousands of specu.
lators were ruined,
In the gears that followed Virginia City's
fortunes steadily waned. Oceasionnlly there have
been flare-ups of hope that the “ghost town”
which it had become might be resuscitated but
few of these hopes ever materialized to any ex.
tent. Under the “New Deal” It may have a re
turn to a measures of prosperity but it will prob.
ably never again sce a return to those dazzling
diys of three-quarters of a century ago when
the discovery of the Comstock Lode made min.
fog Livtory for all time to come,
© by Western Newspaper Union,
NO “GL AD HAND’ 2
HEL D OUT HERE
Westerners Not Wanted in
Land of Nepal.
After ten years’ wandering In un
traveled regions of the Orient, ]
came at last to Nepal, that country
of which Perceval Landon wrote:
“Of all the closed lands of this world
-~cloged by the deliberate will and
policy of those who live in them;
¢l sed whether from plety, super-
stition, jealousy, or perhaps above
all from mistrust of the European—
Neral Ir the only survivor.”
Only 100 or so Englishmen and
perhaps ten other Europeans have
known the secret valley of Katman
du and Nepal's eapital, “the sacred
city of Katmandu.” Nepal's inac
cessibility Is proverbial, Rarely has
an exception been made to the rule
against the admission of foreigners
The self-importance and self-suffi
altered by time or the proximity of
conquering Europeans, The
lege, far from feeling inferior to Eu
a
ad
ther look
Nepa
ropeans, ro own on them
Handley writes, in Asia Magazine.
One morning when we were riding
in Katmandu we were literally swept
into the g mit a Nepalese
He was escorted
fantastic entour
First came
a small un
nnd
followed by
Bn Cay
! troston in this valley of lovely
woren, The women of Nepnl are
pala ulabaster in color, with chis-
eled features and perfectly shaped
mouths, small teeth like pearls, large
brown eyes and lashes that would
make our brightest film stars en-
vious, Their costume consists of a
bodice and full swinging skirts or
trouserg, Handsome carved anklets
and rings adorn their little feet,
From their waving hair hang long
bright fastened with orna-
ments,
vells,
It Needs the Icy Mitt
A soft uznswer turneth away no
high-pressure salesman~—~Ft, Wayne
News-Sentinel,
Why
Liquid Laxatives
are Back in Favor
yy —
The public is fast returning to the use
of liquid laxatives. People have
learned that the properly prepared
liquid laxative will bring a perfect
movement without any yA
at the time, or after.
The dose of a liquid laxative ean
be varied to suit the needs of the
indiy idus 11. The action can thus be
regulate a. A child is easily given the
right de And mild liquag laxatives
do not jeTits ate the kidneys
well aver
forms on ting
with thei sot brushing the ground
Only » urgently whispered in
on ke [it me
I was
warned results
of a misplaced smil na countrs
that has alwas abhorred even the
Doctors are generally ares] that
senna is the best laxative for every-
body. Senna is a natural laxative. It
does not drain the system like the
cathartics that leave you so thirsty.
Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin is a
liquid laxative which relies on senna
for its laxative action. It has the
average person's bowels as regular as
clockwork in a few weeks” time
You can always get Dr. Caldwell" 5
Syrup Pepsin at any drugstore, ready
for use. Member N, R.
Drink full
hours.
i throat is sore, crush and
dissolve 3 Baver Aspirin
Tablets in a half glass of
water snd pargie accords
ing to directions in LOX.
glass of water,
The simple method pictured above
is the way doctors throughout the
world now treat colds.
It is recognized as the QUICK-
EST, safest, surest way to treat a
cold. For it will check an ordi-
nary cold almost as fast as you
caught it,
Ask your doctor about
this. And when you
buy, see that you get
Does Not Harm the Heort
the real BAYER Aspirin Tablets.
They dissolve almost instantly.
And thus work almost instantly
when you take them. And for a
gargle, Genuine BAYER Aspirin
Tablets dissolve so completely,
they leave no irritating par-
ticles. Get a box of 12
tablets or bottle of 24 or
100 at any
drug store,
Indigestion, Lost Pep!
Mr, Harrison T, Moorhead
of Middletown, Del, sald:
“When 1 had indigestion, no
BR oc energy, and did sot
like eating Dr, Pierce's
Golden Medical Discovery
soon had me feeling Bt again
I felt like an entirely new
man-—years younger, I ate
better, slept better and had
no stomach complaint ™
* Write to Dr. Pleroe’s Clinic, Buffalo, N. ¥Y,
New size-tablets SOc, Hauid $1.00, Large
size, tabs, or liquid, $1.35. “We De Our Pare.”
1 Ladies, Absointely Free. Beautiful Cataline
Tableware Bet. Value for your money guar
anteed. Rend 20e oo a en
Lexington Ave. New "York, x.
Write Sandhills Essences Uo, Pinebiaf,
Ne rih Carolina, for making your aswn
ver, cordial. Forty varieties gusranteed
und + Food and Drug Act June 30, 1906.
“Maule’s Seed Book
Use Manie's tested,
toed seeds, for ary > yiein
LR and highest marked rity -
Inscious Ye ejabion
or Meanie’
PIMPLY SKIN
soon improved and blotches cleared
away by daily treatment with
Resinol
CHERRY-GLYCERINE
os] y|olSI\e
For Coughs due to Colds, Minor
Bronchial and Throat irritations
JAS. BAILY & SON, Baltimore, Md.
FAMOUS RADIO ANNOUNCER
says:
‘I'l announce to the
world that THE EDISON
is a great Hotel”