When I witnessed the climax of W. B. Thompson's marvelously successful
campaign in Nipissing on the New York Curb, I was fresh from Goldfield.
My recollection is that my chief thought at that time, with the
Goldfield Consolidated swindle fresh in my mind, was simply that the
Western multi-millionaire highbinder promoter didn't class with his
Eastern prototype. Indeed, the two appeared to be of different species,
as different as the humble but noisy coyote from the Abyssinian
man-eating tiger.
The late Spring of 1907 found me back in Nevada. I selected Reno as a
central point for residence and decided to locate there. Eastern stock
markets appeared to be beyond my ken. It seemed quite apparent that the
Western game, as compared with the Eastern, was one of marbles as
against millions. In New York's financial mart I felt like a minnow in
a sea of bass. Without millions for capital, Nevada appealed to me as a
more likely field of usefulness. I believed in Nevada's mineral
resources. Having seen Goldfield evolve from a tented station on the
desert with a hundred people into a city of 15,000 inhabitants; from a
district with a few gold "prospects" into a series of mines producing
the yellow metal at the rate of nearly $1,000,000 a month, I was
enthused with the idea that there were other goldfields yet unexplored
in the battle-born State and that opportunity was bound to come to me
if I pitched my tent on the ground.
THE WONDER MINING-CAMP STAMPEDE
I was back in Nevada just a week when a stampede into a new mining camp
called Wonder took place. I was quick to join in the rush. The
Philadelphia crowd who owned control of the big Tonopah mine had
annexed a property there which they named the Nevada Wonder. It boasted
of a big tonnage of low-grade silver-gold ore.
On arrival at Wonder, I found my former Goldfield partner, L. M.
Sullivan, on the ground. He entreated me to allow him to cut in on any
deal I made. A bargain was struck. He agreed to advance all the money
and I was to receive half of the profits for my work. The corporation
of Sullivan & Rice was formed. We purchased the Rich Gulch group of
claims, a likely piece of ground with a well defined ledge, and
incorporated the Rich Gulch Wonder Mining Company. A company with the
usual million-share capitalization was formed to operate the property.
A high-class directorate was secured. T. F. Dunnaway, vice-president
and general manager of the Nevada, California & Oregon Railroad,
accepted the presidency. Hon. John Sparks, Governor of Nevada, became
first vice-president. U. S. Webb, Attorney General of California,
accepted the second vice-presidency. D. B. Boyd, for twenty-five years
successively Treasurer of Washoe County, Nevada, was made treasurer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account