The Stray Dog Manhattan mine was furnishing daily sensations in the way
of frequent strikes of fabulously rich ore. I urged that, no matter how
small the profit, the Sullivan Trust Company should begin its corporate
career with the promotion of a property as good as the Stray Dog. The
Stray Dog was for sale--at a price. One interest, of 350,000 shares,
owned by Vermilyea, Edmonds & Stanley, the law firm of highest standing
in Goldfield, could be acquired at 45 cents a share, and another
interest, of 350,000 shares, owned by prospectors who had located the
ground, could be had at 20 cents a share, all or none. The remainder of
the stock was in the treasury of the company. The total demanded for
700,000 shares of ownership stock was $227,500, all cash. A likely
property adjoining the Stray Dog, known as the Indian Camp, could be
purchased for $50,000 in its entirety. We knew that as soon as it
should become known that we had bought the Stray Dog, the value of
Indian Camp ground would double, and we therefore decided to annex the
Indian Camp at the same time we took over the Stray Dog.
The proposed outlay amounted to more money than we had, and I looked
about for assistance. Henry Peery, a Salt Lake mining man of substance,
had been negotiating for the Stray Dog in the interest of Utah bankers.
We agreed that Mr. Peery should be allowed to participate on the basis
of a one-third interest for him, and a two-thirds interest for the
trust company. Besides supplying his quota of the cash needed to swing
the deal, Mr. Peery agreed to furnish a president for the company, who,
he said, interested himself very frequently in mining enterprises. This
was Henry McCornick, the Salt Lake banker, son of the head of the firm
of McCornick & Company, reputed to be the richest private bankers west
of the Mississippi River. The deal was made.
We immediately proceeded to promote the Stray Dog Manhattan Mining
Company at 45 cents per share, the average cost to us of the stock
being 32-1/2 cents. It was impossible for any huge profit to accrue in
Stray Dog on any such margin as 12-1/2 cents per share between our cost
price and the selling price, because the expense of promotion appeared
bound almost to equal this. We figured that any promotion profits must
come out of the Indian Camp. The Indian Camp was capitalized for
1,000,000 shares, 650,000 of which were paid over to the trust company
and to Mr. Peery for the property. The remaining 350,000 shares were
placed in the treasury of the company to be sold for purposes of mine
development. The average per share cost to the trust company of its
ownership stock was a fraction less than 8 cents. We decided that as
soon as the Stray Dog was promoted we would offer Indian Camp shares on
a basis of 20 cents per share net to the brokers and 25 cents to the
public, and looked forward, if successful, to gaining about $75,000 net
on both ventures.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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