Meeting several times under favorable auspices, we talked of the mines of California and the transmississippi region in general, concerning which I could speak with first-hand knowledge. He was deeply interested, said that such properties would have a ready sale on the booming London market and promised that if I could only secure an option on a high-grade mining proposition, it would prove a very profitable piece of business to both of us. I cabled Mr. Ralston, naming three well known developed mines and asked him to secure me an option on one of them. In answer I received a cable from William M. Lent, president of the Mineral Hill Silver Mining Company, in which I owned a quarter interest myself, offering an option on that property for a million dollars. Within a month all the necessary papers arrived by mail. These included, besides a legally drawn option, a full description of the property, its productive history, maps, engineer’s reports, estimates of tonnage in sight and all the details that a careful investor might require. In addition there was a private agreement, duly executed, giving me a commission of 10 per cent. It certainly was an alluring proposition. The Mineral Hill mine was located in eastern Nevada. Traveling on the Narrow Gauge Railroad, from the Palisades, a station on the Southern Pacific, to Eureka, you can still see the ruins of its plant. It was a sulphide ore that required preliminary roasting and then became tractable and free. Besides the furnaces, the equipment consisted of only a 20-stamp mill. Yet the ore was of so high grade that the gross production had reached the enormous total of $150,000 in a single month. Much of the ground was totally unexplored, though promising. Baron Grant laid out his promotion with his consummate skill. He possessed a complete knowledge of the investing public. At that time--and probably still--investors and speculators, as a rule, confined themselves to a single line. One dabbled in coal, another in iron mines, another in silver mines, another in gold mines and so on down the line. Informed of the specialty of each, the astute baron knew exactly where to go for customers, and never wasted time. The plans provided for an issue of £600,000 of common stock and £300,000 of debenture bonds, the latter to be used for a plant to quadruple production. The enterprise was ably advertised and this time Samson was tractable and kind. Interest was keen, but I think even Baron Grant was rather surprised at what followed. When the books were opened there was a crush to get on board, and when we had a chance to assemble figures everything had been gobbled up and the stock twice oversubscribed. Our net profit was £300,000, or, in American money, $1,500,000.