ABOUT QUICKSILVER. 225 



claims that as her territory. In the present atti- 

 tude of the trade, if California should ship 10,000 

 flasks to London, and offer it at a reduced price, 

 Spain would ship 10,000 to New York, and down 

 would go the price there. On the other hand, if 

 Spain sends a ship-load to New York, California 

 goes to London, and so very shortly the whole busi- 

 ness would end in ruin. To maintain remunera- 

 tive prices, there must be but a limited amount 

 distilled, and there must be special markets for the 

 products of the two rival mines. We have spoken 

 of California as if possessed of but a single mine. 

 This is not to be understood as literally true. Cal- 

 ifornia has several mines of considerable impor- 

 tance, but the operations of the one known as the 

 " New Almaden " are much the most extensive. 

 Great as are the resources and wealth of the New 

 Almaden quicksilver mining company, they could 

 not continue business for a single year, if they did 

 not accede to a combination with the weaker New 

 Idria and Redington companies. This combination 

 now controls the production and price of quicksil- 

 ver, and when they agree that it shall go higher 

 or lower, it fluctuates accordingly. It is, however, 

 for their interest to keep the price uniform, and not 

 unreasonably high, and so there is found but little 

 variation in quotations in the great central markets. 

 The total annual supply from California is not 



15 



