COMMERCE, 167 



in 1672, $129,000,000 in 1871, $51,000,000 in 1870, and $69,- 

 000,000 in 1869. 



The gross market value of shares in the mines of the Corn- 

 stock Lode has ranged from $15,000,000 to $80,000,000, and 

 the change from the lower to the upper limit has sometimes 

 occurred within a few months, making an intense excitement 

 in business. Thus, in the beginning of January, 1872, the 

 shares of the thirteen leading mines of the Comstock Lode were 

 selling at rates indicating that the entire value of these mines 

 was $17,000,000, and five months later they were selling at 

 the rate of $81,000,000. The shares of the Crown Point 

 mine were sold in May at $1,450 each, and as there are 12,000 

 shares, the whole mine was then valued at $17,000,000. The 

 Belcher, at the same time, was held at $16,000,000. Before 

 the end of summer, the $80,000,000 had fallen back to $30,- 

 000,000, indicating a loss of $50,000,000 to the people who 

 did not sell when the prices were at the highest. This was 

 the most remarkable stock excitement in the history of San 

 Francisco; but a fall of twenty-five per cent, in the mar- 

 ket value of a mine, within a week, is common. One hundred 

 and fifty different mines are on the stock list, including fifty 

 on the Comstock Lode, sixty more in other parts of Nevada, 

 eighteen in California, eight in Idaho, and two in Utah. The 

 gross amount of the sales is seldom less than $1,000,000, and 

 once exceeded $10,000,000 in a week. It is evident, that with 

 such sales and such fluctuations, many fortunes must be lost 

 and won every year. 



The fluctuations become credible when we consider the 

 amounts of dividends and assessments paid within twelve years 

 in a city that has now 180,000 inhabitants. The Bullion Com- 

 pany has paid $1,700,000 of assessments, the Overman $900,- 

 000, the Consolidated Virginia $200,000, the Segregated 

 Belcher $200 ,000, and eight others $658,000, making $3,600,- 

 000 in all by twelve companies, not one of which has ever 

 paid a dividend. The Yellow Jacket has paid $1,500,000, 



