75 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



marching back, sent word to Sharon that no Chinamen would be 

 allowed in the district under penalty of a strike that would shut 

 down every mine on the lode. In twenty-four hours the Chinese 

 were dismissed and white graders took their places. Defeated 

 here, Sharon silently made ready for the real labor conflict that 

 he foresaw. It began when the first trains entered Virginia 

 City. The fine old silver freighter, in Nevada slang the " mule 

 skinner " ; the bull-puncher walking sedately beside his oxen ; 

 even that aristocrat of the fraternity, the lordly " silk-popper," 

 flicking his playful whiplash at the leaders as he drove his stage- 

 coach down Geiger's grade these, all these, after fierce, useless 

 struggles, disappeared into the unrailroaded distance. " Sharon's 

 iron mules," as they said, " had crowded them off." 



Meanwhile the total bullion yield of the lode, which was $16,- 

 000,000 in 1865, continued to decrease till in 1869 it was only 

 $7,500,000. None knew better than Sharon and his associates that 

 although borrasca had put them into possession, a few more 

 years of borrasca would utterly smash their fortunes. There had 

 been in all eleven bonanzas up to 1869, but now all were 

 " worked out," and the ordinary ore in the mines not only grew 

 poorer and scantier on the lower levels, but was harder to work. 

 Everything was in eclipse. The miners were following a mere 

 stringer of ore on the nine-hundred foot level of Yellow Jacket 

 that gave Sharon a little hope, but troubles with the miners and 

 disastrous fires intensified the situation. By 1870 some of the 

 members of the syndicate began to weaken ; it was openly said 

 that the Comstock had paid its last dividend ; the cities of the 

 lode were trembling on the verge of panic. 



The famous John P. Jones, since United States Senator, was 

 superintendent at Crown Point, and, like all the rest, was vainly 

 looking for ore. The stock fell to two dollars a share, making the 

 total value of the mine, with its costly plant, only $24,000, and 

 assessments went unpaid. Late in 1870 Jones found an ore body, 

 and, joining forces with a discontented member of the bank syn- 

 dicate, wrested control of the mine from Sharon before he knew 

 of the bonanza, which in eighteen months more raised the stock- 

 market value of Crown Point to $22,000,000. They also organized 

 the Nevada Mill and Mining Company in direct opposition to 

 their old associates. Nevertheless, Sharon's lesser defeat only 

 emphasized a greater victory. His interests in other mines 

 doubled and quadrupled in value, empty treasuries were filled 

 by outside investors, and search for new ore bodies was prose- 

 cuted with renewed energy. 



The story of the rise of Mackay and Fair reads like a leaf from 

 the Arabian Nights. Like Jones, they had been poor and un- 

 known, working for daily wages. Associated with Flood and 



