JOHN SUTCLIFFE. 165 



that the great profit in mining accrues generally to those 

 who enter on the ground jloor^ and share in the great 

 profit of selling the public, or I ought to say the stock- 

 but it all means the same. 



You have all doubtless heard of Mackay, Flood, 

 O'Brien and Fair, the great mining kings of California, 

 and of the great Comstock mines, which made them all 

 so suddenly rich. They were all poor adventurers in 

 the mining regions, without anything remarkable to dis- 

 tinguish them from other characters ; but they struck a 

 streak of luck, took advantage of everybody and every 

 opportunity, and finally when the great bonanza was 

 struck in the Comstock mines, laid the foundations of 

 their enormous wealth by keeping the discovery secret 

 until they got control of the stock and of the mines, 

 thus manipulating the mines and stock to suit their own 

 selfish interests. 



A miner, who had charge of the underground working 

 as mine captain in a mine under my management, told 

 me he was employed as a miner in the Comstock mine 

 when the great bonanza was struck, and as soon as the 

 discovery was made, the entrance to the mine was 

 guarded and no one was allowed to enter or depart for 

 several days, so no information could possibly get to 

 outside parties before all the stock was secured that 

 could be bought in the market. 



The miners were really prisoners and could not help 

 themselves, but they were fed on the fat of the land and 

 given everything they desired to drink until things had 

 been made right. Then the gold was taken out in quan- 

 tities never before heard of, and people went crazy with 

 excitement, and speculation became the order of the day. 

 Meanwhile those in control could move the market up or 

 down to suit their own purposes and they did so. They 

 got their share of the great profit from the actual find, 

 and besides sold and bought stocks, and by that means 



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