Our Amercian Letter.

Otago Witness, Issue 1466, 3 January 1880, Page 13

Our Amercian Letter.

\ (Continued from page 9.) San Francisco, November 24th.

■ I have alluded to the riahes of the Mexican mines, but I refrained from writing about them hitherto because of what appeared to me, ,te be fabulous reports. However, the facts are too well authenticated now to be doubted, and indeed Mexican and Spanish records attest that equally^ioh. silver mines were worked in the Santa Rita range, in what ia now Lower, Arizona, near the old Spanish town of Tucson, which has been revivified by Yankee energy, and is now a considerable mining and business centre. A piece of native silver, weighing 1000 pounds, was taken from the Santa Ritas and sent to , the King of Spain, whose letter acknowledging its receipt, and commenting upon the great riches of the country, is in the archives of Mexico. Perhaps the shortest and most satisfactory way of telling the story of the Sjtorra'lAojada mineral discoveries, not quite six months old, is to copy the following from La Sonora, a Tucson paper. It agrees with statements in New Orleans and Mexican papers. The writer says :—"I returned yesterday from" that marvellously rich country. I brought' with' me* a few trifling specimens, such as a' traveller might carry, and sold them at my own price, realising a handsome shta« My companion, Mr BrayO, brought Borne* pieces of silver-one ■ weighing four arrobas (100 pounds)— and 339 pounds of placer gold. While we were there an immense lump of; native silver, weighing 240 pounds, was found. Up to the time of my departure there were over 200,000 people at the mines. There were thousands of tents in the valley and along the foot of the mountain. The valleys and the hills, as well as the ridges'- of the entire range, abound in gold anc? native silver. The latter is in the form of rooks that appear to have been much worn by water-currents. Trains of wagons arrive every day, especially of foreigners, arid more particularly of Americans. The States of Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, and Durangb are almost deserted, .Multitudes of wagons, carts, and carriages are to be seen in th<nmmense valley of La Mesa del Sur. I counted* thousand tents just along the edge of the mountain, to Bay nothing of those that are scattered everywhere in all directions ' It is thought that further in the interior tlfcre may be still' greater treasures than the one that is now attracting so much attention. A man found in one of the river basins a piece of gold in the form of a lion.- It 'weighed sixteen pounds, and was sold' for double its value on aocount of its peculiar form. The «old is from 19 to 21 and 22 carats' fine; and the silver 990 thousandthß. Thericheßt Bilver, as well as gold, has been found where the mountain is most exposed, to the sun., the rocks and the whole region bear .the /appearance of, having been tUe scent, of a volcanic 1 , eruption. Besides the main mountain, there are various spura lying to the north and east, all full of gold and ailyer. Sierra Mojada.is a^econd California as . regards the gold discoveries. As for 'the silver, 1 believe no such richness has ever l been found in the known world. p A train of wagons bound for Zabatecas carried away 6,000,000 dols ' in gold and silver, and one for Durango and Chihuahua treble that' quantity, to say nothing of those that left for Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosi, and the Isolated amounts that cannot be estimated taken by individuals. I was amazed at the bars of bullion I saw in the warehouse. One 'pile alone' was four yards high and ten yards in thickness. The sacks of gold were no less astonishing." The gold-mines in the Black Mountains of Wyoming and Dakota territories are not yielding Buch enormous Wealth as the Sierra Mojada, but they are astonishingly rich, One location made at Deadwood two years back, may be cited as a case in point. Its locators— poor men— segregated their claim, selling half for 60,000d01s to the San Franoisco capitalists; Tevis, Hagan, and Crawford. They are running a 60-stamp mill, and have contracted for a 150 stamp mill to j run their ore also; A New York firm has jnst paid 800,000dols cash for a fifth interest in the other half of the original location, and the locators would readily get 2,000,000 cash* for 1 the balance. The yield of gold there is very great, and the discoveries are extending daily. While Montana is filling up with' grain-growers, the mineral and agricultural development of Dakota duriDg the -last three years has been such as to entitle j her to become a State, and she will soon knock at the door of Congresß for admission. ; The oitysof Deadwood, burned last September, has been completely rebuilt, leaving no j trace of the fire. These are some of the in- ,' dioatlons of material prosperity in this wpn- ; 'derful country, but they are outdistanced! by the developments in Colorado, where Leadville, a rich and populous city, well built. ,w,ith churches, schools, theatres, and , spacious business premises, was an open; cattle-range, and poor at that, two years ago. The fortunes that have been made there are fabulous, and the Comßtock has; Buffered the losa of many old miners through ( its attractions, because that famous mining; oamp, although absorbing bo much capital inj the development of its mines, does not show, results. The greatest and most costly, mining ' 'machinery in the world is on the' Comßtock ledge, at Virginia City, Nevada, and greater and more costly plant is going up on the Union Consolidated, to work that mine and Sierra Nevada. But somehow the ore does not come to the surface, and general 1 discontent is felt at the management. So, much is this the case, and so strong t has public opinion run in the direction of holding* the Bonanza firm responsible for the' want of developments, that Coll Deane, a San Francisco capitalist, and former president of the Stock Exchange hero, hired ' Union Hftll last Thursday night to denounce Flood, Mackay, and Fair, and expose the system by means of which they plundered the public by withholding information to stockholders, and breaking the market aa they please. The hall was packed from floor to ceiling, and there waß not a man theie who had not been plundered in one way or other by tbe Comstock leeches. The arraignment by Coll .Deane, Colonel Tobin, and other influential citizens was terrific; ' and the following resolutions, unanimously adopted, will suggest to you tbe nature,

' magnitude, and demoralising tendencies of the moneyed power of Flood, Fair, and Mackay, and their conscienceless and unscrupulous jackals. I should tell you that "the management of mines "here refuse any , information to shareholders/appropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars to their own use, shut up the mines against inspection, although the lawanjolns monthly inspection by shareholders, uses the diamond drill and the knowledge obtained to control the market and plunder shareholders and the public, employs cappers to lie and impose upon their friends, debauches society generally, and rakes in dollars by the million monthly. A gentleman who has travelled on business all over California, Oregon, Washington Territory, and British Columbia (an old Californian and a " '49-er") told me on Saturday last that the farmers have been ruined through agents sent out by the stockgambling ring which dominates San Fran'cisoo. ,The three Stock Boards are simply puppets in J. C. Flood's hands, and the exsaloonkeeper rules his slaves with a rod of iron. The Press is dumb, the Chronicle having been bought long /prior, to the Kallooh escapade. These are the resolutions enthusiastically adopted by the largest meeting ever held in San Francisco :—: —

Thomas Fay proposed — "Whereas, the business of buying and selling mining stooks, based on .the substantial merits of our great mineral interests, has .been for many years, throuph popular recognition and habit, a legitimatised species of commercial exchange; and, .whereas, through vast accumulation of money and excess of underhand methods of effiolal representation, of illegal assessments .and other base means so easily employed by lan unscrupulous mine directory, suoh as arbitrary clo&ing of mines to bona fide stockholders, the secret of the diamond drill, the intentional flooding of ore- drifts and the breaking of pump-rods, and even the conflagration of deep levels at the risk of human life, as. well as the adoption of adroit and sinister schemes for the undue exciting of the public hope and, cupidity through false reports either of the presence or absence of ore, the people have been subjected to excessive lobs, until San Francisco may now well be denominated a great city of respectable paupers, genteel idlers, and vicious tramps ; and whereas, through the wicked management of mines and dishonest manipulation of stocks, industry has been paralysed, the masses driven into bankruptcy, public morals corrupted, sorrow and distress brought upon the unsuspecting, the widow and the orphan; and the weak and unfortunate led by the score to the grave of the suicide. Therefore, be it

" Resolved, first— That we, the people, the people, victims of the. most atrooious system of legalised robbary in the annals of human history, do hereby, in grand mass meeting assembled, earnestly, and emphatically protest in the name of justice, inalienable right, and of the higher laws, against any and all , further abuse of delegated power in the management of oorporate mine property and in the privileges of the Stock Exohange.

" Seoond — That in the event of no reform, it becomes our duty as stockholders and as free and independent citizens to organise, agitate, and resist the overshadowing moneyed oligarchy of the Nevada Bank, through whose avaricious greed, ambition for financial power, aDd desire to revenge, comes all our distress, individual and public.

, "Third — We declare it to be the solemn duty of every good citizen to aid in the arrest and correction of this great and heartless money power, by whose illicit interests ore bodies have been fraudulently appropriated, manufactures crippled, commerce enfeebled, industry destroyed, bank credits impaired, homesteads lost, morals corrupted, asylums crowded, prisons filled, and suicides multiplied. "Fourth— We recognise it to be the duty, especially of the property-owners of San Franoisco, to use all suitable means, even the authority of the • Vigilance,' to assist in bridling and curbing this great financial monster so destructive to its individual and public interests, to the general welfare, destructive even to the extent of checking the growth and dignity of our city for selfish ends, as well as through its vicious modes of mine and stock manipulations. "Fifth — We urge it upon one and all interested in the future grandeur of the Pacific Coast, especially of San Francisco, to join with us in bringing this universal power, birthed in a beer- room, reared in an atmosphere of foul stenches, to a just realisation of its obligations, or to a judgment whose penalties shall force the reforms desired," ; Colonel Sobin, who said that within a year he had been robbed of everything by the fraudulent acts of the Bonanza firm, offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :— " Whereas the enormous amount of mining stock assessments, in most cases out of all proportion to the market price of the Btock, levied upon the people is a constant drain upon their resources, and diverts large sums monthly from legitimate commercial channels into the hands of unscrupulous and thieving mine managers and stock manipulators." "It would have been better if the Comstock had never been discovered," said the speaker, after reading the preamble. " The class of men that you met a year ago are not seen at the Boards. They have lost their all. But when one moves away another army comes forward to take their places. What are they' doing ? Simply putting more money into the coffers of the Bonanz* crowd. Did we not have a palpable example a short time ago, when one of these iniue managers got away with 300,000 dollarß in one lump, for which he was indioted by the Grand Jury of this country? I allude to Schultz." The speaker then continued the reading :—: — " Resolved —That we demand that laws be passed requiring an itemised account of the receipts and expenditure of each mining company to be published each month, and Bwom to by its secretary.

" Resolved — That contracts for machinery and supplies for the mine be let out to the lowest bidder, after advertising "the same in a proper manner for the space of 30 days. " Resolved— That when diamond drills are used, all the results obtainable therefrom shall be sworn to and. published 24 hours, after said results are known."

The speakers desoribed San Francisco as a city of respeotable beggars and dangerous tramps, and pointed; to the clearing-house statistics to prove that while all the country

was prosperous this city was oteadily going baok. Aud it is all truo. There is more blood upon the hands of the Bonanza firm than upon the hands of any desperado in the United States.

I should say in this place that a railroad is being built between Virgina City and Bodie', the new mining camp in Mono county, California, which, if I mistake not, will rival Doadwood district in gold output next ! spring. It is closed through the winter on account of its elevation. And speaking of railroads naturally brings me to speak of street railroads, whioh are one of the special features of American cities. I think I may fairly claim that street railroads built San Francisco. If it had not been for them, it would have been impossible for the bulk of the population to have gone out so far as they have, over and beyond the high hills and sand-dunes of what was once Yerba Buena. Land was bought in large tracts, cut up into homestead lots, a street railroad built, and the land sold. Elegant residences aeon covered the sand-dunes, and the city spread out fan-like, at first skirting the high ridges, but ultimately creeping up them. The roads were operated at first by horsecars, but the steep grade was too much for them in many places, and the best residence sites in the oity were practically inaccessible by Btreet-cars. This was too much for Yankee enterprise to submit to, and cable railroads were invented, which are destined to revolutionise the whole business of street railroading. They will supersede horse-cars and street-motors, and will save enormous sums to munioi polities and property-owners in grading their streets. No need now for heavy cuts, disfiguring the natural features of a town site. The cable railroad makes travel more rapid, as cheap, more certain, and far more agreeable than upon the ordiuary horse-car track, on the steepest grade, and there is not a street in Dunedln which may not be traversed with comfort by these roads. Where grades are very difficult the cable road must be adopted. The Philadelphia motor is of use in its own place, but it never can compete with the noiseless gliding cars, which run up hill and down dale, shoot along the level, stop at a touch on the side of the steepest incline, and take up their running again without jar or strain, without horse or steam-engine, or other visible motor. The risk of accident by the cable road is absolutely nil. Ladies and children prefer riding on the handsome dummy in front of the car, in which the driver stands to manage the lever-break ; and very often families make excursions for miles upon them to enjoy the exhilarating ride for a few cents, who cannot afford a trip aoross the bay. No one in San Francisco thinks of walking a couple of blocks, except it is some, eccentric being whe thinks he is improving his health by wearing out his muscle. I certainly don't. One can ride in a comfortable oar a , distance of over four miles for five cents, and go almost in any direction or anywhere. It is street railroads which have rendered the district telegraph system possible. They are also among the very best investments in the city. To show the appreciation in which they are held, I may mention the Geary street cable road, in course of construction. It will not be operated before February, and although 20 dollars. per share has only be paid in calls, and there is a very large outlay, yet before ' the Company's stock is selling at a premium •of 23d01. per share. The California street railroad is a close corporation. It belongs to Stanford and Co., who own and operate the Market street and Valencia lines to the Ferry, and it is quoted at 120 dol. per share, but you can't buy any. Clay street cable road paid an average of 40 per cent, since opening. The Sutter street railroad has been built out of earnings, besides paying dividends, and is now the most extensive cable road in the city. The other street- car roads in the city pay handsomely, and are regarded as safe permanent investments. But the heavy cost of operating a railroad with horses, and the loss on the animals, is much greater than operating a cable road with stationary engines. I have taken pains to investigate this subject, and have had every facility for understanding it thoroughly from the railroad managers of this city, and lam therefore speaking of knowledge. I perceive that you are, with characteristic push, building street railroads in Dunedin. lam glad of that. It will do more to build up your beautiful city than anything else, and will save the city tens of thousands of pounds in grading. For that consideration alone liberal terms should be made with the railroad companies. Here there has been quite a rush for franchises, some score of extensions of existing franchises having been granted by our Board of Supervisors, which is the equivalent of , your Mayor and Council, during the past month. At least five, if not more, new franchises have been granted to build cable roads, so that we shall soon have them operating in all directions. Stock in them will always be jat a premium. There is no more difficulty operating them than there is with the ordinary horse-car lines. Cable roads croßß each other's tracks, and can now be built quite as cheaply as the horae-car track. Horses do not take fright at them, and they don't interfere with horse or foot traffic so much as the old style railroads. I hope soon to hear that Caversham and Ocean Beach have been brought ink) 15 to 20 -minute distance of High street junction with Princes street by means of a cable road. It would make your sand-dunes a delightful suburb, for they present no more serious obstacle to enterprise than four-fifths of the site of San Francisco did. Where the new City Hall stands was a sandhill of vast proportions. Lick House, on Montgomery street, occupies the space of a sandhill 100 feet high. Indeed the entire city site, except Clay street and Telegraph Hills, and the nopk at the top of Mission Bay, consisted of drifting sand dunes, Goiden Gate Park is being reclaimed from drifting sand of a lively character indeed. There is nothing, therofore, in your eandbelt lo cause you to despise it as either valueless or an eye3ore. I forgot to mention that the -railroad franchises recently granted are for 50 years.

Rumour does say that the outgoing Board feathered their nests ; undoubtedly the railroad companies have done well. Of course I can't say ju&t how it chanoed that bo many franchises happened to be granted. There to one fact, however, which cannot be dis.

puted. The gas company wanted to renew their contract with the city for five years at old rates. The supervisors could not legally bind the oity, but they did all they could, and it will take a heap of uncertain litigation to reverse their action. But here comes in the joke. One of the supervisors, a young and promising politician, who negotiated the business with the gas company, went off to New York with the "swag," some of the papers say 80,000d01., but at all events a large sum, and his disconsolate associates, having waited in vain for a division of tho spoil, declared his seat vacant under the 90 days' absence rule. The joke is on his side, however, and it is said he is smiling all over his face in gambling • saloons and with fast women. He will come back after it blows over, and if in luck ho may receive the democratic nomination for Congress, Thank God this is nearly the end of democratic rule in San Franoisco. The city officers and one of the supervisors clung to their offices in open defiance of the popular vote which displaced them, and did not budge until the Courts at nisi prins and Supreme ruled thorn out of office. They also endeavoured to prevent the working men's candidates, who were eleoted by large majorities, taking office on the ground of bribery, because the platform of the party contained a pledge that for purposes of eoonomy they would receive from the Public Treasury a less sum, which was stated in each case, than the amount fixed by law for the office. The County Court Judge, before whom the cases were brought, ruled that it was bribery within the meaning of the Statute, and laid down the rule that it was a "misdemeanour to enrich the city and county of San Francisoo" by eoonomy in office. The cases would have been appealed, but were dismissed upon a technicality. Public indignation is strong, but the thieves in office don't mean to give up a point, and they have neither shame nor decency. Judge Wright, who is retired by the late election, drew for several years, by himself and sons, over 11,000 dol. annually from the City Treasury, and he does not like to surrender the papbottle.

De Young has been indicted for attempt to murder; but the young man who shot down Schwartz in his cigar store, a few days after the attempt to assassinate the Rev. Isaac Kalloch, by dint of hard swearing and favour of the jury, upon the principle elaborated in the beginning of this letter, has only been indioted for manslaughter. The Authors' Carnival was a great success, the receipts haying exceeded 44,000 dol. ; but the professional management was extremely grasping, and "sweet oharity" got less than it earned. Still, it left very oonsiderable funds in the oharity treasuries. This does not include the money taken inside for refreshment booths, flowers, &c, all of whioh went to the charities, and which must have been a large amount. But on every hand an attempt was made to grab all the .money, and leave none with the charities. The newspapers interposed, and the Press here usually settles any matter it takes in hand in real earnest. So, "sweet charity" owes a great deal to the Bohemians of San Francisco. A Carnival Society has been organised and will be incorporated. The carnival will bo an annual affair. This saves the very valuable appliances bought and paid for at the late one in the Mechanics' Pavilion. Many imperfections in the last affair will be remedied by experience. It has had a salutary effect upon the public taste, and created a great interest in literature and art.

We have had very bad weather East, and sad tales of shipwreck and loss of life come from the Atlantic seaboard and lakes. But the cupidity of 'a contractor on the line of the Narrow Gauge railroad in this State has within a year led to two terrific accidents, and the slaughter of some fifty Chinamen. The news telegram will doubtless tell the talo, but nothing could do justice to its horrors. Fancy tunnelling through the Coast range, without a shaft for ventilation, in a formation saturated with petroleum oil. The gas, which escaped from the fissures, exploded with terrific force, carrying death and destruction in all directions. Once before a similar occurrence took place, but not so bad as on the 17th. For several days it was impossible to go into the tunnel, and the coroner's jury, drawn from business dependents and employes, found a verdict of "No one to blame I" It is the old story. The dollars of the contractor are of more value than many lives.

In a former letter I gave you some reminescences of "Fighting Joe Hooker," who commanded the army of the Potomac against Lee, after JBurnside's defeat, and who very soon lost the battle of Chancellorsville, and with it the supreme command. He is dead. Hooker was a West Point graduate, and had distinguished himself in the Florida and Mexican Wars. He retired from the army with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, went farming in Sonoma Connty, California ; lost all his money, and became a whisky- bummer and capper to a faro-bank in San Francisco. The gamblers made a purse and sent him east at the outbreak of the war. His subsequent career is matter of history, and was sufficient for the ambition of any ordinary man. He died suddenly, surrounded by hosts of friends. Senator Zaoh Chandler, stalwart Republican, and formerly Minister of the Interior, is also dead. He had delivered a great political speech in Chicago, retired to rest, and was found dead in his bed next morning. Senator Chandler's death is a severe loss to the Eepublican party. He was a native of New Hampshire, tall and straight as a young pine, and possessed of strong feelings of friendship and hate. Blunt of speech, he was yet polished in degree. He early emigrated to, Wisconsin, and grew up with that State. He was beloved by his friends and respected by his enemies. Above all things else, Zaoh Chandler hated Jeff Davis and secession. Aud speaking of secession, Bob Toombs, a noted rebel of Georgia, who made a boast at the outbreak of the Civil War that he would one day call over the roll of his slaves under the shadow of Bunker Hill, has welcomed Grant in characteristic fashion. In a telegram to a friend he said: "Present my personal congratulations to General Grant on his safe arrival in hia country. He fought for his country and won. I fought iotmine and lost. lam ready to try it over again, Death to the Union!" Mr Toombs

is a tough citizen, although well nigh 10' He is a large landowner, an openhandecJ, generous, public-spirited man, and reflects Southern opinion, whatever professions may bs made to the contrary, from policy. Grant has had all kinds of ovations since leaving California, that of Chicago being greatest. The Mayor of Chicago spoke of Grant, like Washington, having refused a crown at the close of his second term, and many newspapers want to know when and where a crown was offered to him. As Grant is a poor man, it is probable a well-paid office will be created for him, with the novel title of Captain- General. Sherman holds the life office of General of the Army, and Sheridan of Lieutenant-General; and each draws greater emoluments than fall to the share of a British field- marshal commanding, soU. S. Grant will be tolerably well provided for when he is pitchforked over their heads. Sherman will resist suoh a proposal to the utmost. He is an imperious man, inordinately vain, and despises the humble extraction of Grant. If Sherman had occupied Grant's position the United States would have had a master long ago. Jacob Terry.