Adventure, June 1911 — page 18: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

204 on the San Francisco Stock Exchange with sales at $1:15. . Il went out on the street and proceeded to.buy all the Combination Frac- tion ih sight. In half an hour I had cor- ~ ralled about 60,000 shares at an average of - $z.30. An hour later the owners of the lease obtained the information on which I was working, and by eight o’clock that night, when the Goldfield Stock Exchange began its evening session, the price had jumped to $1.85. Within a week there- after the price skyrocketed to $3.75, and at this figure I took profits of nearly $150,000. Had I held on a little longer I could have doubled that profit, for Combination Frac- tion a few weeks later sold at higher than $6. t: The Combination Fraction strike was fol- lowed by a number of others, and the boom gathered force. By October, Goldfield Sil- ver Pick had advanced to $1 per.share, up 6oo per cent. Goldfield Red Top was sell- ing at $2, Jumbo at $2, and Mohawk at $5, showing profits of from 2,000 to 5,000 per cent. Others had gained proportionately. In fact, there were over twenty Goldfield securities listed on the exchange that showed the public a stock-market profit of anywhere from roo per cent. to 5,000 per cent. Mining machinery of every description was being shipped into camp, and for half a mile around the Combination mine the landscape of assembled gallows-frames re- sembled a great producing oil field. There were signs of mining activity everywhere. For four miles east of the Combination mine and six miles south every inch of ground had been located. Claims situated miles away from the productive area were chang- ing hands hourly at high figures. The Sullivan stocks. kept pace in the markets with the other booming securities, and it was plain that the trust company . was riding on a tidal wave of success. Our profits exceeded $1,500,000 at this period, and we were just eight months old. In quick succession the Sullivan Trust Company promoted the Lou Dillon Gold- field Mining Company at 25 cents per share, a valuation of $250,000 for the property, which cost $50,000; and the Silver Pick Ex- tension, which cost $25,000, at the same figure, netting «several hundred thousand dollars” profit on these two transactions. Options to purchase the Lou Dillon and Silver Pick Extension, which were ‘situated — within 500 feet of. the jombination: mine;. . * * . Adventure had been in possession of the Sullivan Trust Company for months, and had increased in value to such an extent that-on the day the subscriptions were opened in Goldfield for Lou Dillon at 25 cents per share, a pros- pector named Phoenix, who had received $50,000 from the Sullivan Traist Company for the entire property, subscribed for 100,000 shares, or a tenth interest in the enterprise, paying $25,000 therefor. _ It was the rule of the Sullivan Trust Com- pany to open subscriptions in Goldfield of the day its advertising copy left the camp by mail for the East. Newspapet. publishers were always instructed to publish the adver- tisements, which were generally of the full- page variety, on the day following receipt. In the case of Lou Dillon it became, neces- sary to telegraph all mewspapers. east of Chicago not to publish the advertisement because of oversubscription | béfore the copy reached them, and in the case.of Silver Pick Extension the orders to publish the adver- tisements were canceled by telegraph before the mail carrying the copy réaclied’ Kansas City. San Francisco, Los Angeles and Salt Lake subscribed for 50 per cent.-of the. en- tire offering of Lou Dillon’ and Silver Pick Extension, and Goldfield for 25, per cent. As a matter of fact, had we desired;we could have sold the entire offerings in Goldfield, Tonopah and Reno without inserting any advertisements, so great was the extite- ment in the State itself. At this period the combined fcoathihy payrolls of the mining companies promoted by the Sullivan Trust Company totaled in excess of $50,000, and the properties were: reaching a forward state of development. | es warm, dry and dusty, and never a cloud in the sky. i was at my desk eighteen hours a day, and liked my Job. Things were coming our way. a The Sullivan Trust Company Was in poli- tics. Mr. Sullivan was popular with. the miners, and Governor Sparks-was a large asset of the trust company becausé he had been allowing the use of his name as presi- dent of the mining companies promoted by it. Nevertheless, when the State election approached, the Governor had no money for campaign expenses. He telegraphed the IT WAS early Autumn in Goldfield, - trust company from Carson: . “J will not stand for renomination.” We replied: “You are. tertain to be COMicloookkSs.G©