The Comstock gradually reached borrasca, but its fame lived on. As a wonderful quote by “Kettle Belly” Brown, who had been the fire chief in Virginia City during the 1870’s, and who was being interviewed by a San Francisco newspaper said about San Francisco, “Where would the Palace Hotel be, I’d like to ask, if it hadn’t been for the bullion of the Comstock lode? Where would the Nevada Bank get off, and what would become of the Flood Building? Wasn’t the Mills Building put up with profits from the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, and didn’t the Comstock furnish all the ore and most all the freight to give those profits? What made Sutro Heights? The Comstock. What built those lordly palaces of architectural splendor on Nob Hill? The Comstock. Who put postal cable lines across the continent and under the ocean? The Comstock. What gave Uncle Sam his piles of gold to buy ammunition and hard tack when the ark of the nation was buffeted by the war billows of the greatest rebellion ever known in history? The Comstock.” It’s still a wonderful place to visit, and I heartily advise it to you, the reader. Remember though, you will be witnessing but a shadow of its once grandeur. Virginia City is but a few miles from Carson City, Nevada’s capital, where there are fine accommodations.
Silver and gold fulfilled the “Mint Act” of 1792, which was when America first began producing its own metallic currency, and built its first mint. That act required there to be a ratio between gold and silver of 15.99 to 1. Over the years, the ratio changed from that to 15.81 low to 16.002 as a high for over a hundred years, but stayed close to 16 to 1. The coinage Act of 1873 eliminated the silver dollar, which outraged just about everyone, since there was an abundance of silver in the west from Nevada, Colorado, and even some from California. The outrage was so vehement, that the act was often termed as “The Crime of ’73.” Representative Richard Bland, and Senator William Allison finally got their “Bland-Allison Act” passed and signed in to law in 1878 on the third try. This law required the U.S. Treasury to purchase $2 million worth of silver per month, turn it into coin, and this began the coinage of the “Morgan” silver dollar, which had .9 oz of silver, and lasted until 1921. Colorado Gold has imitation Morgan silver dollars of one ounce .999 pure silver at 28 cents over spot, which no other advertiser or anyone else can touch. Our supplier bought the mint!
The Bland-Allison Act lasted a couple of years, till 1890, when the “Sherman Silver Purchase Act” was signed into law. The act was named after Senator John Sherman, and this upped the required monthly treasury purchase of silver to $4.5 million. Silver then was about $1.25 per ounce, and the ratio was about 16 to 1. This made Colorado mines rejuvenate themselves, since they had been concentrating on gold, which was far easier to ship and even mine. They re-worked and re-milled their tailings dumps which were rich in silver. The Comstock was failing, and California had all but ceased to produce silver, although some was found in Arizona. The town of Silverton Colorado (where I owned three hotels at one time), jokingly said of itself “We ain’t got no gold, but we got silver by the ton,” or its name Silverton. This is another sure fire enjoyable trip in the American West. You can not only ride a steam powered narrow gauge train from Durango to Silverton, but the town is rich in architecture, history, and has one of the finest museums in America. Really!
The Sherman Act requiring the treasury purchase of $4.5 million worth of silver per month, caused silver to gush forth from mines in the west. The gushing forth of silver and turning it into Morgan silver dollars, caused hundreds of thousands of Morgans to be minted. Not only that, but the huge supply of silver, as markets do act, caused the price of silver to plummet to sixty cents an ounce by December of 1894. In 1893, America was suffering from a severe economic depression, which lasted till 1896. Unemployment, it was said, went to 25%. Gresham’s Law went into effect, causing people to buy silver, and cash their gold in for silver. President Grover Cleveland thought the depression was caused by Sherman’s act. It wasn’t. He called a special session of Congress, urging them to defeat Sherman’s law, and they did. This became known as “The Crime of ’93,” and caused hundreds, if not thousands of mines of all sizes, to close, and lay off millions of miners, mill and smelter workers, railroad employees, coal miners, and workers of all trades. Virginia City depopulated itself to becoming a virtual ghost town, as it is today. It never recovered. Silverton was badly hurt, but there was gold “in them there hills,” and gold production slowly resumed. Silverton at one time had about 2,500 population, and today, about 700.
Western farmers wanted the mining and coinage of silver to continue, as it would make it easier for them to pay their bills and loans with cheaper money. Congressman William Jennings Bryan was an accomplished orator, and from the floor of the House, he delivered a three hour speech, which has been called one of the best political speeches ever given, urging Congress not to repeal the Sherman Act. They did, but Bryan became famous for his “Cross of Gold” speech, and became the 1896 Democratic nominee for President, running against William McKinley. Bryan traveled the country by train, spoke 600 times to an estimated 5 million people. Bryan lost, but that election seemed to divide the nation between the big city wealth, and working class farmers, small business owners and factory workers who needed help and relief from regulations, paper money and bureaucracy. To me, William Jennings Bryan’s ability to speak and change minds for the better, is similar to Donald Trump’s ability to mesmerize his listeners. I never miss one of his rallys, and his ability to fill halls and have many thousands cheer his every word. Trump isn’t losing like Bryan did.
Silver then, went from 60 cents an ounce to $15 as I write this on a Friday, or twenty five times its low. From a ratio of 16 to 1 to 81 to 1, making silver an outstanding buy, and especially at 28 cents over spot, If you have room for it. I do few trades, as I am retired, but I did do one for a friend in Silverton a couple of weeks ago. He bought $60,000 worth of silver, which weighed 250 pounds. He could have bought $60,000 worth of gold and held it in two hands easily. You decide, but get out of dollars as retirement savings. David, Melissa, and Morgen are ready to help you! – Don Stott – 1-888-786-8822