Show romance nance of the comstock the rampant stock market mark et for this chapter in the exciting epoch making days of the comstock mines credit is accorded the american mine aline reporter of san francisco which evidently went to much trouble and time to dig up the data it will be hard work for the reader and market follower of today to grasp a situation that carried the price of a mining stock from to in a year back to 35 and up to in another three years or to have a stock advance from to in two years and back to 60 within the following twelve months though such things were common one of the chief reasons why such wild fluctuations were made possible by the manipulations of the king pins of speculation in those days was that most of the companies operating in the Com stocks based their capitalization on the number of lineal feet owned on the lode if a company owned 1500 feet for illustration its capital stock would usually be 1500 shares not shares as would likely be the case today let the reader imagine what the temperature of the market must have been when it would reach the ears of such men as mackay flood pair fair or obrien that some one had been shorting a pet stock of theirs say at following a years struggle to attain that price from when they should get busy and balloon the price to a share as was the case with belcher the fellows who may have been forced to cover around the latter price probably were begging a meal ticket the next day heres the reporters story no other mining shares in the entire world have ever shown such remarkable re fluctuations tuat ions in market price as those which characterized the comstock mines for a number of years during the bonanza days on the lode prom from a few dollars a share prices would soar in a brief space of time to hundreds of dollars and the recession would be almost as startling men alen and ien who invested in comstock shares were raised jailed from poverty to affluence almost in the twinkling of an eye and fortunes were fedt ept away with the same bewildering ra pity in the titanic struggles of the bonanza kings and opposing factions it was a game of giants of finance un balled equalled equal led anywhere and those on the edge or ol the stream when the battles were on were either almost overwhelmed with riches or swept to destruction in the raging maelstrom the names of mackay flood fair brien ren sharon keene mills lucky baldwin ralston and others of almost equal caliber figured in the leading roles dramatic and tragic in their scintillations and environment from per share in may 1868 crown point dropped to 2 per share in november 1870 rose to 1825 per share in may 1872 dropped to 75 in october of the same year and advanced to in december 1873 in october 1886 it was quoted at 95 cents and in december three months later it advanced to per share yellow jacket was 24 per share in september 1870 and in may 1872 it was selling at per share in july 1906 it was 8 cents per share and in december of the same year it was w 13 3 ophir jumped from per share in may 1874 to in january 1875 in october it was down to 35 con virginia rose from 17 cents in february 1871 to in april 1872 sagged to 35 a year later and reached per share in january 1875 in december 1885 it was down to five cents per share and twelve months later it was up to 55 per share sierra nevada advanced from 10 in march 1868 to in april 1869 in february 1872 it was in may 1877 it was 75 cents and in september 1878 advanced to from 25 cents in october 1886 it advanced to 16 in december 1886 the most sensational advance of all was recorded in belcher which advanced from in january 1872 to 1525 per share in april three months later in march 1873 the price had declined to 60 union consolidated rose from 3 in may 1878 to in october of the same year in december 1879 it was quoted at 6 in october 1886 it had declined to 25 cents and two months later as up to 12 per share the following figures compiled from official sources give a more extended outline of the variations during those stirring times on the comstock lode crown point price per share may nov 1868 march 1870 2800 nov 1870 jan 1871 1575 may 1872 1825 00 oct 1872 dec 1873 00 oct 1886 95 dec 1886 vellow j achet may 1869 sept 1870 2400 may 1872 1870 00 july 1872 2 1600 dec 1973 00 may 1874 jan 1875 dec 1876 13 1300 00 sept 1878 oct 1886 75 dec 1886 9 00 july 1906 OS 08 dec 1906 bull bullion ion jan 1869 oct 1869 april 1872 oct 1873 1200 feb 1875 1900 ay 1875 may 1877 sept 1878 2600 sept 1886 05 dec 1886 ophar may 1874 jan 1875 oct 1875 march 1876 april 1877 sept 1878 oct 1886 65 dec 1886 jan 1902 68 april 1905 1325 consolidated virginia F eb 1871 17 april 1872 march 1873 july 1873 feb 1874 jan 1875 oct 1875 jan 1876 dec 1885 05 dec 1886 sierra nevada march 1868 1000 april 1869 feb 1872 1 april 1872 2 2000 0 0 0 jan 1873 may 1873 sept 1874 jan 1875 2700 may 1877 75 sept 1878 oct 1886 25 dec 1886 1600 belcher feb 1869 sept 1869 1200 march 1870 oct 1870 jan 1872 april 1872 march 1873 june 1873 oct 1875 1400 march 1876 oct 1886 dec 1886 union consolidated ara y 1872 nov 1872 dec 1874 june 1875 may 1878 oct 1878 dec 1879 oct 1886 25 dec 1886 1200 |