The New York Herald Newspaper, January 6, 1879, Page 3

BIG BONANZAS. Development of Vast Mining In- terests in Nevada. HOW CAPITALISTS OPERATED Milling Out the Millions in Pulverized Ore. MAP OF THE. MINES. How Forests Are Cut Down to Support the Workings. MIGHTY MACRASS RT. ‘Vmornta Crrz, Nev., Dec. 26, 1878, “Tt takes a gold mine to work a silver one” is a very common saying, and in the axiom there is much truth. But for the timely aid rendered by capitalists to the first mill builders the mines of the Comstock, which are now the pride of the country, could never have attained to anything like their present promin- ence for many years to come, The machinery and appliances brought into operation for working a mine to tho best advautage are very costly, and in an uninhabited country as this was twenty years ago, everything of that character had to be freighted by mule trains for hun- dreds of miles and at very great expense. In a well appointed mining establishment to day, if there were a necessity for it, ore can be tafen from the moun- tain, crushed, milled, amalgamated, retorted snd put into commercia! bullion in thirty hours, but it was very different in the first years of mining. Among the first who came to the assistance of tho tainers was Ralston, of the Bank of California notor- lety. He believed in the great wealth of the mines and the future greatness of Virginiu—if the miners were encouraged. Money on the Comstock with the best collaterals commanded five per cent interest per mouth. He supplicd money for machinery, aud in turn he handled the bullion for the miners, mak- ing his bank the general depository of the products of the mines. In prosperous times this was an im- menso and lucrative affair, for while the mines were yielding hundreds of thousands per month and sending that bullion to the bank, not more than twenty per cent of the value would ever be called for in coin. ‘The bank purchased everything the thines and miners consumed, paid in checks and had the use of the bullion. His relations to the minors at first was in the spirit of his well known love of “building up the country,” with the certainty that San Francisco ‘would ultimately have the lion’s share of the minets’ ‘success, and what was wealth to “the ‘city by the Golden Gate” was a certain increase in all valucs in real estate held by him and his associates. ‘With a continuous supply of “paying ores” in the mines there was little risk to the capitalist’s gold, but rich veins aro not everlasting like the hills, and for security of the money advanced by Ralston or the bank the mills were held as collaterale, and when some of the mines “gave out” and the miners, could not meet their obligations the mills fell into the hands of the capitalists. To render these mills of any value whatever it was necessary to find mines to supply them with ore, and.toobtain this ore for their own mills Ralston and his associates had to purchase the controlling interest of some of the mines which gave rise to that common expression on the Stock Board, the “bank crowd.” The bank officials affirm, however, that, asa corporation, they have never dealt fm mining stocks, though the bank hag hold a very large amount of stock as securitios. SHARON'S DEDUT IN VIRGINA, In 1863 the great success of silver mining becoming doubtful, the heavy investments of the “bank crowd” was u cause of serious trouble and anxiety. It was then that Sharon came here as the agent of the Bank of California. Afraid of general disaster, Ralston tempted Sharon with two years’ credit and 2 further advance of moneys to work the mines if ho would assume the past obligations of tho miners. In four months tho indebtedness was #ll paid aud $750,000 more was placed to the credit of William Sharon. ‘s pros- perity rettrned to the mines, “the mills” that had been a terror to Ralston were a source of great wealth to “the Union Mining and Milling Compsny;” for, singular as it may seem, there is not a mining com- pany on the Comstock that owns a mill exeept Crown Point, All the great mills—apurt from those con- trolled by the Union Mining and Milling Company and the one just named—are owned by the paneer frm. The explanation of this seeming ovetaight of the companies nas variozs intérpretations, some of them accusative and others the reverse. As matters of fact, the past has shown in several cases whers min- ing companies have had their own mills that the re- sults of working of the ores were less profitable than when done by parties altogether unconcerned with the mines, This, of course, could only occur where the superintendents were charged with the super- vision of both the mine and the mill, and in the great interests that are here no one brain is sufficient for both. Tho better reason is to be found in the fact that mining companies are in the beginning usually impecunious; all the money that is raised by assess- ment is needed in the nine and in the hoisting works ‘until rich ore is truck.” When stockholders have paid frequent high assessments they become sensitive and have no enthusiasm about large expenditures on mills, which would necessarily increase assess- monts. They want “dividends,” and aro willing that the ores should be taken to “custom mills.” The first locators of a mino are in the majority of cases poor men, who have had to bortow from everybody to keep soul and body together while they are fight- ing through porphyry, clay and rock to roach tho oro, and by the. time they get to it they aro pretty ‘well loaded down with debt, and are gind enough to “let in” a moneyed man, who is sure, if the mine is “a good thing,” to invest heavily and get, if he can. the control, and in almost ail such casos the quickest returns aro sought and everything directed to that end. ‘Acool million for ® mill,” as was in the case of the Gould & Curry, is not relishable by the hasty- to-get-rich money maker, and #0 the mill business usually falls into tho hands of the slower mon, who kuow better the value of such an investment, THE MILL OWNERS, There are risks in the investment of money in mines till they are fully prospected and developed, butin an ore mine there fs none—if there in ore to mill—and with means sgreat milling enterprise has been created, ‘would have. been very singular had this not bech so, with‘all the favorable tions, The owners havo to-day eleven mills, from fifteen to eighty stamps, making altogether @ battery force of 475 stamps, tho largest size stamp eapable of pulverizing five tons of ore overy twonty- fonr hours, The whole human force engaged in these mills numbers “622 men, while the mills aro ruuning to their full capacity. ‘TIMERNING THR MINES. In former letters the great yield of ore and the many millions from the Comstock lodo havo been statod. The miles of shafts, inclines, winzcs and @rifts have been given tm correctly ascertained figures. Thoro vow remains to be noticed that colcesal item of labor and expense—‘the timbering of the mines.” However durable may be the syenite, trachyto and other rocks which contribate their presence in tho mmakenfPot » mountain, there are cloments of leseer Fesistance and ondurance running hero and there and Antermixing with tho harder substances which can- not be relied on for stability where tha mountain is Pierced and the work of blasting is constantly yoing’ on. There is consequently ever present with the in- btelligent suporiutendent of the mine a full reatization of tho obligation to lessen the rik of porsibio accident. In the first doys of mining hore shafts wore sank pretty mach after the feehion of well boring, and the oro wae coasts toe Mana edie tote NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 1879, —TRIPLE SHEET. Perienced by the miner, and a clevor German carpen- ter, Philip Deidesheimer, couceived a system of put: ting together heavy timbers in squares, by which Spy amount of vacaut space can be filed, and the whole mouatain progressively gutted out with per: fect safuty. Tho timbers are so prepared at the ends as to Ot into each other with the utmost precision, leaving only and 91] the time a space for the next tim- ber to rest in, in whichever direction the extension has ‘to be made, When ail the orc has been taken out of these “floors,” the equares sre filled np either with the waste rock or solid timbers crossing upon each other, until the place where the ore was taken from becomes as immovable as the mountain itself. Stand- ing upon this, the miner picks ont the ore above, be- fore aud all sround him until another “floor” is, ready for a new square of timbers. , ‘THE 812% OF THE GREAT DORANZA, Of the magnitude of this underground work where ® bonanza is struck some ides mey be formed by the reader when I state, in round numbers, that the great Bonanza in the Consolidated Virginia and Cal fornia mines was 900 feet in length, 550 feet in depth and from 30 to 210 fect thick, or a space of ground something like the half of the City Hall Park, from the Mayor's office to the south end of the Pust Office and twice as high as that building, filled with righ silver oro, BURIED rousers, Timbering such a vacaut space, 1,000. ¢o,2,000 feet from the surface of the mountain, was a prodigious task, It was done; the ore was extracted In the man- ner related, hoisted to the surface, the timbers left secure, and with an astonishingly small amount of ac- cident to those engaged in ihe work. The amount of timber that has been used in the tunnels, drifts, winzes, shaits and building up of soft places into solid supports for the overhanging rocks is beyond all calculation now; it is a common observation that there has been more timber and lumber used in the Comstock lode than has been consumed in the building up of San Francisco. Though the timbers in the drifts and tunnels are fourteen inches square they are frequently seen snapped in the middle and bulging outas if some sudden farce had struck them and they were cronching to the dust. These broken tim- bers, or supports, have constantly to be repluced by new Ones, though the drifts may be without ore, as the ventilation of the mine must be preserved. Al- together, thore is at the present time a consumption |. of 100,000,000 feet of timber and lumber annually in the mines, and that has cost from $19 to $27 per 1,000 feet. 5 ‘THE LUMBER COMPANIES. Two great companies haye been formed for this supply—"The Carson and Lake Yahoo Lumber and Fluming Company” and “The Pacific Wood, Lumber and Fluming Company.” Whatever wood may havo grown on these mountains when the pioncers first struck ore, it is cortain that thore is not enough wood or timber of any kind now to be scen from Virginia City with which to build evena dog kennel. There is nothing within fifty mfles of any service for min- ing purposes. It is brought from the summit of the Sierras, bordering on the Central Pacific Railroad, by a direct water flume eighteen miles long, with ten miles more of contributing flumes, where by locomotive it is hauled over forty-five miles on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. The Carson and Lake Tahoe Company brings all its lumber and timber from the surroundings of Lake Tahoe, a dis- tance altogether of about sixty miles, first by a nar- row gaugo railroad that climbs the side of the moun- tain by zigzag grading so abrupt that four lines of rail on a portion of the toad are scen within s few hundred feet from ‘the lower to the upper. The flume at the summit receives timbers of every length up to forty feet, and im the volume of water rushing past they are carried away with more than railroad speed, and without s hand touching them they are dumped down at Carson ready to be placed in the Virginia and Truckee Ruflroad cars to be brought to this city. Thirty trains dre in motion every day on the “Crooked Railroad;” three of these aré passenger and the others are freighted with the ordinary merchandise for the populations cf Gold Hill and Virginia, the machinery, great timbers, lumber and cordwood for the mincs. GHEAT MACHINERY. It is to be expected that in operating ‘mines where groat fortnnes await the ‘successful prospector that no appliances of mechanics which might facilitate in any way the object sought would be neglected. There is no stinginess in the pursuit of gold, and I believe it is generally conceded that mining on the Comstock is ahcad of anything in that business elsewhere. The machinery is ‘the best that can be made, and is workod by the most skilful and reliable men that can be found in the country. Whero so many human lives are constantly “at stake in descending and ascending the deep shafts the operating engincer must never err, and the strictest rules are enforced to prevent his attention ever being taken from the dial which tells him every instant what his duty is, It has been customary for visitors and writers to doscribe the works of the Bonanza mines, but I sclect amine hat has not yet yielded a cent’s worth of ore, as its'machinery will, when com- pleted, eclipse everything on the Comstock, and, Iam told, a portion of it will excel anything in the work. From the chief engincer I obtained the following in- teresting statement:—The works wil? be, when fin- ished, a boiler house 102 feet long, 50 feet wide, contain- ing ten boilers 54 inches in diameter, 16 feet long; one main hoisting room 151 feet long, 40 feet wide, 48 fest high; a carpenter shop 50 feet wide by 100 foot long for framing the timbers for the shaft; a ma- chine shop 50x100 fect, and a blacksmith’s shop 40x60 fevt. THE HOISTING ENGINE. At the shaft is a double cylinder, high pressure, direct acting engine, both cylindérs being connected with one shaft, carrying two reels for winding the ropes. It is of 1,200 horse power and capable of hoisting ten tons of ore from a depth of nearly, if not quite, oue mile, Tho crank shaft alone weighs nearly forty tons and is of one piece of wrought iron. The engines are very heavy in construction, which permits them to be run ata very high rate of speed without injury and with safety, ‘They are intended | to ran with as much as 960 feet piston specd a min- ute, which takes “a cage” through the slatt at more thau railroad spoed. ‘The ropes used in the shaft sre made of annealed atcel wire 7 inches wide and X of an inch thick, and are wound on the reels like a ribbon on a spool. The reels aro 15 feet in diametor, aud will hold about 4,000 foot. Tho ropes are very strong, and would sffely hoist fifty tons when new. Each reel has an indicator connected with it showing the exact position of “the cage” in the shaft, so that the engineer knows to an‘ inch whero his load is. Fach reel has a powerful brake connected with it, which {s strong enough to stop tho engines or to hold a load being sont down when disconnected with the engines—in which man- ner al) timbers and men are sent down tho shafts, The engino foundations are solid masonry, 56 tect long, 88 fect wide and 22 fect deep, to which the engines are bolted with eighty S-inch and 34-inch bolts, reaching to the bottom of the stonework. ‘They are of the finest styio of workmanship, the valves being made of hard brass and ail the valvo rods aud Piston rods beiny of steel. ‘THE PUMPING ENGINE. ‘The pumping engine now being put in place is a horizontal compound condonsing engine, direct act- ing, being comnected from the crosshead to tho bob and from tho nose of the bob to the pumps in tho shaft, The cylinders aro of tho following dimon- sions :—The initial cylinder ts 33 tuches in diameter and 12 fect stroke. Tho expansion cylinder is 66 inches in diameter and 12 feet stroke. The engine shaft is 20 inches in diameter, about 18 feet long aud has @ flywheel on each cnd 30 feet in diameter, and cach wheel weighs thirty tons. The flywheels pet con oer a the crosa- head by immenso finished iron rods. The foundation alone for & similar engino cost $60,000, and the engine and line of pumps for 1,200 feet weigh 749 tons, Thecost price of engine and pumps before vreetion was something over $200,000, It isa beautiful machine, of yory fino fnith ana of immense strength and power. It is to Arive two Vines of Minch pumps of 10 feet stroke. Ite wob of cams, rods, cut-off gear, air cushions, drop weights, &c., display the highest skill in workman: abip. ‘They aro to have immense engines on the surface for compressing air, driving engines, blowers and drills under ground, the air being carried through the undorground works in pipes to any place where power is Fequized to drive machinery, SITES OF TITE BIG BONANZAS. Map of the Gold Hill and Virginia Mines, Embracing All the Claims and Showing the Sutro Tunnel, Roads and Railroad Systems, SGT I rrageee NORTH SAN FRANCISCO ‘This map of the Comstock mives is not intended to be understood as representing the entire length of the Comstock lode. The rich quartz vein is known to exist much further north and south, and by some it is believed to oxtend more than twenty miles from this city in a’ northeasterly course. As there is a bifurcation of the lode to the south of the Caledonia, branching in a southwesterly direction to American Fiat, aud im’ & southeasterly through Gold Hill City, Silver City to Spring Valley~a distance of seven miles— it was impossible to get into the map the location of the mines in either direction. To the southwest of Caledonia there are tho Maryland, Bal- timore Consolidated and Ameriggn Flat properties; to the southeast the New York, Lady Washington, Benton, Alta, Justice, Silver Hill, St. Louis, Dayton and several other properties claiming to be on the Cometock. The claims directly north of Ttah aro old Jocations still undeveloped. The recent strike of rich ore in the Sierra Nevada, with every indication of being in, large quantity, Las suddenly changed attention from the sonth to the north ent of tho lode, The original Keystone, SRI RE CE though located as early as 1859, has evidently only recently been fired up by the’ news of the rich dis- coveries in the north, and is putting up frst class hoisting works ofthe latest improvement. Very rich ore having recently been discovered to the northeast of the Sierra Nevada, it is now believed that thore is also a bifurcation of the lode in the north end as well asin tho south, and on either branch of it rich ore is likely to be discovered. A notion seems to prevail here that when ono bonanza is worked out another is sure to be found. When the Crown Point and Belcher great bonanza “pinched out” the Consolidated Virginia and Cali- fornia came to the front iramediately, and as the ore in these has latterly beon less productive some great bovanza ts now looked for by those who enjoy the credulity in the vicinity of the Sierra Nevada, Cuion and Mexican--perhaps it may be found in all three; but in the minds of the practical miners:‘‘a body of ore is only whero it is found,” and as the Sierra Nevada mine was worked eightecn long years without getting ore before its recent discovery some iden may be formed of the magnitude of patience required for deep quartz mining on the Comrtcck. IN PORT AT LAST. ARRIVAL OF THE OCEAN STEAMSHIPS LABRADOR AND ABYSSINIA AFTER STORMY PASSAGES—- HEAD WINDS AND ARCTIC WEATHER, ‘Tho Transatiantic Company's stearuship Labrador, foara for the safety of which wero entertained by Mr. Louis de Bebian, to whom the passengers and cargo wero consigned, arrived at jer pier in the North River yesterday. The vessel was over dnethroe days, having experienced during tho passage of thirteen days from Havre, France, exceedingly rough weather, with several gales and two ter- rifle hurricanes. The Labrador, under com- mand of Captain Sanglier, should have loft Havre Saturday, the 21st of Decomber, but, owing to the heavy weather and dense fogs which prevailed there at the timo, she did not leave until the morn- ing of the 22d, when the sky had somowhbat cloared and the fog lifted. Nothing worthy of note occurred in making the Enylish Channel, but when off tho mouth of the channel strong eastetly winds were met with, which soon increased to astiff galo and continued blowing without abatement until the even- ing of the Mth, Christmas morning broke clear, with comparatively calm weather, and the passengers pagsed the day pleasantly making merry among them- selves and enjoying the dinner given in the afternoon. ‘The following morning the wind sprang up again, and 8 fow hours later the air was filled with snowfakes: ‘The wind, which bad beon blowing from the cast ward, now shifted to the west, and by noon had in- _{ exenesd to ® stroug gale, During pis snow storm, while the men were working about on 4 & flock of fourteen land birds—twolve starlings and two cur- lews—made their appearance. It was a very remark- able thing, the steamer being at tho time 1,200 hun- dred miles from land, and among the sailors it was thonght to be @ bad omen. All the afternoon the birds followed thesteamer. Asit grow dark the watch on deck noticed that the birds drew nearef to the steamer, and occasionally one would perch for a mo- ment in the top of the rigging. Finally tho fourteen birds settled down on one of the yards, although at that time there was rong westerly wind. Late in the evening tho little wanderers were captured by tho swilors and taken below. Each of the officers took one for # pet, but in a few days all but one had sickened and died, The only survivor of the flock was the one kept by the purser in his cabin, which lived throngh- out the entire passage. Whon the steamer arrivod at Quarantine the bird was taken on deck, and, catching sight of land and being set free, immediately took its departure. A heavy gale was encountered on tho 28th of Decomber, at which time the barometer showed 708 millimeters. The gale, which made its appearance on the 28th, continued for several hours, and the following day the wind was blowing a per- fect hurricane. The water which splashed over tho decks froze almost immediately, and all the hands ware kept busy clearing away tho ice. A BLUSTERING NEW THAR. The Labrador weathered this storm without dam- age and was scudding along under a stiff broeze this side of the Newfoundland Banks when the sun shone 3 ‘The day was aaa. celebrated by both passengers and sailors; everything was moving along smoothly, and the storms encountered on the passagé were being talked over, when, suddenly, without a moment's warning, a more terrific storm than the previour ones swooped down on the vessel. The chief officer was knocked off his legs, and the sailors, who a few minutes before had been picking the ice from the deck, humming s tune as they worked, were tumbling promiseuonsly about. Hats flew of and pipes were demolixhed. All beat a hasty retreat below. The tew who were obliged to remain out had great difficulty in keeping their foot- ing, and several narrowly escaped being washed over- board. The sea continued rongh all night and the next morning a dense fog rose from the water, making it dificult to distinguish any object at a dis- tance of twenty fect. The steamer was hove to for forty-eight hours, during which time the fog horn was blown at intervals of two minutes, ‘The beards of those who were on deck during the fog and storm were covered with ice. About eight o’clock last Saturday morning the fog lifted, and the steamer proceeded on her course arriving about two hours later at her pier, where considerable trouble was experienced in docking her on account of the ice, Before thé steamer was made fast to her Pier a letter was presented to the captain from the passengers, complimenting him and his officers on the manner in which the Labrador was managed. No one was injured on the yoyage, nor was the cargo damaged. Mr, Angust H. Girard, secretary to the Commissioner General of the United States at the Paris Exposition of 1878, and his wife were among the passengers. THE DELAYED CUNARDER. ‘The Cunard steamer Abyssinia, Captain Murphy, arrived in port yesterday after a slow passage out from Liverpool. She left Liverpool on Decemaber 21, and owing to adverse winds was delayed three days over her usual time. In ordinary weather the Abyssinia steams about three hundred knots a day, but so flerce were the winds encountered on the passage just concluded without accident that on the 29th ult. only fifty knots are recorded on the log. The following extract from the log gives the distances each day during the passage :—December 22, 208 kno! December 23, 292; December 24, December 25, 311; December 26, 192; December 27, 159; December 28, 260; December 29, 50; December 30, 186; Decem- ber 31, 247; January 1,226; January 2, 288; January 3, 103; January 4, 65; January 5, 150. The head sea and wind was at times so strong that the vessel seemed to recede instead of progressing. The only accident recorded during the passage is the injury of ®scaman’s leg. He was thrown in the lower ggng- way while carelessly walking aft. The forty-one cabin and forty-seven steerage passengers wero landed yesterday at noon all in good health. THE STEAMER VINDICATOR. ‘WRECKING COMPANY AT WORK—THE CARGO TO BE DISCHARGED. {BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.] Yaruans, L. I., Jan, 5, 1879. The propeller Vindicator, ashore, as before re- ported, at Smith Point, is bilged and has moved nearer to the beach. No anchors have been put out by the Wrecking Company's steamer Relief, which arrived this morning about ten o'clock, although there will be when the tug succeeds in placing pumps and other wrecking appliances on board of her. As far as can be learned the cause of her coming on the bar was owing to the ice, which was making around her, preventing her rudder from working properly. PROSPFCT OF SAVING THE VESSEL. ‘The wreckers will probably begin to discharge the cargo as soon as the schooner, which is expected in the morning, arrives. It is the opinion of the owners’ agent, as well as of the inhsbitants around where the steamer lies, that, if the weather contin- nes to be fair and no high southerly wind should arise, she will be saved. The cargo is a general one, consisting of sewing machines, dry goods, hardware, &c. ‘ SCHOONER..E..4. HOOPER ASHORE. FEARFUL TRIP OF THE UNFORTUNATE VESSEL FROM JONES’ INLET—THE CREW TAKEN OFF— FAIR PROSPECT FOR SAVING THE SCHOONER. (BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.) Newport, R. I., Jan. 5, 1879. ‘The schooner E. A. Hooper, before reported ashore on the shoals at Jones’ Inlet, and which was floated by one of the Coast Wrecking Company's agents on the 29th of December, is now ashore on Block Island. Sho sailed frém Jones’ Inlet in charge of the Coast Wrecking Compsny for New York at seven A. M. on January 2. She was headed west-southwest, and sighted the Highlands, when a squall from the southwest struck the vessel and drove her twenty- five miles off shore, after which the weather sctin thick, blowing a hurricane from the northwest. All sail was then taken in and she was scudding under baro poles, steering cast-northeast. ORDERED TO THE PUMPS, The vessel commenced to leak badly and all hands were ordered to the pumps. Night set in thick, with snow squalls, and the men were completely ‘worn out. She sighted Fire Island at nine Pi; M. the following day, the vessel leaking badly. The pumps were soon afterward frozen up. At seven A. M. they sighted land, got the jib on the vessel and triedto make land, but it was useless. As soon as thoy sighted Montauk Point a sea struck the vessel and cast the stove adrift, breaking it into small pieces. The cabin was now full of water and the crew had no warm water forthe pumps. The men were badly frozen and the schooner had five fect of water in the hold. The pumps were frozen solid. At ten A. M. Friday the vessel grounded on Block Island and the seas immediately broke completely over her, THE CREW TAKEN OFF. The crew were soon taken off. They were in a very helpless condition and were obliged to be lowered over the sides of the vessel. They speak in high praise of Captain Thomas Rathbone and his crew at the island, who went to their assistance at the risk of their lives. It was only after many attempts that the boat was Inunched, the eurf being #0 heavy. They were kindly cared for by Captain Rathbone, with whom they are at the present time. Captain Sharp, of the Wrecking Company, leaves to-morrow for New York to secure assistance. The vessel lies on the west side of the island in an easy position, She has about thirty-five tons of her cargo of coal on board, There is five fect of water in the hold, DEATH OF A CONTRACTOR. An inqnest was held yesterday by Coroner Wolt- man on the body of Smith D. Bellows, who died on the arrival of tho steamer City of Hartford on Satur- day at her dock, picr 24 East River. Deputy Coroner Cushman, who conducted the post-mortem examina- tion, deposed that death was duc to heart disease, and a verdict wes rendered in accordance with that fact. . ‘The deceased gentleman came of an old Connecticut family, most of whom had made this city their abode. He was born in Middletown, Conn., in 1817. More than a quarter of acentury ago he held a contract for lighting the ety with oil. Whon the era of gas appeared he consiacred himself at first ruined by the new monopoly; but with commendable business tact he accommodated himself to the new régime and displayed sufficient enterprise to keep abreast with the onward march of science. Fora number of years ho was connected as contractor with the then newly formed gas companies, and on the organ- ization of the New York Gas Company he contracted with that corporation to light that section of the city from Grand street to the Battery. His contract ex- pired two years ago, and since that time he had been employed in real estate transactions, His private residenco Was at Forty-fitth street, near Lexington avenue, and his office at No. 311 Broome street. During the present winter he made his abode at his country seat in Essex, Conn., where his family have also resided, His three sons are grown up and are employed in this city, Alfred is a clerk in the Nassau | Bank, Theodore holds the position of bookkeeper in the New York Gas Company and Gedney is in the hardware business. His remains will be interred on qn the Atlantic for tho first time in te now your, | Tuosday in Greenwood Cemetery, AROUND THE WORLD. General Grant’s Progress Through Spain. VISITING THE ESCURIAL. The Grand, Gloomy Home and Grave of Philip IL MERCEDES, BRIDE AND QUEEN. The Chapel, the Cloisters and the Tombs. “A DREARY, CRUEL AND DEGRADING AGE.” —_-—___ Mapkrip, Nov, 17, 1878. Rocks rise above rocks in broken, fissured masses over a barren, stony plain. Stones, mountains of stone, break and fall in the most fantastic, gloomy Sbapes. In all directions they rise and sweep and fall, and you seem to be tugging through @ world of desolation—a world of silence and death. Rocks, granite rocks, ridgo heaped on ridge, corrugated, flowing, irregular, stern. Deep fissures show now and then a hapless shrub, craving the dew and the sunshine, striving to justify its forlorn existence. No life, no sign of life, no beast, or bird, or buzzing insect—only the rocks that tumble ove; horizon— only the rocks and a cold wind lows from the snow-wreathed hills. If there were only a vineyard, or an olive tree, or a strom, or a homestead with curling smoke, or a bough where the birds might nestle, or a passing muleteer enliv- ening the air with bis jangling bells! Only the rocks, rising higher and higher in mad, wanton fashion— only the rocks and eternal desolation, How gloomy, sombre, desolate it all seems; and as you draw the fold of your garment against the cold winds, even the winds are welcome, and the gray clouds that hang over the towers of Madrid. It is from Madrid that we are toiling this morning, for nature in so stern and cruel a form makes any journcy a toil. Suddenly there is a vast gray building, with a high dome and turrets—a prodigious building that frowns upon you, as it were, it is so cold aud vast, and reminds you of a model prison in one of our progressive States. It seems to leap out of the desolation and array itself against the range of cruel towering crags which hover over it— achild of the nature which surrounds it, an epitome of the wild, harsh, lonely land through which we have been tugging—a gigantic pile, severe, without beauty or majesty, but with strength and purpose, It represents an idea—the idea of a universal heresy- destroying church. It embodies the genius of one man—Philip Il. of Spain. This is the Escurial, one of the most striking and wonderful monuments in the world. MODERN LIFE AROUND THE ESCURIAL. You come to the Escurial station and descend. In this valley some one has planted trees, and a modern Vandal has erected a chocolate manufactory. How ut.of place they all seem—nature coaxed into a fruitful, beneficent mood, and art united with in- @ustry. in the making of food. But here are the trees which bend over your road as you go whirling along behind a team of prancing mules, whose driver shouts at them and beats them in true Spanish fashion. Moreover, you note houses and the faces of children looking from the windows, mothers holding children and staring at you as you pass. How strange! Children here, youth and inuocence, and all the sweet, budding hopés that crest young lives, here under this ghastly pile. But, my believing friends who worship the glorious past, mournful are the advances of civilize tion! It only seemed a step from the railway train to the Escurial; but it is even a journey, and it is well that we thought better of our purpose to walk the road. The air is clear, we are up in the moun- tains, and distances are enchanting, unless you try to walk them. Here is ® tavern and a tavern keeper, who hands you 3 French catalogue of meats and drinks that he will provide for your bresk- fast. How marvellous! Yes, even . here, cham- pagne and Strasburg pics and pale ale from England and canned meats from Chicago. Alas, my devout friends, how sad are the usurpations of civilization! We come under the shadow of the monastery and walk over 3 stony esplauade to the gate. A courteous offl- cer of the royal household awaits us, and attendants in a portentous royal livery—grave, elderly men, with staves—greet us as wo enter. The door clangs back, and we are in a wide; square courtyard of stone. Walls, window facings, arches, eaves, pavements, col- umns, cloistered ways, all stone. As the door closes and we tramp along over the resounding slabs we feel that the world has closed behind us; that we have left the nineteenth century and its follies behind us and are now back in the seventeenth century, when Spain ruled the world; when heretics were burned; when saints blessed this goodly land; when we had for our master a sovereign worthy of the name, who hated Jews and Moors and Englishmen—who lived king and died the most devout and penitent of sin- ners. ADMIRATION FOR KINGS. Thave a disposition to admire kings, and to try and find something good in the herocs whom the world condemns. When I hear any one say a kind word for Nero, or Commodus, or Peter the Cruel, or Richard ILL, or Marat, or Robespierre, or Benedict Arnold, or Aaron Burr, I am apt to take sides, at least long enough to have the other side of the story told. I Iiké to study the faces of my favorite kings—Charles I1-of England, Charles II, of Spain, George IV. of England and Charles IV, of Spain. You havo no trouble in this, as these kings were fond ot having their portraits painted. There is scarcely a picture gallery or convent in Spain whore you will not see the face of that high, mighty and dread sovereign lord and king, Charles IL, King of Spain, tho Indies and America, and of all Catholic Kings the most sincere and self-denying. How he burned the heretics—not from cruelty, but devotion! And if he had only lived how much he might have Lamy he Church! Historians call him ‘an idiot, a fool, and how pitiful he looks evenon flat tering canvas—a gid youth, in sable, with « sword, and frail, insignificant hands, and blank, va cant features, the hair falling on the shoulders in effeminate locks, eyes like boiled beans, and a sprawling, tawdry jaw! There is nota line in the face that shows light or manhood—but to me Charles IL. is an ideal king. If kings reign by God's grace and God gives us @ fool we should regard it as a special biessing. It means—it certainly must mean—that Divinity has so much confidence in the kingly office, so much confidence in the people, that He can afford to bestow a fool upon the throne. IfI were @ legitimist or @ monarchist I should feel that there was a wisdom in the coming of a fool to to the throne which it was not for me to question. Therefore, of Spanish kings my first admiration is Charles IL, and next to him I place Philip, who was the builder of this pile, and whose genius enfolds us * gue rousDER oF THe FscURTAL. If Philip 1. had only been an idiot, like Charles, who came after him and wound up his line—French Bourbons, and successive wars, and England coming to Spain to liberate it from the French, and capture Gibraltar and burn its towns, and be as she has generally been in tho Peninsula, a torch-bearing liberator—if, as I said, Philip had been a fool, he had been a perfect monarch. He was 4 man of force and intelligence, “the prudent,” as the’ Portuguese call him, with as cruel @ face as has been ever given to man. If you come to Madrid, go to the picture gallery and look at his por- trait by Titian. As a work of art it is worthy of Titian. The King is in armormthe finest steel, chased and decorated by cunning workmen—which is a marvel of good hammering and engraving, as you may see at the museum of arms. But the face! ,