Fifty years in Wall Street

Long’s Bar, Feather River, in that State. He mined on the Bar for some time without much success, and then turned his attention to quartz mining. Placer mining in those days was conducted in too primitive a fashion to suit a man of his mechanical ingenuity. Placer, by the way, is a term of Spanish origin, signifying a gravelly place where gold is found, especially by the side of a river or in the bed of a mountain torrent. In quartz mining, on the other hand, the metal is obtained by smelting after crushing the rock of which it forms a part. Mr. Fair engaged in quartz mining in Calaveras county, California, and later became superintendent of various quartz mines in other parts of the State. In 1855 he became superintendent of the Ophir, and four years later of the Hale & Norcross. In 1860 he removed to Nevada and became actively engaged in developing mines. In 1867 he formed a partnership with John W. Mackay, James C. Flood and Wm. S. O’Brien. The firm, at Mr. Fair’s suggestion, obtained control of the California and Sides mine, the White & Murphy, the Central Nos. 1 and 2, and the tract known as the Kinney ground, and it was in this rich field that the famous California and Consolidated Virginia mines were developed, the yield of which, under Mr. Fair’s superintendence, is estimated at about two hundred million dollars. He began speculative buying of real estate in San Francisco in 1858, and is now said to own seventy acres of land in different parts of that city, constituting in itself an enormous fortune. He was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat to succeed the Hon. William Sharon, and took his seat in 1881, his term expiring March 3d, 1887. In person Mr. Fair is of about the medium height, of compact, solid build, has handsome features, and is a man who would be likely to attract attention anywhere. His fortune is estimated at from ten to twenty millions. WILLIAM SHARON. William Sharon was one of the remarkable men developed by the mining excitement in this country, one of the sagacious, self-reliant men who inevitably come to the front wherever they are found. He showed his mettle when the Bank of California was forced to suspend, and when a commercial pall hung over San Francisco. In the midst of the frenzied excitement he was one of the few who kept cool and never lost their courage. The wild excitement on the Stock Exchange of San Francisco was stopped at his suggestion that the sessions be indefinitely postponed. Then he called a meeting of the Bank of California directors and made a stirring appeal to them to stand by the bank in the hour of its misfortune, and rescue the business interests of the coast from the paralysis by which they were likely to be seized if they did not take a resolute stand, put their shoulders to the wheel and acquit themselves like men. He proposed that each subscribe liberally to put the bank again in operation, and set the example by a very large subscription—said to have been five million dollars. Others also subscribed liberally, and to the astonishment and joy of the city the bank again threw open its doors for business. He had some years prior to this become connected in business with the lamented Ralston. William Sharon was born in Ohio, and early in life began the practice of law in Illinois. He went to San Francisco, and immediately engaged in the real estate business, and ultimately became a very large operator in lands, but failed, and in 1863 went to Nevada to take the agency of the Bank of California in Gold Hill and Virginia City. The bank had large loans out on mining property, and as the production of many of the mines had seriously declined, Ralston grew uneasy, and was greatly relieved when Sharon offered to become personally responsible for these loans on condition that the bank advance him a considerable sum to be used in contemplated mining developments, and allow him two years in which to meet the loans. The terms were accepted. Sharon ran new drifts here and there, and in four months, to Ralston’s amazement, paid all the loans, and placed on deposit three-quarters of a million to his own account. This feat drew general attention to him; he was consulted in large operations; he became a director in the great bank. He never forgot Ralston’s kindness to him. He assumed entire charge of the personal affairs of Ralston after his death, and settled on Mrs. Ralston nearly half a million of dollars. He finally entered politics, and represented California in the United States Senate. He was a conspicuous example of business acumen and surprising energy, as well as of becoming gratitude to the knightly Ralston, of whom he always said: “He was my benefactor.” WM. C. RALSTON. Wm. C. Ralston was one of the most notable, as he was one of the most remarkable, of all the financial giants of the Pacific Slope. He ascended the gilded summits of financial renown, and he fell into a shadowy valley of stern retribution and utter ruin. No man could be more popular, none could exhibit greater daring in his business enterprises. He was a New York boy, but drifted to the West, and became a clerk on a Mississippi steamboat, finally became Captain, and having amassed some money, he leaped into speculative waters, like another Leander, to swim the Hellespont of California finance. He became associated with Commodore Garrison and two others in the banking business in San Francisco about 1853. Finally he organized the Bank of California, and became first its Cashier and then its President. His rise was marvellous. At one time he was supposed to be worth $20,000,000 or more. He had a country seat at Belmont, in San Mateo county, that a king might have been proud to own, and here he entertained in royal fashion. Every celebrity that visited California was received with regal hospitality by this monetary prince of the golden State. But as the allied armies arrayed against Napoleon were often put to rout from being too much spread out, so this financial Titan, combining the genius and courage of many in one, was finally overthrown by adverse fortune, because his enterprises were too much spread out. He had too many projects on hand at one time. He lost heavily in mining and real estate speculations; he lost in manufacturing enterprises. Fate struck him suddenly as with the hammer of Thor. In one fearful storm of trouble all his misfortune descended upon him at once. All the waves and billows of adversity broke over him. He had no chance to recover himself. Birnam seemed all at once to come to his financial Dunsinane. An investigation of the affairs of the Bank of California was made by the directors of that institution. Their suspicions had been aroused that Ralston’s administration of its affairs was open to grave criticism. He attended the meeting of the directors, and was coldly requested to withdraw during the discussion. He who had been absolute in the great bank saw that his power was gone; he stood on the brink of a moral Niagara. He left the Directors to make the inevitable discovery that he had over-issued the stock of the bank some $6,000,000, and crazed with grief and despair, found a suicide’s death in the waters of the bay. He had over-issued the stock hoping and believing that success in some one of his numerous and gigantic enterprises would enable him to provide for it, but disaster stealing on him suddenly, like a thief in the night, frustrated any plan of restitution, and he paid for his fault with his life. He was a man about five feet seven inches in height, with a rather florid complexion, a full light brown beard and kindly brown eyes. He was once the idol of California, and his one great fault is almost swallowed up in the memory of his princely generosity, his hearty geniality, and his many other engaging traits. JOHN P. JONES. John P. Jones has had an eventful career. He has made and lost millions. He was worth at one time five or six millions. He lost very heavily in railroad enterprises in Southern California. He had been engaged in mining and had won a big heap of treasure, probably as much wealth as any one needs, or more, but with the restless ambition of one who would travel still higher up the glittering heights of financial fame he sought to emulate Huntington, Stanford and others and become a railroad magnate. It was a case of vaulting ambition o’erleaping itself and falling on the other side. He lost almost his entire fortune, but he has now regained his feet again and is once more wealthy. He profited by the revival of interest in mines and mining stocks in 1886, and secured, moreover, a considerable interest in the Alaska mine, in which D. O. Mills was interested. He bought stocks of once famous mines at low prices, and when the advance on the revival of public interest in mining shares took place he was a large gainer. John W. Mackay has within the last few years shown a disposition to lend him assistance in his endeavors to recover his former footing. John P. Jones is one of a number of Englishmen who have won financial celebrity in this country. He was born in Herefordshire, England, in 1830, and came to this country with his parents when only a year old, settling in Ohio. For a few years he attended school in Cleveland. In the early days of the gold excitement in California he emigrated to that State and engaged in farming and mining. He acquired a taste for politics. He represented his county in both houses of the State Assembly. In 1867 he went to Gold Hill, Nevada, and has ever since been engaged to a greater or less extent in developing the mineral resources of that State. In his earlier days he worked hard as a miner in one of the counties of California. He worked in placers and tunnels; he had many ups and down. He was daring and ambitious, and sometimes seemingly reckless. He spent a million dollars trying to develop some mines in Mono, California, and then gave up the attempt. At one time he controlled the Ophir, Savage and Crown Point mines on the Comstock lode; he owned large establishments for the manufacture of ice in Georgia, Louisiana and Texas and elsewhere; he made large purchases of land in California; he engaged in a multitude of ambitious enterprises. He had too many irons in the fire. Misfortune did not daunt him. Like the old hunter of tradition, his motto was, “Pick the flint and try it again.” He may yet become a financial power again. He has a certain readiness as a speaker; he is of large frame and not unpleasing aspect, and his taste for public debate and the excitements of the political arena have led him into contests for public honors which have been successful. He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1872, and has twice been elected, so that his term will not expire until 1891. R. J. Baldwin has become widely known by the sobriquet of “lucky.” He is 59 years old and was born in Ohio. His father moved to Indiana and had a farm adjoining that of Schuyler Colfax. There he worked till he reached his twentieth year. He married in the following year and went to a small place in Indiana and kept a country store; he soon built canal boats to ply between Chicago and St. Louis. He went to Racine, Wisconsin, in 1850, and engaged in the grocery business with considerable success. He was keen at a bargain and always had an eye out for the main chance. His so-called “luck” was in reality business skill. He went to California in 1853, after purchasing a number of horses and wagons and an ample supply of merchandise. He found a good market for his goods in Salt Lake, making nearly four thousand dollars on the venture, and further on he