Latest Column in Money and Markets is Up

Here is is... "Lessons From the Boomtown"

http://moneyandmarkets.com/press.asp?rls_id=338&cat_id=6&

I'm only partly happy with this one, because so much was cut out in the editing process.

The Money and Markets I wrote was mostly about the famous Comstock Lode -- the richest silver find EVER. And since I love history, I had a lot of historical stuff in there, much of which ended up on the editing room floor.

What kind of stuff? For example...

How Comstock Changed Mining ... and the World

The Comstock was very different from other precious metals finds, and it changed mining forever. Some of its lasting effects ...

An organized, professional labor force: Previously, most gold and silver booms attracted hundreds — if not thousands — of independent miners working in small teams. However, the Comstock quickly transitioned into large, well-organized teams of salaried professionals.

Deep shafts: The miners had to be organized. The silver at the Comstock ran deep. By 1879, most miners were working below the 2,000-foot level, and in some cases, below 3,000 feet.

New support techniques: The ore was different, too. It wasn’t in veins or placer deposits in streambeds. Rather, it was in piles of mud often hundreds of feet thick. The old method of propping up a horizontal beam with side supports didn’t work in mud, and quickly became a recipe for death.

A clever mine superintendent named Philipp Deidesheimer came up with a method that worked: As ore was removed, it was replaced by timbers set as a cube six feet on a side. Thus the ore body would be progressively replaced with a square-set timber framework. This new method was so effective it allowed the Comstock miners to sink much deeper shafts and was instantly applied across the West ... and all over the world.

Hydraulic equipment: Water was also a problem in the Comstock. Though the town didn’t have enough clean water to drink, the miners were drowning in it. American ingenuity created some of the most powerful steam and hydraulic pumping equipment anywhere in the world ... and soon it was used everywhere.

Beating the heat: Still, the deeper the miners went, the hotter the water got. On the good days, each man needed 95 pounds of ice and could only work for so long before passing out. On the bad days, miners were literally boiled alive inside their own skins by eruptions of scalding water. So the miners invented new blowers and ventilators to pump in cool air.

From mine shaft to San Francisco treat: Finally, as the shafts went deeper and deeper, the standard hemp rope hauling cages containing miners reached its breaking point ... with catastrophic results. A man named A.S. Hallidie invented a solution — flat, woven wire rope that was much stronger than hemp rope. It also made San Francisco’s cable cars possible.

Comstock silver helped win the Civil War: California gold paid for the start of the Civil War, and $45 million worth of silver from Nevada paid to finish it. Without it, the outcome of the Civil War might have been quite different. A grateful Abraham Lincoln pushed through Nevada’s statehood even though it technically didn’t have enough people to qualify.

A lot of stuff was cut out, but perhaps my editors are right -- it's tedious for many people. Well, maybe I'll write about silver next week and see what they cut out of that one! LOL!

Check out my new gold and energy blog at MoneyAndMarkets.com