January 29, 1881





The Real Estate RfecoRH





93





tate dealers and of other men of experience inland
movements that a season of great briskness is about
to open. Of course, some of this is due to the
natural growth of a city that has gained 68,000 in¬
habitants in a decade, but more can be charged to
the desire of many capitalists to get away from the
uncertainties of stocks, and still not down to the
low interests of savings banks or government
bonds. Rents are advancing steadily in Cleveland,
and the demand for good dwelling and business
property exceeds the supply. In some parts rents
have gone up from 15 to 20 per cent, in the last
two months, and a general advance ia inevitable.
Thousands ot dollars have been invested during the
last six months in new manufacturing enterprises
—not in half-speculation as when the iron busi¬
ness was so overdone a year ago—but iu general
manufacturing establishments moved from other
points or started as offshots of older concerns
that could not supply the market in their various
lines.

Not only in Cleveland, but in other cities and
towns of Ohio is the same thing heard. Real estate
is moving upward quietly and surely in Toledo,
ColumbUH, Akron, Springfield, Canton, and eltie-
where. In Yonngstown, one of the leading iron
towns of the West, houses cannot be found iu
numbers to suit demands, and new ones are con¬
stantly under contract. Even better prices are
noted in the sales of farm property in various parts
of the State, and the general feeling seems to be
one of satisfaction and confidence. In short, the
thinking part of this generation seema to have had
enough of excitement and speculation, and is dis¬
posed to settle down to a safe and careful method
of money making, with some certainty of keeping
it after it is made.





GOSSIP OF THE STREET.

"What do you hear that is new?" said th
writer to a prominent broker.

"That Rome & Ogdensburg road is to be the
westerly connection of the Ontario & Western
which accounts for the strength of that stock."

"But," said the writer, "according to an in¬
side ofiicial, who was interviewed for the Real
Estate Record recently, the Ontario & Western
will not be in fit condition to do a competing
business with the Erie and Central for eighteen
months. Practically the road has to be rebuilt
from Middletown to Oswego, and as yet it has no
outlet to New York. Even when completed, the
expectation is that its chief value will be as a
grain carrier in connection with the boats which
will get through the Welland Canal. This can
only bo during the summer time, when railway
freights are lowest."

"You are right," said the broker, " but there
are several points ahead in the price of O. & W.
yet. People who are handling it, know what
they are about. I myself believe that the time is
coming when the O. & W. will again be quoted
in the twenties."

" I see," said the writer, "thatthere is quite a
movement in the fancies, ' the railroads of the
future.' "

" Yes," said the broker, " and that is a feature
which makes old street operators douttful about
prices. When the cats and dogs get lively, it is
time for prudent people to sell out. A.nother bad
symptom is the enormous amount of new railway
securities which have been floated upon this
market. And then the cheek of the promoters.
Why, they are asking par with accrued interest
for mere mushroom railroads. I see no present
signs of calamity, but excessive expenditure in
rafiways will cause the next panic when it does
come. This, your know, has occured repeatedly
in England."

" I see there was a flurry in Boston, Hartford
& Eries.   They ran up from 55 to 65."

" Yes," said the broker, "there is a new organi¬
zation of the New York & New England road,
into the stock of which the Boston, Hartford &
Erie bonds are convertible at their face value.
It will not be long before you'll be able to buy a
ticket on the West Side elevated road for Boston,
for the track of the New York & Northern road
intersects the New York & New England road at
Brewster Station. Then the New York & New
England road will soon reach the Hudson River
at Fishkill, at which point the ferry will convey
the cars to the Erie track on the other side of the
river. This will afford a new outlet for Erie coal
to a large nart of New England, and wUl help
the sale of the New England and Erie stock.
There is one cloud in the future for the Boston,
Hartford & Erie bonds.   In February the ques¬





tion comes up before the courts as to whether the
CDmmon stockholders were not deprived of their
rights by the foreclosure of the Hartford & Erie
bonds. That cat sells less than a dollar a share,
but it may be quoted at higher figures pending
(!0urt proceedings.





INCREASED INTEREST   IN MINING SHARES.

During the last two weeks there was devel¬
oped an increase of interest in tbe mining mar¬
ket. Brokers are all kept busy, the transactions
are very large and the corridors of the New York
Board are thronged with speculators. There
has not been any special new development in
mines ; the Comstocks are duller than ever, and
the shares dealt in are not generally those which
pay dividends. But, nevertheless, there ia life
in the market and the mining interest is indubit¬
ably growing. It is acknowledged that the regu¬
lar Stock Exchange made a mistake in having
anything to do with mines. That interest re¬
quires special attt^ntion and very different manip¬
ulation. There ia no buying or selling of min¬
ing shares on margins, they must be pur¬
chased or sold outright. The immense extension
of interest in railway stocks has crowded the
dealers in mining shares into the very smallest
corner of the room.

One group of dividend-paying stocks has been
largely dealt in, during the past week, at ad¬
vancing figures. We allude to those in which
Col. Bidwell was interested when alive, to wit,
Green Mountain, Cherokee, Rising Sun and
Goldstripe. Report speaks well of these mines,
and tbey seem to be well managed and manipu¬
lated, at least on the Mining Board. Silver Cliff
has been active and all the probabilities point to
much higher flgures. Bull Domingo haa been in¬
active, but inside owners say that a movement
will soon be inaugurated to put the price of the
stock up. But mining share points are very un¬
certain. People who own Iron Silver stock
claim that now the road is clear for developing
the most magnificent property in Leadville. This
claim embraces a thousand acres. It was so
promising that the same California gang who
ruined Chrysolite and swindled the stockholders,
secured an option that controlled the manage¬
ment of the Iron Sfiver mine. They played the
same old game, capitalized the company for
500,000 shares, placed all they could of the stock
at $7.50 per share, then sold short and raided on
the stock and, to help their schemes, injured the
mine in every way. They got up lawsuits, so as
to put the title of the mine in peril, the current
expenses were charged with the labor of 600
workmen, when less than 200 men were employed.
In short, every device was tried known to the
expert California mining swindler. We give all
this on the authority of a large holder of the
stock, without vouching for its entire accuracy.
It is claimed that the mine is now controlled by
Mr. Leiter, who is an honest business man, and
now the mine is to be developed so as to bring out
its immense possibUities. Still, we would not ad¬
vise any one to purchase it.

The American Mining Board seems to be ap¬
proaching dissolution. It was started by a group
of Californians to further their schemes, and who
voted themselves large salaries in the Board, as
well as in the Trust Company. This last institu¬
tion, by the way, has been re-organized on a
cheaper basis. Loaning money on mining shares
does not seem to bs an extensive or lucrative
business.

Seats in tbe New York Mining Board command
$800, and people who know the growing interest
in mines, are of opinion that the price will be
much higher before the end of this year.





Real estate and rents are advancing in Phila¬
delphia, as well as here, and that, too, at a pace
which excites attention. According to the
Record, there are fewer houses to rent there now
than at any period for many years, and the de¬
mand has not been equalled since the panic. Many
owners have increased their rents 10 to 15 per
cent for houses on which the leases have expired
or are about to terminate. Others have notified
then- agents to ask a higher figure on the lease-
expiring properties for the balance of the year.





At Cincinnati and Chicago and other important
points the journals report a fike activity and im¬
provement.





RAILROADS THROUGH THE  MINERAL  RE¬
GIONS.

The Eastern public are|httle aware of the activity
in railway enterprises in the mineral regions which
lie adjacent to the R-cky and Sierra Nevada
Mountains. Undoubtedly the most important por¬
tion ot the earth in its promise of mineral produc¬
tions, ia that which extends {from the Isthmus of
Darien north to Oregon and northeast towards
Lake Superior. There may be other sections of
the world surface which contain as much or more
hidden wealth; but th? especial value of our west
coast mineral region is that it is now being inter¬
sected with railways, and that the American race
has the inclination, the money and the kind of pop.
ulation to promptly develop the incalculable wealth
of this country 'in gold, silver, iron, copper and
other metals. We have had some tolerably wild
railroad building in the West, through forests and
over prairies, and the return has not always been
what the promoters expected. But it is a curious
fact that every railroad in a mineral region has
paid enormous profits. We all know what the coal
and iron of Pennsylvania have done for the railway
interests Eaat; but very astonishing profits have
also been made in very wild and mountainous
countries hy the construction of short railway
lines. A line of ninety miles of narrow gauge road,
running from Palisades, on the Central Pacific
Road, south, to Eureka, has, paid for its capital
stock every two years since it has been built. The
returns from this road was the nucleus for the
gigantic fortune of D. O. Mills. The roada to Vir¬
ginia City and Carson City are also very profitable-
It was in these that William Sharon madejmuch of
his money.

During the week, Mr. L. M. Chittenden lectured
before the Bullion Club, on the new railway enter*
priaes in the State of Nevada, and their connection
with the two transcontinental lines, one completed
and the other shortly to be completed. Tne lecture
was full of matter which would have interested all
the railway and mining men of the country.
Through the faulty organization of the city staffs
on our daily journals, lectures fike these are not
reported and are lost to the country. Even the
mining and financial journala neglect them, as
they seem to think publishing the paid puffs of
swindfing mining companies pays better.

Mr, Chittenden claimed that the belt of country
extending from the Comstock lode in a southeast¬
erly direction across the State of Nevada and into
aouthern Utah, and which includea the Eureka
district, Silver Reef and the famous Horn Silver
mine, is probably the richest mineral region, of the
same size, on earth. It ia as yet but very scantily
developed, owing to the lack of railway facifities,
aa well aa wood and water. But railways are now
under way; the Southern Utah, which starts from
Salt Lake, now runs over 200 miles south to Priaco
where ia situated the Great Horn silver mine.
Here it turns to the West and will run through
sonthem Nevada, opening up this rich mineral belt
and putting it in communication with some of the
finest coal beds in the world, which have recently
been found just across the southern border of
Utah, in New Mexico. Fuel is aU important in
Nevada, and here ia an abundant supply of it for
mines, the greater part of which require coal and
coke. The mines of that region are not free mill¬
ing, and the ores of those mines reqnire chlorina-
tion and roasting, but Nevada has the most famous
salt marshes in the world, and it ia in eastern
Nevada that the famous mountain of salt exists,
large blocks of which were on exhibition at the
world's fair in Philadelphia. Then, another rafi-
road ia projected down through the centre of
Nevada from north to south, which will supply
wood to the mines, as weU aa bring suppfies and
carry ore and bulfion cheaply. This road wiU also
be extended so aa to form a connection between
the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific.

Mr. D. G. Croly, the secretary of the club, fol¬
lowed the lecturer in an account of a visit he paid
Candelaria, Nevada, in the spring of 1879. He had
traveled from Bodie to Walker Lake, a distance of
some sixty miles, and he way struck by the picture