They howl, in public, over their
devotion to the interests of the land.
The future railroad kings of the Pacific, Stanford, Hopkins, Crocker,
Huntington, Colton, and their allies, are grasping the gigantic
benefits flowing from the Pacific Railroad, recommended by themselves
as a war measure. Heroes.
The yet uncrowned bonanza kings are men of obscure employment, or
salaried miners working for wages which would not in a month pay
their petty cash of a day in a few years.
Quiet Jim Flood, easy O'Brien, sly Jones, sturdy Mackay, and that
guileless innocent, "Jim Fair," are toiling miners or "business
men." Their peculiar talents are hidden by the obscurity of humdrum,
honest labor.
Hands soon to sway the financial sceptre, either mix the dulcet
cocktail, swing the pick, or else light with the miner's candle
the Aladdin caves to which they grope and burrow in daily danger,
deep hidden from public view. These "silver kings" are only in
embryo.
These two groups of remarkable men, the future railroad princes,
and the budding bonanza kings, represent cunning, daring, energy,
fortitude, and the remarkable powers of transition of the Western
resident.
The future land barons are as yet merely sly, waiting schemers.
Pages:
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344