114. CAPTAIN JOHN CLIBBON BRAIN (1840-1906) AGE 66
Santa Gertrudis Silver Mining Company
1876 - Trying to Strike it Rich
When next we hear of JCB, he has yet another new venture. This time, his interest is in silver mining.
When next we hear of JCB, he has yet another new venture. This time, his interest is in silver mining.
(Transcription from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Sunday, December 17, 1876, Page 1.)
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The Riches of Northern Mexico.
Capt. Brain, late of the Confederate navy, is in the city accompanied by Maj. B. F. Fly, late of the Confederate navy, but for the past six years a resident of Chihuahua and Coahuila, Mexico. Maj. Fly proposes to address the business men and capitalists of the city at the hall of the Cotton Exchange, next Wednesday afternoon at 3 o'clock, on the mineral and other resources of those States of Mexico, with the view of interesting our citizens in some enterprises there. He is a Tennessean, a native of Maury county, a gentleman of culture and good address, and will doubtless make an interesting talk.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, February 16, 2017.
(Transcription from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, December 21, 1876, Page 4.)
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MEXICO'S PRECIOUS METALS.
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The Wealth of Her Silver Mines Inexhaustible—An Effort to Secure the Introduction of American Capital.
Maj. B. F. Fly and Capt. John C. Brain are in the city taking steps toward organizing a stock company for silver mining in the State of Coahuila, Mexico. They have specimens of ore from a large number of mines in which they are interested.
Maj. Fly addressed a meeting of business men at the Cotton Exchange yesterday afternoon. He was introduced by Capt. J. F. Wheless, who said the Major came with the credentials of a gentleman.
The speaker gave them an interesting account of Mexico, her people, climate, soil, mineral wealth, etc. He commenced at the conquest of Mexico by Cortez in 1519, dwelt upon the fabulous wealth of Montezuma, and traced the history of the country down to the present day. When Spain had become impoverished at home, she realized wealth enough from her provinces on this continent to make her one of the richest countries of Europe. There still existed within the limits of Mexico mines of inexhaustible wealth.
In giving a history of the mining interests, Maj. Fly said that most of the mines now in operation were managed by foreign capitalists, as the natives never work them unless in cases of pressing necessity. While thousands of mines had been worked for hundreds of years, many more remained undiscovered, because in taking possession of the country the Spaniards had to settle in villages to protect themselves from the hostile natives. Before the people threw off the Spanish yoke and expelled the Jesuits, that body had been the principal agents in working the mines and their churches were the receptacles of untold amounts of money. In those days, although the mines yielded fabulous wealth, they were worked in a very crude manner.
Speaking of the people of Mexico, Maj. Fly said they were unambitious, unaspiring and kind-hearted, disposed to live where their forefathers had left them, and many of them still wore sandals as in the days of the Apostles. They greatly desired that American capital should be invested in Mexico, as they knew their own people would never fully develop the resources of the country. All mining property was exempt from taxation for five years, and the employe[e]s in the mines were exempted from military duty. Mining tools could be imported free of duty. With but one single exception, no one ever heard of miners being interrupted. After a residence of many years among the Mexicans, he had found them to be a quiet and inoffensive people. Their revolutions were comparatively bloodless and never amounted to anything serious. The criminal laws were more rigidly enforced in Mexico than they were in the United States. The Americans had gone farther in rascality than the people of this county.
Here Maj. Fly gave a graphic description of the holidays and religious festivals of the Mexicans. Sunday morning they would go to church and say mass, then dress up in the afternoon and go to a bull fight or a horse race. Mexico was a nation of gamblers. Everybody gambled, from the priest down to the ranchero.
For the past six years he had resided in Chihuahua and had never known of but one robbery, and that was commit[t]ed by an American. He thought the money expended in the Black Hills could be much better invested in Mexico.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, January 24, 2017.
(Transcription from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Tuesday, February 20, 1877, Page 2.)
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Notice.
THE STOCKHOLDERS OF THE SANTA GERtrudis Silver Mining Company are hereby notified that a meeting will be held on Thursday evening, 23 inst., at 7:30 o'clock, at Olympic Theater, corner of Union and Summer streets, for the purpose of organization, and to select a committee to examine and report upon the mines. Prompt attendance is requested of all stockholders.
B. F. FLY,
Agent and Attorney-in-fact for I. Moses.
JOHN C. BRAIN,
Feb. 17, 1877. Organizer of the Company.
fe20 3t
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, January 24, 2017.
(Transcription from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, February 22, 1877, Page 4.)
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LOCAL NOTICES.
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THE subscribers to the stock of the Santa Gertrudis Silver Mining Company are hereby notified that, owing to Maj. Fly being taken very sick in Clarksville, it is impossible to hold the proposed meeting called at the Olympic Theater Thursday night, the 22d inst. Due notice will be given through the press and by circular to the subscribers of the place and time of meeting.
Respectfully, JOHN C. BRAIN,
Organizer of the Company.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, February 16, 2017.
(Transcription from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, March 1, 1877, Page 4, Column 1. The same notice, with a slightly different format, also ran in Column 7.)
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LOCAL NOTICES.
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To the Stockholders of Santa Gertrudis Silver Mining Co.: In view of the fact that Mr. I Moses is necessarily compelled to leave the city at once, it is the desire of a majority of those interested that the stockholders meet to consider important business before his departure. You are therefore notified to meet at the Olympic Theater, cor. Union and Summer streets, Thursday evening, March 1, at 7:30 o'clock sharp. N. G. Tucker, Chairman pro tem. JOHN C. BRAIN, Organizer of the Company. Nashville, Feb. 28, 1877.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, February 20, 2017.
Ad for the Santa Gertrudis Silver Mining Company in The Pulaski Citizen, Pulaski, Tennessee, Thursday, March 15, 1877, First Edition, Page 2. Image from newspapers.com.
(Transcription from The Pulaski Citizen, Pulaski, Tennessee, Thursday, March 15, 1877, First Edition, Page 2. The same ad, with a slightly different format, ran in The Herald and Mail, Columbia, Tennessee, Friday, March 16, 1877, Page 2.)
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Santa Gertrudis SILVER MINING Company,
MINES IN COAHUILA, MEXICO,
Home Office, - - NASHVILLE, TENN.
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CAPITAL STOCK - - $2,000,000.
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Chartered under the Laws of the State of Tenn.
W. A. BETHEL, President, I. MOSES, Vice-President
A. H. HURLEY, 73 Broad St., Secretary and Treasurer.
DIRECTORS
W. A. Bethel, S. S. Woolwine, Jos. Richards,
I. Moses, J. G. Sawyer, Dr. Jno. B. McConnell,
Jno. A. Campbell, Dr. N. G. Tucker, A. H. Hurley,
J. B. Romans. mr15 2t
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, January 24, 2017.
(Transcription from The Pulaski Citizen, Pulaski, Tennessee, Thursday, March 15, 1877, First Edition, Page 2.)
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At a meeting of the stockholders of the Santa Gertrudis Silver Mining Company held recently at the Olympic Theater, about two-thirds of the stock being represented, Dr. N. G. Tucker, Chairman, pro tem, called the meeting to order, and in a few pointed remarks stated the object of the meeting, which was to organize and elect ten directors to serve for four months, or until their successors are elected and qualified, which resulted in unanimously electing the following: I. Moses, John A. Campbell, Dr. N. G. Tucker, Jos. Richards, W. A. Bethel, S. S. Woolwine, A. H. Hurley, E. B. Stahlman, J. G. Sawyers and Frank Moulton.
The directors were instructed to elect a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, and also, to elect three competent persons suitable to inspect the mines and report to the board their investigations, as to the value and condition of the mines, as stated in the printed pamphlet. The Secretary and Treasurer will be required to give a heavy bond before entering upon his duties.
The meeting was very harmonious, and everything passed off pleasantly.
About 2,000 shares remain unsold, which can be bought by applying to Capt. John C. Brain, Commercial Hotel. Nashville Reporter.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, January 25, 2017.
(Transcription from The Pulaski Citizen, Pulaski, Tennessee, Thursday, March 15, 1877, First Edition, Page 3.)
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Capt. Jno. C. Brain, organizer of the Santa Gertrudis silver mining company, will visit Pulaski in a few days, to offer shares for sale. See advertisement and notice.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, January 25, 2017.
(Transcription from The Herald and Mail, Columbia, Tennessee, Friday, March 16, 1877, Page 3.)
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NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.
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...
See advertisement of Santa Gertrudis Silver Mine Co. Capt. John C. Brain, a world renowned officer of the Confederate Navy, will visit Columbia in a few days in the interest of the company. His naval exploits were thrilling, and we will give him an extended notice next week.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, February 20, 2017.
It comes as no surprise that this did not end so well.
(Transcription from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, August 9, 1877, Page 2.)
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CONSTABLE'S SALE.
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ON SATURDAY, THE 11TH DAY OF AUGUST, 1877, at the office of A. H. Hurley, on Broad street, in Nashville, I will expose to public sale all the interest of John C. Brain in the Santa Gertrudis Mining Company, or the stock thereof, to satisfy an execution in my hands in favor of J. C. Nicholson and against said John C. Brain. The public are warned not to trade for any of this stock belonging to Brain until after said sale. Sale within lawful hours. W. C. SHAW,
Constable of Davidson county.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, January 25, 2017.
(Transcription from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Saturday, March 2, 1878, Page 4.)
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Circuit Court.—Thomas Monyhan vs. Ed. Gould, judgment for plaintiff for twenty-five cents; Cooper. Eubanks & co., vs. Mayor and City Council of Edgefield, judgment for plaintiff for $420; B. F. Fly vs. John C. Brain, dismissed; James Hickman, agent, vs. J. E. Ritter, pending.
To-day is motion day.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, January 25, 2017.
(Transcription from The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, January 1, 1880, Page 4.)
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A Nashville Company Strike[s] It Big.
Dr. W. H. Morgan, President of the Santa Gertrudis Mining Company, has received a telegram which will doubtless be regarded as good news by those owning stock in the company. The telegram came from Santa Rosa, Mexico, from which the silver mines are twenty-three miles distant, and reads: "Big lumps of galena containing silver in tunnel. Pushing ahead."
Dr. Morgan says that the Cidral silver mine, two miles from the Santa Gertrudis mine, is already "on bonanza." Both mines are on the same vein.
A letter is expected, by to-morrow or Saturday, from Santa Rosa, which will give full details of the recent find.
W. B. Ross, Superintendent of the mines, writes that the Humo coal mines, in the same vicinity, which are also the property of the Santa Gertrudis Company, are showing a rich vein, and that the coal is being successfully coked.
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, February 16, 2017.
(Transcription from the St. Louis Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, Tuesday, June 14, 1881, Page 2. The same story ran in other newspapers, including the Louisiana Capitolian, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Thursday, June 23, 1881, Page 1, and The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio, Saturday, June 25, 1881, Page 9.)
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$100,000,000.
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Taken from the Primitive Pachuca Mines in Mexico in Thirty Years.
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Boston Herald.
For more than three hundred years the mines of Pachuca have been worked by the Mexicans—first by the Mexicans pure and simple, then by the Spaniards and now again by Mexicans, who would scorn the name of Spaniard, though his blood mingles in their veins. Here in this very town was discovered the process of amalgamation now in use to-day by which all the precious ores dug from the mountain are made to yield their silver. Yes, more, the very hacienda is still worked and profitably, in which, in 1857 Senor Medina made that discovery so valuable to Mexico. Senor Medina has passed away, it is presumed, but his memory still lives. The English colony comprises about 250 men women and children, from the mining district of Cornwall. The first Cornish miners came here about fifty years ago, introducing English machinery and modes of working the mines, much to the benefit of the owners. Some of the original number are sill living, though very few and all here now agree as to the healthfulness of the climate as a place of residence for English people.
Though some of them have acquired wealth and some have retired to old England with enough and to spare, the majority have earned little more than a living. Precarious property are these mines, except in exceptional cases. The most noteworthy of all the instances of poor men striking it rich is that of the Santa Gertrudis mine, which is now "in bonanza," it had been successively worked and abandoned years and years ago, and was finally "pronounced"—or taken to work—by a Cornishman who has just died.
Forming a small company in 1877 he commenced active work. After it was proven that the mine was paying he sold out his share—nine twenty-fifths—for $15,000. Since then one-twenty-fifth has sold for $80,000, the present price per bana or share. This would give at that rate $720,000 for what he got but $15,000 for. The mine has been "in bonanza" now for three years, and is yielding about 3000 cargas of 300 pounds each of metal weekly and giving a clear profit of $1000 per day. From June, 1877, to March, 1881, the mine produced $2,000,000 and declared thirty-two dividends of $20,000 each—$640,000. In June, 1877, there was but one shaft of sixty varas (a vara is a little less than a yard); now the deepest shaft is 170 varas. There is a powerful pumping and hoisting engine, many large buildings and all the appurtenances of a mine in this section, all paid for. With all this profit, present and prospective, all the ore obtained here is sent to be reduced to Regla, a distance of seven leagues. This mine, which is located less than two miles from the centre of Pachuca, is owned principally by men who were poor at the time they commenced to work it. There are, it is said, two distinct lodes, running parallel and less than fifty yards from each other. At first the vein worked was only a vara wide, but as they went down they found a cavern filled with "metallic slush" twenty-four feet wide. They were at first compelled to timber around a great deal for the sake of economy, taking out merely enough to meet current expenses. What remained was "pure black sulphurets, which exhumed globules of native silver when exposed to fire." One can trace the silver lode as it crops out above the surface and runs diagonally across the hills; and if appearances are good for anything, the two new mines of Dr. Skillton, the Santo Tomas el Nuevo and the Santa Catarina, to the west of Santa Gertrudis, are right in the silver track. We visited these latter, which are at present operated by the old-fashioned Mexican mode, the metal being brought up in bullock skins by long ropes of magney fibre wound about a large drum operated by mules or horses. The whole district abounds in picturesque features, but none more so than these primitive minds. One hundred million dollars taken from one mine in thirty years! This is the amount declared on good authority to have been extracted from the Rosari mine since it was started in 1850, and the books show that there has been $500,000 per share in dividends!
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NOTE: The above transcription was made from an online image of the original newspaper article at Newspapers.com. Errors were corrected minimally, and only to facilitate readability.
Transcribed by Jo Roth, February 16, 2017.