Has anyone done research into the bullion deposits at the Carson City Mint?

[DaveG]

I've been doing some research into bullion deposits at the Carson City Mint and this bit of "accepted wisdom" has been nagging at me:

 

"Apparently, the railroads cooperated in this situation [opposing the Carson City Mint], for tariffs were set up which made it cheaper to haul bullion hundreds of miles to San Francisco than 15 miles to Carson City!"

 

This quote is from Bowers' Silver Dollar Encyclopedia (p. 824) and he does go on to qualify it a bit: "Actually, the equation is not as simple as that, for once minted, the coins would mostly have to be shipped to San Francisco or some other commercial center anyway,. . ."

 

So, in adding up the amount of Nevada gold and silver that was deposited at the various Mints and Assay Offices, I expected to find that San Francisco received much more Nevada bullion than Carson City.

 

However, I found something different:

 

During the 1870 to 1899 period, Carson City received 62% of the Nevada gold, the New York Assay Office received 23% and San Francisco received 13%. During the same period, Carson City received 37% of the Nevada silver and San Francisco received 41% (the New York Assay Office received 12% and the Philadelphia Mint received 10%).

 

(These percentages subject to some adjustment depending on whether or not you include "gold parted from silver" or bullion deposited in bar form as "Nevada" bullion.)

 

Frankly, I expected to find that San Francisco had received a larger percentage of Nevada bullion. Considering the relative sizes of the two Mints and the amount of time that Carson City was closed for one reason or another, I wouldn't necessarily conclude from these deposit records that the Carson City Mint was being unfairly deprived of bullion.

 

Now, I did find a reference in one of the Mint Annual Reports to a directive that the Carson City Mint only buy silver at a price less than the cost of the bullion plus the cost to transport it to a commercial center - which, as Dave Bowers points out, needed to happen anyway.

 

Has anyone done any research into this area? Can anyone point me to some contemporary sources that confirm that it was cheaper to ship bullion to San Francisco than Carson City?

[shirohniichan]

Are you interested in how much bullion was sent to other destinations? The Bank of California controlled the Virginia and Truckee Railroad and also the San Francisco Assaying and Refining Works (as well as mines and mills in Washoe). I wonder how much of the BoC ore went to San Francisco to its own refinery as well as to the Mint. This stuff interests me, so I'm looking forward to any research results you publish.

[RWB]

Interesting subject, and one that likely has more myth than fact to it.

[DWLange]

The answer could be in Rusty Goe's book The Mint on Carson Street. I have it here, but I don't have the time to look it up.

[shirohniichan]

This quote is from Bowers' Silver Dollar Encyclopedia (p. 824) and he does go on to qualify it a bit: "Actually, the equation is not as simple as that, for once minted, the coins would mostly have to be shipped to San Francisco or some other commercial center anyway,. . ."

 

I believe I read a snippet in Rusty Goe's book about coins being sent East in 1876 from Carson City. One thing that makes this interesting is that a consumer in Philly or New York could have ended up with a brand new 1876-CC dime in change. Until I knew that the Western mints shipped coins back East I figured the S and CC coins stayed mostly on the West Coast.

 

The quote from Bowers really has nothing to do with the Bank of California's collusion with the Virginia & Truckee Railroad to keep silver bullion going to San Francisco. Bowers is addressing coined silver, not bullion.

 

I also find it interesting how 80 lb. silver/lead bars (about 20% silver 80% lead) were hauled by mule team from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles and then shipped all the way up to San Francisco for refining. By the time the Carson & Colorado Railroad reached down to the silver mines in 1880 to make shipping rough bullion up to Carson City cheaper, the mines were mostly played out.

[DaveG]

Shiroh,

 

I am interested in how much bullion went to San Francisco Assaying and Refining Works - especially if that bullion was then subsequently shipped out of the country without passing through the San Francisco Mint.

 

Actually, I seem to recall a reference in the Mint reports to the San Francisco Mint receiving deposits from the SFARW, which implies that the SFARW wasn't capable of producing "fine bars" (bars of sufficient fineness to be exported).

 

(Also, the first part of the quote from Bowers does specifically apply to bullion.)

 

If anyone has any more information, I'd appreciate it.

[shirohniichan]

Shiroh,

 

I am interested in how much bullion went to San Francisco Assaying and Refining Works - especially if that bullion was then subsequently shipped out of the country without passing through the San Francisco Mint.

 

Actually, I seem to recall a reference in the Mint reports to the San Francisco Mint receiving deposits from the SFARW, which implies that the SFARW wasn't capable of producing "fine bars" (bars of sufficient fineness to be exported).

 

(Also, the first part of the quote from Bowers does specifically apply to bullion.)

 

If anyone has any more information, I'd appreciate it.

 

I've read that Comstock bullion was shipped to Japan to make the first one yen coins. I'm researching it for an article I'm writing, and I've yet to track down a "primary source" (redundant, yes) confirming when and how much silver went.

 

It looks like Bowers is referring to coined silver, not bullion. I guess I'd need to read the quote in context.

[DaveG]

Shiroh,

 

Regarding the Bowers quote - I'm interpreting the word "bullion" in the first sentence to mean actual bullion, not coined silver.

 

Regarding Comstock bullion going to Japan - the Mint Annual Reports will tell you how much silver was deposited at the San Francisco Mint (and where it came from) and there's also much discussion of the world price of silver and where it was exported to, especially in the reports of the 1880s and 1890s. Also, the Philadelphia Mint did an assay for the Japanese Government and included a thorough report in one of the Mint Reports of the same period which might mention the sources of silver for Japanese coins.

 

The Mint Annual Reports of the period are all available (in one form or another) via Google Books.