1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 163: Opportunity to subvert the industry (Additional update for Yimeng Weima Dharma Protector!)

Vanderbilt obtained gold from two main sources in California.

One came from his 20% share dividend in Xiangshan Gold Mining Company.

In order to win over Vanderbilt and people in Vanderbilt's circle, Liang Yao used 30% of the shares of Xiangshan Gold Mining Company and the right of first refusal to purchase land in the Sacramento gold producing area in exchange for part of the Stonington Railway Company and their

Shares ranging from 5% to 20% in factories such as shipyards and steam engine manufacturers.

Of the 30% shares of Xiangshan Gold Mining Company, 20% is held by Vanderbilt, and the remaining 10% is divided among his old buddies.

As for another source of gold, it was the Staten Mining Company established by Vanderbilt and his old friends. This mining company was only slightly smaller than the Boston Company, and its profits were also very objective.

However, Liang Yao did not participate in Staten Mining Company. Liang Yao had no way of knowing how much profit Staten Mining Company could bring to Vanderbilt. Only Vanderbilt knew it.

"You personally hold 20% of the shares of Xiangshan Gold Mining Company. According to this shareholding ratio, you can probably get a dividend of about 4.1 million US dollars." Liang Yao thought about it carefully and said, "You have to go back and check carefully how much dividend you can get.

Only after checking did I know that it wouldn’t be much different from this number.”

Liang Yao reported a figure that made Vanderbilt very satisfied. Counting the US$2.8 million in income brought to him by Staten Mining Company, he was able to obtain US$6.9 million in funds from the California gold industry.

Counting the 3 million US dollars in deposits in the bank, he now has more than 10 million US dollars in cash, which can fully support his career in the railway industry.

The guys at Vanderbilt are also very satisfied with this dividend figure, because based on this ratio, their 10% stake can also receive more than 2 million US dollars in dividends from Xiangshan Gold Mining Company.

One million dollars is a very considerable amount of wealth for America's richest men like Vanderbilt and Backhouse, not to mention the small rich like them. This is simply a huge sum of money!

"It seems that there is no more profitable way in the world than directly mining gold." Vanderbilt lamented.

In less than a year, he earned US$6.9 million from the gold industry, which was more money than he made in ten years of steady shipping.

However, Vanderbilt did not indulge in gold mining. He believed that gold mining was fun for a while, but gold mining was not a long-term solution after all. His purpose of obtaining gold from California was only to raise enough funds to enter the railroad industry.

"It's a pity that this gold rush didn't last long. I heard that the gold resources in the Sacramento area have been exhausted?"

Theodore sighed with regret, wishing he had not joined the gold rush in California earlier.

"The gold resources in the Sacramento area have indeed been exhausted, but the Sacramento area is only a small part of California. There are many places in California that have gold, such as the Nevada area and some mountainous areas. A lot of gold has also been discovered in these places." Liang Yaoxiao

road.

He is not worried about the depletion of gold resources in California. California was still the second gold-producing state in the United States until 1988, more than a hundred years later, with 602,505 ounces of gold mined that year. The first was Nevada.

With the technology of this era, it is simply impossible to mine all the gold in California in just a few years.

It’s just that it’s hard to find it anymore in rich gold mining areas like Sacramento where gold is picked up casually.

It will be difficult for a person who is accustomed to eating delicacies from the mountains and seas to eat simple meals. This is the current mentality of Theodore and others.

"I hope there will be such a bumper harvest next year." Theodore smiled.

"I can selflessly share with you a priceless trade secret. Gold has also been discovered in Australia." Liang Yao said, "If you are interested, you can enter Australia with me and fight side by side."

“Gold was also discovered in Australia?”

Vanderbilt's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"But Australia is the territory of the British, and the situation is much more complicated than in California."

"Yes, it depends on whether you have the courage to enter Australia." Liang Yao said calmly.

"This is quite tempting news."

Vanderbilt was very interested in this news. He had already tasted the benefits of the gold mining industry, and this exciting news was very attractive to him.

But now Vanderbilt discovered something even more interesting, namely the tracks laid by Liang Yao's California Railroad Company.

The rails laid by the California Railroad Company are very sophisticated. Not only is there a thick layer of gravel underneath the rails, but there are also high-quality spikes on the rails to fix the rails.

This is also rare in the eastern region where low-quality rails dominate.

Moreover, Liang Yao’s rail shape had never been seen by Vanderbilt before.

“Isn’t it expensive to lay these rails?”

Vanderbilt, who had a keen sense of business, crouched down and looked at the newly laid railroad tracks.

Since he has decided to enter the railway industry, he must have made a detailed investigation of the American railway transportation industry.

He has also conducted research on not only the railway transportation industry in the United States, but also the railway transportation industry in the United Kingdom.

The high rate of railway accidents is a chronic disease of the American railway industry.

There are many reasons for the high railway accident rate in the United States, in addition to objective reasons such as a late start and backward technology.

American Railways pursues short-term profits most, and short-sightedness is the more important reason.

If we are technologically backward, we can still catch up, but if we are short-sighted, God cannot save us.

Inferior quality rails are an important reason for frequent railway traffic accidents in the United States.

Vanderbilt knew this, and so did many railroad executives.

But just don't want to make changes.

Because wanting to make changes is tantamount to admitting that the frequent railway accidents are caused by inferior tracks, and it costs a lot to tear down these existing tracks and re-lay them with quality tracks, a very high cost.

Not only does it cost money to dismantle and lay tracks, but out-of-service lines incur hundreds or thousands of dollars of losses every moment. Only lines in operation can bring huge profits to railway companies.

This is a price that no senior railway company executive is willing to bear.

As for casualties caused by accidents, they were not the ones who died anyway.

In fact, many wealthy businessmen who invest in railway companies avoid taking trains when traveling because they know the risks better than anyone else.

Therefore, although they are engaged in the railway transportation industry, they prefer to travel by horse-drawn carriage and steamship when traveling by themselves. They cherish their lives very much.

If an accident causes casualties, just pay the news media for public relations. The public relations cost is much lower than directly demolishing inferior railway tracks and laying new tracks to completely solve the problem.

They also exaggerated in newspapers that the railway accident rate in countries such as Britain and France was very high. Whenever there was a railway accident in the country on the other side of the Atlantic, they wrote a big book in the newspaper, which made the American people gradually accept the reality of railway accident rate.

In this era of relatively limited information, newspapers are the main way for Americans, who are located on the edge of the world, to obtain information. They believe in newspapers, especially authoritative newspapers.

Under the exaggeration of these unscrupulous media, the American people even sympathized with the Europeans on the other side of the ocean, and felt that compared with them, American railway transportation was considered safe.

The American railway company is also very conscientious. At least it apologized sincerely if there was an accident, and even offered some compensation.

In fact, before the mid-19th century, the general accident rate in the American railway transportation industry was 3.87 times that of the United Kingdom and 3.54 times that of France. The major accident rate was 5.86 times that of the United Kingdom and 5.73 times that of France.

This situation did not change until the Civil War, because some soldiers who went to the front line by train were killed or injured in railway accidents before they reached their destination, resulting in unnecessary attrition.

Military trains that provide military logistics often fail to arrive as scheduled due to accidents, delaying military aircraft. Frequent railway accidents make the American government and Congress intolerable to American railway companies.

"Is this railway open to traffic?"

After carefully inspecting the fine tracks laid by Liang Yao's California Railroad Company, Vanderbilt looked up at Liang Yao.

He saw an opportunity in this kind of railway track, an opportunity that could subvert the American railway industry, which made him very excited.

Vanderbilt came up with a bold idea that could reverse his late entry into the railroad transportation industry.

"It's open to traffic, but there are fewer trains every day."

Every train station under the California Railroad Company, regardless of size, is specially equipped with a telegraph room for communication between stations.

Liang Yao ordered Coney to go to the telegraph room and send a special train over. He and Vanderbilt would take the train back to San Francisco.

The railway around Jinshan Bay connects several large and small villages built along Jinshan Bay, realizing connectivity between every village in the Jinshan Bay area.

After the opening of the Jinshan Bay Railway, the population of these villages has increased significantly, especially Xinze Village, whose population has reached 2,000 people. Applications for the establishment of towns or even cities are being submitted to the California government and state assembly.

However, Liang Yao does not plan to approve these applications. Liang Yao does not plan to set up separate cities and towns in the villages and towns near Jinshan Bay. He plans to build a metropolitan circle around Jinshan Bay. The villages and towns near Jinshan Bay will be set up as districts to facilitate unified management.

The geographical location of Xinze Village is more than 60 kilometers southeast of San Francisco city. Its location is roughly equivalent to the later city of San Jose (later the third largest city in California). There is a valley called Santa Clara near the village.

Kataya will have a world-famous name in later generations: Silicon Valley.

It's just that this valley now only has some scattered cultivated fields, which is very desolate.

Xinze Village is named after the swampy land nearby.

The growth rate of the number of immigrants in California far exceeds the expansion rate of urban San Francisco. Many immigrants who do not want to stay in urban San Francisco and continue the involution have begun to move to surrounding areas to welcome a new life.

Xinze Village is one of the ideal migration places for immigrants. It has vast uncultivated land, rivers, and abundant water resources, making it very suitable for agricultural cultivation.

After the train line from San Francisco city to Xinze Village was opened, the transportation here has become very convenient. I believe that it will soon develop into another large western city.

Bursts of piercing steam whistles brought Liang Yao's thoughts back to reality. The huge Pioneer train slowly drove into the Berkeley Village train station with thick smoke blowing from its head.

Thanks to book friend Yi Meng Weima for the 10,000 reward!

On June 4th, book friends Niya and MinNa gave a reward of 5,000 points, which together with the previous rewards exceeded 10,000 points. I will try to return this reward tomorrow.

These two chapters are difficult to understand without maps. I will post the pictures to the book review area first, and then study how to post picture Easter egg chapters.

(End of chapter)