1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 565 Current Status of Utah Territory

Liang Shaoyu, Stanford and others were busy carving up the Mormon religious property in Utah, and Liang Yao was also busy inspecting the Funing Group's property in Funing Mountain in Nevada.

The silver output of the Funingshan Mine (Comstock Mine) was extremely amazing, so Liang Yao decided to get involved.

Although the 19th century was an era when the gold standard system prevailed, the value of silver continued to depreciate relative to gold. But there are still some major countries that use silver as their main currency.

For example, the Qing Dynasty and Japan, both of which are the main trading partners of the West Coast region. Mastering the Funingshan mineral vein is equivalent to guarding a money printing machine.

"Huang Kangrui is really greedy. He is guarding such a huge mountain of silver and yet he is involved in such dangerous activities and engages in illegal activities." When the inspection work was basically completed, Deng Wenyu couldn't help but sigh. It's true that people are so incompetent.

The Huang family discovered and occupied such a rich mine. If they kept it honestly, they could become rich in the entire West and even the United States, but they had to break the law.

"Involved in danger? Before we came, he didn't think that doing these illegal activities was in danger. The Huang family is very lucky to be the emperor here." Liang Yao looked at the majestic and tall mountains in front of him and asked, "Who is it? This gives Huang Kangrui the confidence to do this kind of thing, have you found out? "

"We have found out that people from Jardine Matheson Group, Tongfu Group, and Boston Group are indeed involved." Deng Wenyu reported his investigation results to Liang Yao, "It is mainly the management of the banking departments of the three major groups and the mint that are involved. Come in. The molds and die-casting machines used by the Funing Mint are outflowed in the name of scrapped machines from the mints of these three major groups.

In addition, they also print bank coupons from the three major banks. These coupons are the same as the real ones. Fortunately, the number of printed ones is not large. It has not damaged the fundamentals of California's economy. "

"Are the people from the America Group involved in this case?" This is the question that Liang Yao is most concerned about at the moment. After all, the America Group is his base.

"There is no evidence that anyone from the Americas Group is involved in this counterfeit currency case." Deng Wenyu replied with his head held high, "In addition, the Georgia Group of the Fremont family is also clean."

There are only five banks with minting rights on the West Coast, namely Bank of America, Bank of Boston, Jardine Matheson Bank, Tongfu Bank and Bank of Georgia. Behind these five banks are the five most powerful top consortiums in the West Coast region.

"Very good, let your sister find an opportunity to give bonuses to the staff of our group's banking department and mint. They have done a good job and have not let me down." Liang Yao turned to Deng Wenyu and asked, "Wen Yu, do you think Wu Yuanhua, Pan Zhengwei, and Robinson know this?"

Deng Wenyu folded his hands, thought carefully and said, "Robinson is busy campaigning in Kansas. It's hard to say whether he knows about this matter. But in my humble opinion, Brother Wu and Mr. Pan should be aware of this matter. It's just that If something is profitable, they turn a blind eye to the people below.

Anyway, as long as you don't get caught, why not get more income? It doesn't matter if you are found out. The worst thing you can do is hand them over on the grounds that the people below are acting recklessly. "

"You have made great progress, and I have high hopes for you." Peng Dun nodded with great satisfaction. Deng Wenyu's analysis of Wu Yuanhua and Pan Zhengwei was quite accurate.

"It's just that you can turn a blind eye to some things, and you can't turn a blind eye to some things. Minting coins privately is digging for the lifeblood of the West Coast. Since they are touching the lifeblood of the West Coast, don't blame me for being ruthless. If there is Wu The children of the Pan family and the Pan family are involved in this money-smuggling case. Regardless of whether they are close or distant, we should deal with them directly without mercy. "

Industry and commerce are the foundation of the West Coast, and trade is the lifeblood of the West Coast. It is not an exaggeration to say that the lifeblood of the West Coast has been affected by minting bad currency, disrupting market order, and destroying the credibility of the California dollar.

"I understand." Deng Wenyu nodded, and then asked for instructions, "Third brother, what about the machines in Funing Mint? Just destroy them?"

"Why should such a good machine be destroyed?" Pengton said with a smile, "Return it to the state. Since those three banks like to help the private coin factory in Funing Town mint private coins, let them do it to the end. From them Allocate part of the mintage quota to the mint in Funing Town. Otherwise, these people will not have a long memory."

——————

After dealing with the troublesome matter in Funing Town, Liang Yao took the train and continued eastward by train, arriving at the Utah Territory according to his itinerary.

At this time, the Utah Territory was still liquidating the Mormons, but Penton did not interfere with the excessive liquidation of the Mormons.

He does need a population, but what he needs is a secular population, not a cult that cannot be effectively controlled and transformed into effective manpower.

Furthermore, Mormons are all white.

The Chinese are currently the dominant ethnic group in the Utah Territory, but they are not yet the absolute dominant ethnic group, accounting for less than half of the population yet. Since the liquidation of Mormons can reduce the proportion of white people in the local area without having to bear any pressure from public opinion, then why not do it?

"Although the presence of the Mormons has hindered our immigration development in the Utah Territory, thanks to the penetration of the Pacific Railroad, the number of immigrants pouring into the Utah Territory in recent years is still very considerable.

According to last year's statistics, the total population of the Utah Territory is now about 87,000, of which about 36,000 are Chinese.

There are three cities in Utah with a population of over 10,000, namely Salt Lake City, Provo, and Ogden. Among them, Salt Lake City has the largest population, with a population of approximately 28,000.

Other important villages and towns include Brigham, Logan, St. George, Parapoint, Nephi, etc. "

After Liang Yao arrived in Salt Lake City, Liang Shaoyu, who was in charge of the immigration work in the Utah Territory, reported to him the situation in the Utah Territory.

The development momentum of Utah Territory is better than Liang Yao expected.

To be honest, the natural environment of the Utah Territory is relatively harsh, and its population carrying capacity is not high. Liang Yao estimated that the population of the Utah Territory at this time, including the local Indians, would only be 50,000 or 60,000. He did not expect that there would be a population of nearly 90,000.

It seems that the opening of the Pacific Railway has greatly promoted the development of areas along the route, especially the Utah Territory, which is an important transfer station between the east and west.

"Have the Mormon Church's religious assets been clearly distributed?" Liang Yao asked. The liquidation of the Mormon Church has been going on for more than two months, and most of the Mormon Church's assets in the Utah Territory are concentrated in Salt Lake City, Provo, Major cities such as Ogden are relatively concentrated, so it is not too difficult to inventory and distribute them.

"The distribution is clear, everyone is very satisfied, and they all think General Liang is very generous." Liang Shaoyu nodded and said.

"Uncle, you are my uncle." Pengton stood up and looked at the map of North America hanging inside the special train.

"I sent you from the flower-filled Golden Mountain (San Francisco) to the bitter cold and dry land of Utah to do the hard work of immigration. Do you think my nephew is too inhumane?"