![Comstock Lode geologic map 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Comstock_Lode_geologic_map_2.jpg)
The Comstock Lode is a
lode
In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure (or crack) in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock.
The current meaning (ore vein) dates from the 17t ...
of
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ...
located under the eastern slope of
Mount Davidson, a peak in the
Virginia Range
The Virginia Range is a mountain range of western Nevada, primarily within Storey County, and extending east into Lyon County. The range is named after James Finney, "Old Virginny", an early discoverer of gold associated with the Comstock Lode ...
in
Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Virginia City developed as a boom ...
(then western
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state. ...
), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and named after American miner
Henry Comstock
Henry Tompkins (or Thomas) Paige Comstock (1820–1870) was a Canadian miner after whom the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, was named. The Comstock Lode was the richest silver mine in American history.
Referred to by history books various ...
.
After the discovery was made public in 1859, it sparked a
silver rush
A silver rush is the silver-mining equivalent of a gold rush, where the discovery of silver-bearing ore sparks a mass migration of individuals seeking wealth in the new mining region.
Notable silver rushes have taken place in Mexico, Chile, the U ...
of prospectors to the area, scrambling to stake their claims. The discovery caused considerable excitement in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and throughout the United States, the greatest since the
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
in 1849. Mining camps soon thrived in the vicinity, which became bustling commercial centers, including
Virginia City
Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Virginia City developed as a boom ...
and
Gold Hill Gold Hill may refer to:
Canada
* Gold Hill, British Columbia
United Kingdom
* Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset, a steep street used in Hovis commercial
United States
;Alabama
* Gold Hill, Alabama
;California
* Gold Hill, El Dorado County, C ...
.
The Comstock Lode is notable not just for the immense fortunes it generated and the large role those fortunes had in the growth of Nevada and
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, but also for the advances in
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
technology that it spurred, such as
square set timbering
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...
and the
Washoe process The pan amalgamation process is a method to extract silver from ore, using salt and copper(II) sulfate in addition to mercury. The process was widely used from 1609 through the 19th century; it is no longer used.
The patio process had been used to ...
for extracting silver from ore. The mines declined after 1874, although underground mining continued sporadically into the 1920s.
Geology
Volcanic vents to the east covered the area during the
Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
, and a
fault fissure opened the east slope of the
Virginia Range
The Virginia Range is a mountain range of western Nevada, primarily within Storey County, and extending east into Lyon County. The range is named after James Finney, "Old Virginny", an early discoverer of gold associated with the Comstock Lode ...
. The east slope of the range forms the footwall of the Lode, and is composed of
diorite
Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-silic ...
, while the hanging wall is composed of
andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomi ...
, which the miners called "porphyry". The fault fissures filled these fissures with "mineral-bearing quartz".
The miners stated "porphyry makes ore". The ore bodies were thinly scattered through the wide Lode "like plums in a charity pudding", and nearly all of them were found in the wide upper section and along or near the east wall. Although the miners extended their work in all directions, only "sixteen large and rich ore bodies" were found, most less than in depth.
[
]
Bonanzas
Six major bonanzas marked the first five years of the Comstock Lode. The Ophir bonanza was prosperous until 1864, producing 70,000 tons. Though rich, and having a length of at the surface, the ore body wedged out at a depth of . The Gould & Curry bonanza included of the El Dorado outcrop
An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.
Features
Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial ...
, but dipped southward into the Savage at ; the ore gave out by 1866. The Savage bonanza included this ore body and a second bonanza, an ore body shared with Hale & Norcross to the south, at the 600 foot level; this ore body was played out by 1869. The Chollar-Potosi bonanza was consolidated in 1865. The 1875 Combination Shaft was a joint effort by Chollar-Potosi and Hale & Norcross.
The Original Gold Hill bonanza consisted of the Old Red Ledge, long, wide, and deep. The associated Gold Hill mines were merged into the Consolidated Imperial by 1876. The Yellow Jacket shared the Gold Hill bonanza on its north, and shared a second bonanza with Crown Point and Kentuck to the south, discovered in 1864.[
The Crown Point-Belcher bonanza was discovered in 1870. The ore body extended from the 900 to the 1,500-foot level (275 to 460 m), having a length of and a width of . The ore, the precious metal value of which was 54 percent from gold and 46 percent from silver, lasted only four years.][
The Consolidated Virginia bonanza was discovered at the 1,200-foot (365-m) level in March 1873. The ore body was long and wide, but terminated at the 1650-foot (650-m) level.][
]
Discovery of silver
Gold was found in this region in the spring of 1850, in Gold Canyon (near present-day Dayton, Nevada
Dayton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. The population was 15,153 at the 2020 census. Dayton is the first Nevada settlement and home to the oldest hotel in Nevada.
History
...
), by a company of Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
emigrants, one of whom, Abner Blackburn, was their guide. After arriving much too early to cross the Sierra, the wagon train camped on the Carson River
The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length , traversing five counties: Alpine Coun ...
in the vicinity of Dayton
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
, to wait for the mountain snow to melt. William Prouse (also spelled Prows) soon found gold along the gravel river banks by panning, but left when the mountains were passable, as they anticipated taking out more gold on reaching California. Orr named the gulch
In xeric lands, a gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully. Sudden intense rainfall upstream may produce flash floods in the bed of the gulch. ...
Gold Cañón.[
Other emigrants followed, camped in the canyon and went to work at mining. However, when the supply of water in the canyon gave out toward the end of summer, they continued across the mountains to California. The camp had no permanent population until the winter and spring of 1852–53, when about 100 men worked part of the year along the gravel banks of the canyon with rockers, Long Toms and sluices. After nine years, the Gold Canyon placers were producing less, and many miners left for the ]Mono Lake
Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alk ...
placers.[
The gold from Gold Canyon came from ]quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
veins, toward the head of the vein, in the vicinity of where Silver City and Gold Hill Gold Hill may refer to:
Canada
* Gold Hill, British Columbia
United Kingdom
* Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset, a steep street used in Hovis commercial
United States
;Alabama
* Gold Hill, Alabama
;California
* Gold Hill, El Dorado County, C ...
now stand. As the miners worked their way up the stream, they founded the town of Johntown on a plateau. In 1857, the Johntown miners found gold in Six-Mile Canyon, which is about five miles (8 km) north of Gold Canyon. The heads of both these canyons form the north and south ends of what is now known as the Comstock Lode, defined by the Ophir Discovery and the Gold Hill Discovery.[ The early placer miners never worked out the location of the placer gold, since the Lode surface structure was "largely worn away and covered with debris from the mountain sides above."][
]
Grosh brothers
Credit for the discovery of the Comstock Lode is disputed. It is said to have been discovered, in 1857, by Ethan Allen Grosh and Hosea Ballou Grosh, sons of a Pennsylvania clergyman, trained mineralogists and veterans of the California gold fields.[Smith, G., ''History of the Comstock Lode'', (1943).] Hosea injured his foot and died of sepsis
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...
[Rechnitzer, Peter A.; ''R.M. Bucke: Journey to Cosmic Consciousness''. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Markham, Ontario. 1994 .] in 1857. In an effort to raise funds, Allen, accompanied by an associate, Richard Maurice Bucke
Richard Maurice Bucke (18 March 1837 – 19 February 1902), often called Maurice Bucke, was a prominent Canadian psychiatrist in the late 19th century.
An adventurer during his youth, Bucke later studied medicine. Eventually, as a psychiatrist ...
, set out on a trek to California with samples and maps of his claim.
Henry Comstock
Henry Tompkins (or Thomas) Paige Comstock (1820–1870) was a Canadian miner after whom the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, was named. The Comstock Lode was the richest silver mine in American history.
Referred to by history books various ...
was left in their stead to care for the Grosh cabin and a locked chest containing silver and gold ore samples and documents of the discovery. Grosh and Bucke never made it to California. They suffered from frostbite while crossing the Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
, and lost limbs by amputation in a last-ditch effort to save their lives. Allen Grosh died on December 19, 1857.[Comstock, John Adams; ''A History and Genealogy of the Comstock Family in America''. Commonwealth Press, Inc. Los Angeles, California. 1949. (Note: this is a first-edition limited pressing original book. There is no ISBN for this book.)] R.M. Bucke lived, but upon his recovery returned to his home in Canada.
When Henry T. P. Comstock learned of the death of the Grosh brothers, he claimed the cabin and the lands as his own. He also examined the contents of the trunk but thought nothing of the documents as he was not an educated man. What he did know is that the gold and the silver ore samples were from the same vein. He continued to seek out diggings of local miners working in the area, as he knew the Grosh brothers' find was still unclaimed. Upon learning of a strike on Gold Hill which uncovered some bluish rock (silver ore), Comstock immediately filed for an unclaimed tract directly adjacent to this area.
Gold Hill Discovery
Four miners discovered the Gold Hill outcropping, at the head of Gold Canyon, making placer claims after finding traces of gold on January 28, 1859. They were James Finney ("Old Virginny"; a contemporary rumor was that he changed his name from Fennimore to Finney after murdering a man), John Bishop ("Big French John"), Aleck Henderson, and Jack Yount.
These claims were followed by claims from Lemuel S. "Sandy" Bowers (see Bowers Mansion
The Bowers Mansion is a mansion located between Reno and Carson City, Nevada. It was built in 1863 by Lemuel "Sandy" Bowers and his wife, Eilley Orrum Bowers, and is a prime example of the homes built in Nevada by the new millionaires of the Co ...
), Joseph Plato, Henry Comstock, James Rogers, and William Knight. In the spring of 1859, after digging down to a depth of about ten feet, they found a gold-rich reddish quartz vein. Their discovery was actually part of the Comstock Lode, the Old Red Ledge.[ The four men are therefore credited with the rediscovery of the mine previously found by the Grosh brothers.]
Ophir discovery
In the spring of 1859, two miners, Peter O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin, finding all the paying ground already claimed, went to the head of Six Mile Canyon and began prospecting with a rocker on the slope of the mountain near a small stream fed from a neighboring spring. They had poor results in the top dirt as there was no washed gravel, and they were about to abandon their claim when they made the great discovery.
They sank a small, deeper pit in which to collect water to use in their rockers. In the bottom of this hole was a "layer of rich black sand", "concentrate from the top of the hidden Ophir bonanza". Henry T. P. Comstock learned of the two men working on land that he allegedly had already claimed for "grazing purposes". Unhappy with his current claim on Gold Hill, Comstock made threats and managed to work himself and his partner, Immanuel "Manny" Penrod, into a deal that granted them interest on the claim.
On June 12, a trench they were digging exposed black manganese sand mixed with bluish-gray quartz and gold. Two arrastra
An arrastra (or arastra) is a primitive mill for grinding and pulverizing (typically) gold or silver ore. Its simplest form is two or more flat-bottomed drag stones placed in a circular pit paved with flat stones, and connected to a center post ...
s built by John D. Winters and J. A. Osborn made them additional partners on June 22. Comstock and Penrod made an additional claim, called the "Mexican", but later called the "Spanish", adjacent to the "Ophir" claim.[
With the "blue stuff" found in this trench, silver mining in America was born. In the rocker, along with the gold, was a large quantity of heavy blue-black material almost like putty that clogged the rocker and interfered with the washing out of the fine gold. When assayed on June 27, it was determined to be a rich ]sulfide
Sulfide (British English also sulphide) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to chemical compounds lar ...
of silver; in fact, the ore was three fourths silver to one fourth gold.[
The geographic accounts on the location of the Comstock Lode were muddled and inconsistent. In one report, the gold strike was "on the Eastern fork of Walker's river" and the silver strike "about halfway up the Eastern slope of the ]Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
" and "nine miles West of Carson River."[ Clark, Walter Van Tilburg d''The Journals of Alfred Doten 1849–1903'', University of Nevada Press, (1973), .]
Fate of the discoverers
The miners who discovered the mines, and the investors who bought their claims, did not know whether they had made a small or large strike. The size, richness, and cost of exploiting a buried ore body is very hard to estimate even today. Most of them assumed they had made a small to modest strike like nearly all other gold strikes.
All of them knew they did not have the money or expertise to investigate the strike thoroughly. The size of the strike and its potential value would take many years of extensive work by thousands of miners and the investments of millions of dollars—which none of them had. "Weighing the chances of gain and loss as they stood in 1859 the prospectors had no cause to reproach themselves with lack of foresight."[
Patrick McLaughlin sold his 1/6 interest in the Ophir claim for $3,000 to ]George Hearst
George Hearst (September 3, 1820 – February 28, 1891) was an American businessman, miner, and politician. After growing up on a small farm in Missouri, he founded many mining operations, and is known for developing and expanding the Hom ...
.[ McLaughlin soon lost the money. He then worked as a cook at the Green mine in California. He died working odd jobs.
Emanuel Penrod, partner to Henry Comstock, sold his 1/6 share of the Ophir mine for $5,500 to Judge James Walsh, and his half interest in the "Spanish" mine for $3,000, for a total of $8,500.]
J.A. Osborn sold his 1/6 of the Ophir "for a good price".[
Peter O'Riley held on to his Ophir interests collecting dividends, until selling for about $40,000.] He erected a stone hotel on B Street in Virginia City called the Virginia House, and became a dealer of mining stocks. He began having visions and began a tunnel into the Sierras near Genoa, Nevada
Genoa is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town in Douglas County, Nevada, Douglas County, Nevada, United States. Founded in 1851, it was the first settlement in what became the Nevada Territory. It is situated within Carson River ...
(an area of no known mineralization), expecting to strike a richer vein than the Comstock. He eventually lost everything, was declared insane, and died in a private asylum in Woodbridge, California
Woodbridge is a census-designated place in San Joaquin County, California. Woodbridge sits at an elevation of . The 2010 United States census reported Woodbridge's population was 3,984. Founded in the 1850s, the town is listed as a California Histo ...
.
Henry Comstock traded an old blind horse and a bottle of whiskey for a one-tenth share of the spring at Ophir, formerly owned by James Fennimore ("Old Virginny"), but later sold all of his Ophir holdings to Judge James Walsh for $11,000. Comstock also sold his half of the "Spanish" mine for $5,500.[ He opened trade good stores in ]Carson City
Carson City is an Independent city (United States), independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the List of cities in Nevada, sixth largest ...
and Silver City. Being reportedly slow mentally, having no education and no business experience, he went broke. After losing nearly all his property and possessions in Nevada, Comstock prospected for some years in Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
and Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
without success. In September 1870, while in Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...
, he died of a gunshot wound, believed to be a suicide.
Innovations and development
Mining
The ore was first extracted through surface diggings, but these were quickly exhausted and miners had to tunnel underground to reach ore bodies. Unlike most silver ore deposits, which occur in long thin veins, those of the Comstock Lode occurred in discrete masses often hundreds of feet thick. Sometimes, the ore was so soft it could be removed by shovel
A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore.
Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made o ...
. Although this allowed the ore to be easily excavated, the weakness of the surrounding rock resulted in frequent and deadly cave-ins. The excavations were carried to depths of more than 3,200 feet (1,000 m) (eventually, after years of work).
The cave-in problem was solved by the method of square set timbering
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...
invented by Philip Deidesheimer
Philip Deidesheimer was a mining engineer in the Western United States.
Deidesheimer was born in 1832, in Darmstadt, Hesse before German unification. He attended the prestigious Freiberg University of Mining (''Technische Universität Bergakademi ...
,[ a German ]mining engineer
Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...
from San Francisco, who had been requested to survey the problem by the owners of the Ophir Mine. Previously, timber sets consisting of vertical members on either side of the diggings (ribs) capped by a third horizontal member to support the back (roof), creating a tunnel (drift). However, the Comstock ore bodies were not veins, but sporadic pockets too large for this method. Instead, as ore was removed it was replaced by timbers set as a cube six feet on a side (ribs), front (face) or top (back), all at the same time. Thus, the ore body would be progressively replaced with a timber lattice. Often these voids (stopes) would be re-filled with waste rock from other diggings after ore removal was complete. By this method of building up squares of framed timbers, an ore body of any width may be safely worked to any height or depth. Deidesheimer was appointed to the Ophir as mine manager for his ingenious idea.
Early in the history of Comstock mining, there were heavy flows of water to contend with. This called for pumping machinery and apparatus, and as greater depth was attained, larger pumps were demanded. All the inventive genius of the Pacific Coast was called into play, and this resulted in construction of some of the most powerful and effective steam and hydraulic pumping equipment to be found anywhere in the world. Initially, the water was cold, but the deeper workings cut into parts of the mountain where there were heavy flows of hot water (mines don't always work in digging ore. Some parts of a mining operation could be deepening the existing shaft, or exploring for more ore bodies).[ This water was hot enough to cook an egg or scald a man to death almost instantly. Lives were lost by falling into sumps of this water hot from the geothermal pockets. The hot water called for fans, blowers and various kinds of ventilation apparatus, as miners working in heated drifts had to have a supply of cool air.
]Compressed air
Compressed air is air kept under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. Compressed air is an important medium for transfer of energy in industrial processes, and is used for power tools such as air hammers, drills, wrenches, and o ...
for running power drills and for driving fans and small hoisting engines was adopted in the Comstock mines.[ Diamond drills for drilling long distances through solid rock were also in general use, but were discarded for prospecting purposes, being found unreliable. Several new forms of explosives for blasting were also developed.
Great improvements were also made in the hoisting apparatus and cages used to extract ore and transport the miners to their work. As the depth of the diggings increased, the ]hemp
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...
rope
A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarly ...
s used to haul ore to the surface became impractical, as their self-weight became a significant fraction of their tensile strength (breaking weight). After hemp rope, iron chains began to become more common. However, fracture was quick, at around half a millisecond. In 1829 Wilhelm Albert had studied and reported on the failure of the iron chains and began creating a twisted metal cabling known as Albert Rope. In 1864 Andrew Smith Hallidie
Andrew Smith Hallidie (March 16, 1836 – April 24, 1900) was the promoter of the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco, USA. This was the world's first practical cable car system, and Hallidie is often therefore regarded as the inventor of ...
manufactured wire rope
Steel wire rope (right hand lang lay)
Wire rope is several strands of metal wire twisted into a helix forming a composite
''rope'', in a pattern known as ''laid rope''. Larger diameter wire rope consists of multiple strands of such laid rope in a ...
[ and was heavily involved in building early cable bridges and ]ropeway conveyor
A material ropeway, ropeway conveyor (or aerial tramway in the US) is a subtype of gondola lift, from which containers for goods rather than passenger cars are suspended.
Description
Material ropeways are typically found around large mining conc ...
s; his wire rope went on to be used in San Francisco's famous cable cars, and was also added to the cable drums in the hoist houses on the Comstock Lode. Another innovation was spring loaded cages. The only way in and out of a shaft mine was in the cage, cabled to the hoist.
All products, men and supplies, as well as recoverable ore, travels up and down the shaft in a cage. When the hemp rope or chains broke, the cage would plummet uncontrolled to the bottom of the shaft, killing its occupants or destroying its load. Cages were open to the front and rear, with I-beams on both sides to support the floor. The outside of the I-beams slid through wooden guides up and down the shaft, top to bottom. Spring loaded cages were designed with two swivel rods at the top of the cage, one each attached to the I-beams through bolts and lifted in the center. The outside of the rods were designed to be wider than the cage with a bulbous, round head at the end, notched with teeth molded into the rods. The weight of the cage being lifted, lifted the rods, released the teeth and tightened the spring, allowing the cage to move freely. If the chain or cable broke, the springs would force the rods down and the teeth would dig into the wood, stopping the cage.
Processing
In 1859 the Americans knew nothing about silver mining. John D. Winters Jr., and J.A. Osborn built two arastra
An arrastra (or arastra) is a primitive Mill (grinding), mill for grinding and pulverizing (typically) gold or silver ore. Its simplest form is two or more flat-bottomed drag stones placed in a circular pit paved with flat stones, and connected ...
s, for the patio process
The patio process is a process for extracting silver from ore. Smelting, or refining, was necessary because silver does not occur by itself in a natural state like some metals. Instead, it is made up of a larger ore body. Thus, smelting, or refin ...
, at the Ophir claim, and Gabriel Maldonado, a Mexican of Spanish descent, "began to smelt some of his rich ore in little adobe furnaces, Mexican fashion", after purchasing Penrod's share of the "Mexican" mine.[ These methods proved to be too slow for the Americans and could not process the quantities of ore being extracted. The Americans introduced stamp mills for crushing the ore, and pans to hasten the process of ]amalgamation
Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form.
Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to:
Mathematics and science
* Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal
**Pan am ...
. Some of the German miners, who had been educated at the mining academy of Freiberg, were regarded as the best then existing to work with argentiferous
Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca.25,900 metric tons were consumed ...
ores.
Bagley introduced a variation of the Freiberg process, using the revolving barrel process of amalgamation, and chloridizing- roasting of ores, after the stamp dry-crushed. While the barrel process was an improvement on the patio, it was found not to be well adapted to the rapid working of the Comstock ores as pan amalgamation. The Comstock eventually developed the Washoe process The pan amalgamation process is a method to extract silver from ore, using salt and copper(II) sulfate in addition to mercury. The process was widely used from 1609 through the 19th century; it is no longer used.
The patio process had been used to ...
of using steam-heated iron pans, which reduced the weeks required by the patio process to hours.[
In the early days of pan processing of ores, there were tremendous losses in precious metals and quicksilver (mercury). Almost every millman was experimenting with some secret process for the amalgamation of ore. They tried all manner of trash, both mineral and vegetable, including concoctions of cedar bark and sagebrush tea. At that time, untold millions in gold, silver and quicksilver were swept away into the rivers with the tailings. The Carson river and the ]Lake Lahontan
Lake Lahontan was a large endorheic Pleistocene lake of modern northwestern Nevada that extended into northeastern California and southern Oregon. The area of the former lake is a large portion of the Great Basin that borders the Sacramento Rive ...
carry warnings against mercury. Although many patterns and forms of amalgamating pans were invented and patented, there was much room for improvement. Improvements were made from time to time, resulting in reductions in losses of metals, but none of the apparatus in use on the Comstock was perfect.
Support infrastructure
Transportation
Before railroads were built, all freight and passengers were transported by teams of from 10 to 16 horses or mules. Ore was hauled to the mills by these teams, which also brought to the mines all the lumber required for construction among other things.
"The Comstock Lode may truthfully be said to be the tomb of the forests of the Sierra." It is estimated eighty million feet of timber and lumber annually were consumed in the Comstock. Lumber and cord wood were harvested with little regard for impact, for housing, commercial building, heating, and steam boilers at sawmills and ore mills.
Teams also hauled over the Sierra all the mining machinery, all supplies required by both mines and mills, as well as goods and merchandise needed by the stores and businesses. Each team hauled trains of two to four wagon loads. When the large reduction works of the Ophir Mining Company were in peak operation, lines of teams from one to three miles (5 km) in length moved along the wagon roads, and sometimes blocked Virginia City streets for hours.
From 1859 to 1868, great quantities of goods were transported across the Sierra to and from California on the backs of mules. When the Central Pacific Railroad line was completed to the Truckee Meadows
The Truckee Meadows is a valley in Northern Nevada, named for the Truckee River, which collects and drains all water in the valley. Truckee Meadows is also colloquially used as a name for the Reno–Tahoe-Fernley CSA area, even though the metro a ...
, this hauling was bi-directional from Reno to Virginia City via the Geiger Grade wagon road, for transfer to rail for delivery to points east and west.[
Ground was broken on the ]Virginia and Truckee Railroad
The Virginia and Truckee Railroad is a privately owned heritage railroad, headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada. Its private and publicly owned route is long. When first constructed in the 19th century, it was a commercial freight railroad ...
on February 18, 1869, and by January 28, 1870, the most difficult "crookedest" section from Virginia City to Carson City was completed. Rails were extended north across the Washoe Valley
The Washoe Valley is a geographical region in the United States covering in southern Washoe County in the state of Nevada. Located between Reno and Carson City, it is named for the Washoe people, Native Americans who lived there before the arr ...
, from Carson City to Reno, where it connected with the Central Pacific.[ Between Virginia City and Carson City, at Mound House, the railroad also connected with the ]Carson and Colorado Railroad
The Carson and Colorado Railway was a U.S. narrow gauge railroad that ran from Mound House, Nevada, to Keeler, California below the Cerro Gordo Mines. It was incorporated on May 10, 1880 as the Carson and Colorado ''Railroad'', and constructio ...
.
The Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company
When silver was first discovered on the Comstock, the flow of water from natural springs was adequate to supply the needs of the miners and small towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill, Nevada. As population increased, wells were dug for domestic needs, and the water in several mine tunnels was added to the available supply. As the mills and hoisting works multiplied, the demand for water for use in steam boilers became so great that it was impossible to supply it without creating a water shortage among the residents, now thousands in number. In this need, the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company was formed, being the first non-mining incorporation on the Comstock Lode.
Water from wells and tunnels in the surrounding mountains was soon exhausted. It became imperative to look toward the main range of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where there was an inexhaustible supply. Between the Sierra and the Virginia ranges lay the Washoe Valley
The Washoe Valley is a geographical region in the United States covering in southern Washoe County in the state of Nevada. Located between Reno and Carson City, it is named for the Washoe people, Native Americans who lived there before the arr ...
, a great trough nearly in depth. Hermann Schussler
Hermann Schüssler or Schussler (August 4, 1842 – April 27, 1919) was a German civil engineer and designer of dams, famous for designing the Crystal Springs Dam and Comstock water system.
Early years
Hermann Schussler was born in what is ...
, a German and Swiss-trained engineer of great repute who had planned and designed waterworks in San Francisco, was brought to the Comstock to plan and design the new works. Surveys were made in 1872, and the first sections of pipe laid June 11, 1873 and the last on July 25 the same year.
The initial pipe was made of wrought iron and had a total length of over , with an interior diameter of and a capacity of 2.2 million gallons per day (gpd), or 1,500 gallons per minute (gpm). The pipe traversed the Washoe Valley in the form of an inverted siphon, at the lowest point having a pressure of of water,[ or 810 pounds per square inch (psi) at the design flow. The inlet being above the outlet, the water was forced through the pipe at tremendous pressure. Water was brought to the inlet in the Sierra Nevada range from sources of supply in two large covered ]flume
A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...
s, and at the outlet end of the pipe was delivered in two large flumes a distance of to Gold Hill and Virginia City. The pipe was constructed of sheets of wrought iron riveted together, each section fastened with three rows of rivets. Lead was used to seal the joints between pipe sections. The first flow of water reached Gold Hill and Virginia City on August 1, 1873, with great fanfare. This accomplishment was the highest pressure water system in operation in the world, having superseded the water system at Cherokee Flat also designed by Schussler.
The water company laid an additional pipe alongside the first in 1875 and a third pipe in 1877. These pipes with lap-welded joints delivered more water, there being less friction of rivet heads on the water. Additional flumes were also constructed to diversify and improve reliability of supply.
Portions of this water system, now called the Marlette Lake Water System, are still in use today, feeding Virginia City with fresh water.
Sutro Tunnel
While there was a scarcity of water on the surface, there was an excess of water underground in all the mines. Floods in the mines were sudden and miners narrowly escaped being drowned by vast underground reservoirs that were unexpectedly tapped. Intrusion of scalding-hot water into the mines was a large problem, and the expense of water removal increased as depths increased. To overcome these troubles, Adolph Sutro
Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro (April 29, 1830 – August 8, 1898) was a German-American engineer, politician and philanthropist who served as the 24th mayor of San Francisco from 1895 until 1897. Born a German Jew, he moved to Virginia Cit ...
conceived the idea of running a drain tunnel under the Comstock Lode from the lowest possible point. A survey was made by Schussler and work commenced in October 1869.
The Sutro Tunnel was completed from the valley near Dayton through nearly four miles, 20,589 feet, of solid rock to meet the Comstock mines approximately beneath the surface. Two drain laterals were dug, the north one 4,403 feet long and the south one 8,423 feet long. The tunnel was wide and high, inside the timbering. Drain flumes were sunk in the floor and over these were two tracks for horse carts. It required eight and a half years to reach the Lode. The tunnel drained up to 4,000,000 gallons daily.[
The tunnel provided drainage and ventilation for the mines as well as gravity-assisted ore removal. However, by the time the tunnel reached the Comstock area mines, most of the ore above had already been removed and the lower workings were deeper still. Although virtually no ore was removed through the tunnel, the drainage it provided greatly decreased the operating costs of the mines served.][ The ventilation problems were solved at about the same time by compressed air for the use of pneumatic drills.
The tunnel connected with the Savage claim on July 8, 1878. All of the Gold Hill mines stopped pumping water by March 1882, and water was allowed to rise to the level of the tunnel. The Combination Shaft ceased pumping below the tunnel on October 16, 1886.][
]
Yellow Jacket Mine fire
On the morning of April 7, 1869, a fire spread at the 800-foot level in the Yellow Jacket Mine. Firefighters entered the mine but the smoke and flames pushed them back. As the fire burned, wood timbers collapsed and poisonous gases expanded into the adjacent Kentucky and Crown Point mines. The fires persisted and mine sections were sealed off and remained hot for several years. At least 35 miners died, and some bodies were never retrieved. The Yellow Jacket Mine fire was the worst mining accident in Nevada history up to that time.
Later years
The total production of ore extracted and milled in the Comstock District, 1860 to June 30, 1880, was 6,971,641 tons, 640 pounds.[Lord, Eliot; ''Comstock Mining & Miners: The Comprehensive History of Virginia City's Mining Industry'', U.S. Government Printing Office, (1883, repr. 1959), ] Peak production from the Comstock occurred in 1877, with the mines producing over $14,000,000 of gold and $21,000,000 of silver that year (about $ and $ today).
The greatest depth reached, in 1884, was by the Ophir-Mexican winze
A winze is a minor connection between different levels in a mine. When worked upwards from a lower level it is usually called a raise; when sunk downward from a higher level it may be called a sump. The top of a winze is located underground and it ...
at below the surface. Production from Comstock mines from 1859 to 1878 was $320,000,000, with a net profit of $55,000,000, most of that in the 1870s. The bonanza period was at an end by 1880.
Deep underground exploration and mining continued sporadically until 1918, when the last of the pumps was shut off, allowing the mines to flood up to the Sutro Tunnel Level (approximately 1,640 feet beneath Virginia City). All mining from 1920 to present has taken place above the Sutro Tunnel level. Meanwhile, through the early years of the 20th century, ownership of mineral rights along the length of the Comstock Lode was consolidated primarily into a handful of companies, most of them privately held. This structure was a departure from that of the late 1800s, when upwards of 400 mining companies operated on the Comstock, with at least 150 of them publicly traded.
Comstock's silver mines were criticized for the way that their share prices were manipulated on the San Francisco stock exchanges, and for the way that insiders skimmed the profits to the detriment of the common shareholders. Insiders used rumors or assessments to drive share prices down, buy up the cheap shares, then spread rumors of large new silver finds to increase prices once more so that they could sell their shares at a profit. Mining company managers also issued contracts to themselves for timber, and water. Ore from the mines was commonly processed by ore mills owned by the company insiders, who were accused of keeping part of the silver they extracted for themselves and refusing to make an accounting.
In 1920, the United Comstock Mines Company was organized by prominent Comstock mining engineers Roy Hardy and Alex Wise with financial backing by New York businessman Harry Payne Whitney
Harry Payne Whitney (April 29, 1872 – October 26, 1930) was an American businessman, thoroughbred horse breeder, and member of the prominent Whitney family.
Early years
Whitney was born in New York City on April 29, 1872, as the eldest son ...
. United Comstock consolidated ownership of the entire Gold Hill section of the Comstock Lode, representing 5,000 feet of strike length and a mill site in American Flat. This enterprise constructed the 2,500 ton-per-day capacity American Flat cyanide mill, the largest in the world at the time, and drove a tunnel 9,585 feet from the mill under Gold Hill. The economics of this project were tenuous, and with a drop in silver prices, it closed in 1924.
In 1934, the federal government raised the price of gold from $20.67 to $35 per ounce, which vastly improved the economics of projects on the Comstock. Several companies embarked on substantial projects, including:[Smith, G.H., 1943, ''The History of the Comstock Lode, 1850–1997'', Reno: University of Nevada Press, ]
* Arizona Comstock Company in 1933 began underground mining through the Hale & Norcross tunnel, followed quickly by a surface mine known as the Loring Cut and located across from the Fourth Ward School. Arizona Comstock processed its ore at a 330-ton-per-day flotation plant located near the Hale & Norcross portal, but the flotation method alone turned out to be relatively ineffective at recovering Comstock gold and silver and this operation shut down by 1938.
* Dayton Consolidated The Dayton Consolidated Mill in Silver City processed ore from its own mine, as well as operating as a "custom" mill for a number of mines in the area.
* Con Chollar The Con Chollar Mining Company built a 135 ton-per-day flotation mill near the south end of Gold Hill to re-process tailings from several nearby mines. It later processed ore from the Overman Pit in the same section of the Lode.
* Sutro Tunnel Coalition/Crown Point Mill After several years of exploration and development on the Crown Point claim in Gold Hill, the Sutro Tunnel Coalition built a 100 ton-per-day cyanide mill to process both underground and surface mined ore in 1935. The mill and mine development was accomplished with a $160,000 loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which was paid back in under 3 years of operation. The Crown Point Mill operated profitably, treating primarily ores from the Crown Point and Yellow Jacket claims, until it was shut down by War Production Board
The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Sup ...
Order L-208 in 1942.
Exploration and production on varying scales and in varying locations have been undertaken on the Comstock Lode in every decade since its discovery. There was a particular flurry of activity, including major surface mining operations by the Houston Oil and Mineral Company followed by United Mining in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This activity paralleled a rapid and substantial rise in the price of gold and silver, which was unpegged from the dollar by President Nixon in 1971.
Today, the Comstock Lode is being explored by Comstock Mining Inc. of Virginia City, Nevada, which has consolidated control of approximately 70% of Comstock mining claims. On September 30, 2012, Comstock Mining Inc. returned gold and silver production to the Comstock with its first pour of doré bullion and continues surface mining in lower Gold Hill.
Legacy
Nevada is commonly called the "Silver State" because of the silver produced from the Comstock Lode. However, since 1878, Nevada has been a relatively minor silver producer, with most subsequent bonanzas consisting of more gold than silver. In 1900, Jim Butler discovered Nevada's second largest silver strike in Tonopah, Nevada
Tonopah ( , Shoshoni language: Tonampaa) is an unincorporated town in, and the county seat of, Nye County, Nevada, United States. It is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 6 and 95, approximately midway between Las Vegas and Reno. In the 2 ...
. Nevada is currently ranked as the second largest producer of silver in the United States. Nevada's leading silver producer is the Rochester Mine in Pershing County
Pershing County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,650. Its county seat is Lovelock. The county was named after army general John J. Pershing (1860–1948). It was formed from Humboldt County ...
. This mine ranks behind the Greens Creek mine
Greens may refer to:
*Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc.
Politics Supranational
* Green politics
* Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics
* Global Greens
* Europ ...
in Alaska, the largest producer of silver in the US.
According to Dan De Quille
William Wright (1829–1898), better known by the pen name Dan DeQuille or Dan De Quille, was an American author, journalist, and humorist. He was best known for his written accounts of the people, events, and silver mining operations on the Com ...
, a journalist of the period, "the discovery of silver undoubtedly deserves to rank in merit above the discovery of the gold mines of California, as it gives value to a much greater area of territory and furnishes employment to a much larger number of people".[De Quille, Dan right, William''A History of the Comstock Silver Lode & Mines'', F. Boegle Publisher, (1889, repr. 1974), ]
The latter quarter of the nineteenth century and first decade of the twentieth employed miners and mining technology invented on the Comstock, throughout various other mining camps in the west. Deep underground, hard rock mining was a constantly evolving development for the miners and their companies, and the tactics developed on the Comstock became famous within the mining industry, worldwide.
Two U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
ships have been named for the Comstock Lode. The first was the USS Comstock (LSD-19)
USS ''Comstock'' (LSD-19) was a of the United States Navy. She was the first navy ship named in honor of the Comstock Lode in Nevada, discovered in 1859, which was one of the richest deposits of precious metals known in the world.
As of 2011 ...
which was launched in 1945 and the second is the USS Comstock (LSD-45)
USS ''Comstock'' (LSD-45) is a of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to be named for the Comstock Lode in Nevada, the first being , commissioned in 1945 and decommissioned in 1976. The Comstock Lode was discovered in 1859, and ...
which was launched in 1988.
Fortunes made
Four Irishmen, John William Mackay
John William Mackay (November 28, 1831 – July 20, 1902) was an Irish-American industrialist. Mackay was one of the four Bonanza Kings, a partnership which capitalised on the wealth generated by the silver mines at the Comstock Lode. He al ...
, James Graham Fair
James Graham Fair (December 3, 1831December 28, 1894) was an Irish immigrant to the United States who became a highly successful mining engineer and businessman. His investments in silver mines in Nevada made him a millionaire, and he was one o ...
, James C. Flood
James Clair Flood (October 25, 1826 – February 21, 1889) was an American businessman who made a fortune thanks to the Comstock Lode in Nevada. His mining operations are recounted to this day as an outstanding example of what may be done with a ...
and William S. O'Brien formed a business partnership in 1869 known as the "Bonanza Firm," which dealt in silver-mining shares, and controlled and ran a number of Comstock mines over the years, notably the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company. These four men were among the "Bonanza Kings
The Bonanza Kings, also called the Silver Kings, was a nickname given to the four men who started a stock brokerage called ''Flood and O'Brien'', more commonly known as the Bonanza Firm. Bonanza is a Spanish term, meaning a rich ore body; in 1873, ...
" or "Silver Kings" of the Comstock.[
]George Hearst
George Hearst (September 3, 1820 – February 28, 1891) was an American businessman, miner, and politician. After growing up on a small farm in Missouri, he founded many mining operations, and is known for developing and expanding the Hom ...
, a highly successful California prospector, became a partner in Hearst, Haggin, Tevis and Co.
Hearst, Haggin, Tevis and Co., a company started in California in the 1850s and headed by San Francisco lawyer James Ben Ali Haggin with Lloyd Tevis and George Hearst, grew to be the largest private firm of mine-owners in the United States. Hears ...
, the largest private mining firm in the United States, which owned and operated the Ophir mine on the Comstock Lode, and other gold and silver mining interests in California, Nevada, Utah, South Dakota and Peru. Hearst was a member of the California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.
The A ...
and became a United States senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
from California. George Hearst was the father of the famed newspaperman William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
.
Copper King Marcus Daly
Marcus Daly (December 5, 1841 – November 12, 1900) was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the three " Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, United States.
Early life
Daly emigrated from County Cavan, Ireland, to the United States ...
, a mining engineer, met Hearst while working for John Mackay and James G. Fair
James Graham Fair (December 3, 1831December 28, 1894) was an Irish immigrant to the United States who became a highly successful mining engineer and businessman. His investments in silver mines in Nevada made him a millionaire, and he was one o ...
. He later went on to found the Anaconda Mining Company
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company, known as the Amalgamated Copper Company between 1899 to 1915, was an American mining company headquartered in Butte, Montana. It was one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century and one of the largest mi ...
, a Butte, Montana
Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...
copper corporation.
William Chapman Ralston
William "Billy" Chapman Ralston (January 12, 1826 – August 27, 1875) was a San Francisco businessman and financier, and the founder of the Bank of California.
Biography
William Chapman Ralston was born at Wellsville, Ohio, son of Robert Ralst ...
, founder of the Bank of California
The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston and Darius Ogden Mills. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, the second-richest bank in the nation, and considered ...
, financed several mining operations, repossessed some of those mines as their owners defaulted, and ultimately made enormous profits from the Comstock Lode.
William Sharon
William Tang Sharon (January 9, 1821November 13, 1885) was a United States senator, banker, and business owner from Nevada who profited from the Comstock Lode.
Early life
Sharon was born in Smithfield, Ohio, January 9, 1821, the son of Willi ...
, a business partner of Ralston, was the Nevada agent for the Bank of California, and acquired Ralston's assets when his financial empire collapsed. William Sharon became the second United States Senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
from Nevada.[
]William M. Stewart
William Morris Stewart (August 9, 1827April 23, 1909) was an American lawyer and politician. In 1964, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Personal
Stewart was born in Wayne Count ...
, who abandoned mining to become an attorney in Virginia City, Nevada, participated in mining litigation and the development of mining on the Comstock Lode. As Nevada became a state in 1864, Stewart assisted in developing its constitution, and became the first United States Senator from Nevada, where he helped pass the General Mining Act of 1872
The General Mining Act of 1872 is a United States federal law that authorizes and governs prospecting and mining for economic minerals, such as gold, platinum, and silver, on federal public lands. This law, approved on May 10, 1872, codified the ...
.[
Silver baron ]Alvinza Hayward
Alvinza Hayward (1821 – February 14, 1904) was an American mine-owner, capitalist, businessman, and financier. He was a well-known gold mining millionaire who made his fortune in during the California Gold Rush. He lived in the San Francisco Bay ...
, known in his lifetime as "California's first millionaire", held a large interest in the Comstock lode after 1864.
Writers and artists
While most who worked the mines did not gain great fortune, a number went on to be notable in their own right in the area of writing.
The Sagebrush School of journalists and writers arose out of the ''Territorial Enterprise
The ''Territorial Enterprise'', founded by William Jernegan and Alfred James on December 18, 1858, was a newspaper published in Virginia City, Nevada. Published for its first two years in Genoa in what was then Utah Territory, new owners Jo ...
'' and other newspapers in Virginia City. A young William Wright and Samuel Clemens both tried their hands at mining at Comstock; not prospering at this, they landed jobs at the ''Territorial Enterprise'' where they began writing under the pen names Dan De Quille
William Wright (1829–1898), better known by the pen name Dan DeQuille or Dan De Quille, was an American author, journalist, and humorist. He was best known for his written accounts of the people, events, and silver mining operations on the Com ...
and Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
. The poet and politician John Brayshaw Kaye
John Brayshaw Kaye (June 10, 1841 – March 29, 1909) was an English-born American poet, lawyer and politician.
Life and works
John Brayshaw Kaye was born in Yorkshire, England, June 10, 1841, the fifth child and the fourth son of Abram and M ...
, also worked in the mine for a short period in the 19th century.
In 1939 the arts section of the Federal Works Agency The Federal Works Agency (FWA) was an independent agency of the federal government of the United States which administered a number of public construction, building maintenance, and public works relief functions and laws from 1939 to 1949. Along wi ...
invited California artist Ejnar Hansen
Ejnar Hansen (20 December 1898 – 26 March 1947) was a Danish wrestler
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling ...
to create a mural for the newly completed post office building in Lovelock, Nevada
Lovelock is the county seat of Pershing County, Nevada, United States, in which it is the only incorporated city. It is the namesake of a nearby medium-security men's prison and a Cold War-era gunnery range. Formerly a stop for settlers on t ...
, as part of the New Deal program. After a visit to the former mining town, Hansen chose the discovery of the lode as a suitable local subject, treating it in the style of modified realism favored by the Agency. Once his canvas was installed over an interior doorway, it was widely admired for its authenticity, especially by miners and prospectors with experience of the desert locale.[National Register of Historic Places]
section 8
/ref>
In fiction
*
*''Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...
'' season 1, episode 9 (1959), titled "The Henry Comstock Story", recounts a fanciful tale of Mr. Comstock, portraying him as a P. T. Barnum–like conman.
* In '' Deadwood'' season 2, various episodes (2005), several characters, including Whitney Ellsworth and Francis Wolcott, are portrayed as knowing one another from "The Comstock". Additionally, the Francis Wolcott character is portrayed as a mineralogist working for George Hearst.
See also
*Silver mining in Nevada
Silver mining in Nevada, a state of the United States, began in 1858 with the discovery of the Comstock Lode, the first major silver-mining district in the United States. Nevada calls itself the "Silver State." Nevada is the nation's second-larges ...
References
Bibliography
* Bush, Don. "Nevada and the Comstock Lode". 1992. March 10, 2007 .
* "Comstock Lode". ''Britannica''. Ed. Jacob E. Safra. 15th ed. Vol. 3. London: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1998. 551.
* "Comstock Lode". ''Encyclopedia Americana''. Ed. Wayne Gard. International ed. Vol. 7. Richmond: Grolier Incorporated Inc., 1988. 494.
* "Comstock Lode". ''Grolier Online Encyclopedia''. Ed. Elliott West. Washington, 1997.
* "Comstock Lode". ''World Book''. Ed. Stephan A. Erickson. Vol. 4. Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1988. 926.
*
* Edward S. Barnard. ''The Gold Rush in America''. New York: The Reader's Digest Association Inc., 1977.
* Highfill, John. ''The U. S. Silver Dollar Encyclopedia''. 4, 65–66, 73, 86, 143, 640, 920.
* Kyle, Stacy. ''The Gold Rush in America''. London: Troll Association Inc., 1998.
*
*
*
*, Nevada Historical Marker 13
External links
Virginia City, Nevada
official site
Guide to the Manuscripts and Notes Chiefly Concerning the Comstock Lode, 1859-1936
at The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
*
{{Authority control
Mines in Nevada
Silver mining in the United States
Pre-statehood history of Nevada
History of Storey County, Nevada
History of the American West
1850s in Nevada
1860s in Nevada
Virginia City, Nevada
Silver mining in Nevada
Gold mining in Nevada
Nevada in the American Civil War
Historic American Buildings Survey in Nevada