With the returns of the assays came a rush from California. The assays
were made at Nevada City, California, and the result so astonished the
assayer that he could hardly believe his figures or his eyes. But other
assays verified those first made, and the immense richness of the ore in
both gold and silver could no longer be doubted. A few men were let into
the secret, they let in a few more, and at once the great news spread
far and wide. Soon miners, speculators, and adventurers of all kinds
came over the Sierras to the silver mines in swarms. A town of tents,
brush shanties, and canvas houses began to appear on the side of Mount
Davidson—then known as “Sunrise Peak,” as it caught the first rays of
the morning sun. It was about the 1st of June when the silver was first
struck, and, the weather being warm, many persons camped in the open
air—cared for neither tent nor brush shanty.
There were about 1,000 persons in Western Utah at the time silver was
discovered, and all were living under Mormon rule. Most of those in the
country at that time were engaged in farming and cattle growing, in
trade with the emigrants, or in gambling and running off stock; only
about 200 were engaged in mining, and all these were working gold
placers. A number of ranchers from surrounding valleys took up claims on
the line of the lode when they heard that it was a silver vein, but
neither the placer miners, the ranchers, nor any one else that was in
the country at the time the great discovery was made, ever got more than
a few hundreds or thousands of dollars out of it.
The Fate of the Discoverers.
Although Comstock was not a discoverer, he was one of the original
locators on the lode. He sold his interest for $10,000. With this he
opened a store in Carson City for the sale of such goods as the trade of
the country demanded; also a similar store, but with a smaller stock, at
Silver City. Knowing nothing of business, having no education, and being
unable to keep books, he was soon “flat broke.” After losing all the
property he possessed in Nevada, Comstock struck out into Idaho and
Montana, where he prospected for some years without success. In
September, 1870, while encamped near Bozeman, Montana, _en route_ to
prospect in the Big Horn country, he committed suicide, blowing out his
brains with his six-shooter.
Patrick McLaughlin sold his interest in the Ophir (the discovery claim)
for $3,500, which sum he soon lost, and he then worked as a cook at the
Green mine, in the southern part of California, for a time. He finally
died while wandering from place to place and working at odd jobs,
generally as a cook.
Peter O’Riley held his interest until it brought him about $50,000, a
part of which he received in the shape of dividends. He erected a stone
hotel on B Street, Virginia City, called the Virginia House. He then
began dealing in mining stocks and soon lost everything. Under the
guidance of spirits—he was a Spiritualist—he finally began running a
tunnel into a bald and barren granite spur of the Sierras, near Genoa,
in Douglas County, expecting to strike a richer vein than the Comstock.
However, the spirits talked so much to him about caverns of gold and
silver that he became insane and was sent to a private asylum at
Woodbridge, California, where he soon died.
The men who made millions were those who came after the mines had been
pretty well prospected, as Mackay, Fair, Sharon, Jones, and others.
Early Mining and Milling.
Once people became convinced of the richness, extent, and permanency of
the ore deposits on the Comstock, towns were built up on the lode and at
points in the valleys as if by enchantment. Machinery was brought over
the Sierras under all manner of difficulties by teams, and soon mills
for working the ores were built by scores. In 1859 the Americans, as a
people, knew nothing about silver mining. At that time there were
probably not a dozen American miners on the Pacific Coast who had ever
even seen a sample of silver ore. In the California placer mines,
however, were quite a number of Mexicans who had worked in silver mines
in their own country. These men at once deserted their gold placers in
California and came flocking over to the Sierras when the cry of “Plata!
mucha plata!” was raised among them. “A gold placer,” said they, “is
soon worked out, but a silver mine lasts for generations and
generations.”
At first the word of the Mexicans was law in the new silver mines, both
as regarded ore and the methods of mining and working it. Every American
miner endeavored to secure a Mexican partner, or at least a Mexican
foreman to take charge of his mine. Mexican methods, however, soon
proved to be too slow for the Americans. Their arastras, patios, and
little adobe smelting furnaces were the primitive contrivances of a
non-mechanical people, and of a race of miners working as individuals,
and on a very small scale at that.
The Americans at once introduced stamp mills for crushing the ore, and
next introduced pans to hasten the process of amalgamation. The
operation of amalgamating the crushed ore, which required days by the
patio process, was reduced to hours by the use of steam-heated iron
pans.
The Mexican miners were no better underground at working in the vein
than they were on the surface, at extracting the precious metals after
the ore was mined. In the Mexican mine, where everything was managed
according to their own notions—the owner being a Mexican named Gabriel
Maldanado—they carried the ore out of the mine in rawhide sacks, the
miners climbing to the surface by means of a series of notched poles.
Their timbering was also very defective. In ore bodies so large as those
of the Comstock, they did not know how to support the ground.
Among the miners working in the gold placers of California at the time
of the discovery of silver on this side of the Sierras, were a few
Germans who had worked in the silver mines of their “Vaterland,” and
among these were some half dozen who had been educated in the mining
academy of Freyberg, and had received regular scientific and practical
training in the art of mining. The mining and metallurgical knowledge of
these men was the best then existing in any part of the world, as
regarded the working of argentiferous ores. The Germans introduced the
barrel process of amalgamation and the roasting of ores. While the
barrel process was a great improvement on the patio, it was found not so
well adapted to the rapid working of the Comstock ores as the newly
invented pan process. It has also been found that the free milling ores
of the lode do not require to be roasted.
Philip Deidesheimer, a German who had been appointed superintendent of
the Ophir Mine, however, invented a method of timbering in “square
sets,” which is perfect in every respect, and which is still in use in
all Comstock mines. By this method of building up squares of framed
timbers an ore vein of any width may be safely worked to any height or
depth; a vein 300 feet in width may as rapidly be worked as one only 10
or 20 feet wide.
Mining Difficulties and Inventions.
Early in the mining history of the Comstock there began to be heavy
flows of water with which to contend. This called for pumping machinery
and apparatus; and as greater and greater depth was attained, larger and
larger pumps were demanded. The best and heaviest machinery in use in
Europe was examined, and upon this improvements were from time to time
made as increased flows of water required increased capacity. All the
inventive genius of the Pacific Coast was called into play, and the
result has been the construction of some of the most powerful and
effective steam and hydraulic pumping apparatus to be found in any part
of the world.
At first the water with which the Comstock miners had to contend was
cold, but it was not long before the deeper workings cut into parts of
the vein where were tapped heavy flows of hot water—water actually hot
enough to cook an egg, or to scald a man to death almost instantly.
Several miners have lost their lives by falling into large tanks, or
sumps, of this water, hot from the vein. The hot water called for fans,
blowers, and all kinds of ventilating apparatus, as men working in
heated drifts had to have a supply of cool and fresh air sent in to
them. Great improvements have also been made in hoisting cages, though
the first idea of these came from Europe.
In California at the time of the discovery of the Comstock, were many
men who had worked in the mines of Cornwall, England. These men
thoroughly understood all manner of under-ground work, and were able to
successfully carry through many undertakings in the way of sinking
shafts, inclines, and winzes, and in making raises and running drifts in
ground where the difficulties at first sight seemed almost
insurmountable.
Various Mining and Milling Appliances.
Compressed air for running power drills, and for driving fans and small
hoisting engines at depths varying from 1,000 to 3,000 feet below the
surface, was early adopted in the Comstock mines, as also were the
several new explosives for blasting. Diamond drills for drilling long
distances through solid rock were also at one time in general use, but
have been discarded for prospecting purposes, being found unreliable.
The existence of ore may be ascertained by means of the diamond drill,
but the amount found is a matter of uncertainty in all cases.
By the pan processes in the early days there were immense losses in the
precious metals and in quicksilver. While the pans might be much alike
in construction almost every millman was making experiments with some
secret process of his own for the amalgamation of the ore. It now seems
ridiculous, but some millmen were actually using sagebrush tea in their
pans, and others a decoction of cedar bark. They tried all manner of
trash, both mineral and vegetable. It was at that time that untold
millions in gold, silver, and quicksilver were swept away into the
Carson River with the tailings; for the ore on which all these
experiments were tried was almost pure silver. Although scores of
amalgamating pans of various patterns have been invented and patented,
there is still room for improvement. The improvements made from time to
time have resulted in saving a large per cent of the precious metals
contained in the ores operated upon, and also in a smaller loss of
quicksilver, yet none of the apparatus in use is perfect. Experiments
having in view further savings are still constantly being made.
The Comstock as a School for Miners.
The Comstock is the mother of silver mining in America. In this lode
hundreds of men have obtained a thorough practical knowledge of mining
in all its forms and departments. Men who were graduated on the Comstock
are now to be found in all parts of the world. They early went to Idaho,
Montana, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and British
Columbia. Old Comstock foremen and superintendents are to-day in charge
of mines in Mexico, Central America, South America, Australia, Africa,
China, Japan, and all other regions where there is mining for the
precious metals. Already they are in the gold fields of the Amoor
River—having pushed their way across from Alaska—and they are ready to
push their way to the ends of the earth in search of the precious
metals.
Virginia City and its Surroundings.
Virginia City, the county seat of Storey County, is situated on the
eastern face of Mount Davidson, the culminating peak of a range of rocky
hills running northeast and southwest, and having a length of about
thirty-two miles. Mount Davidson rises to a height of 7,775 feet above
the level of the sea, and is a rocky, treeless peak. On the slope of
this mountain, about 1,775 feet below its summit, lies Virginia City. It
may be said that the city occupies a position about midway between the
base and the apex of the mountain, as the Carson River, which flows
along near the eastern foot of the range, is 1,700 feet below the town.
It is literally “a city set on a hill.”
From the tents and brush shanties set up near the Ophir Mine immediately
after the discovery of silver was made, the growth of the town was
rapid. The first structure worthy of the name of “house” was erected in
the summer of 1859, by Lyman Jones, a pioneer miner of Gold Canyon. It
was of canvass and was 18x40 feet in size. Soon several frame structures
were removed from Johntown and from Dayton (then called “Chinatown”) to
the “new diggings” of “Ophir.” Lumber from saw-mills in the foot-hills
of the Sierras was then procured and a few small houses and offices
erected. As there was then no wagon road up the mountain to where the
city now stands it was necessary to carry lumber up to the new diggings
on horses, half packing and half dragging it from the valley, where it
was delivered by wagons. Very soon, however, a wagon track was made up
the mountain, and building then progressed more rapidly.
At first the new mining camp had no fixed or acknowledged name. It was
variously spoken of as “Ophir,” “Ophir Diggings,” “Pleasant Hill,” and
“Mount Pleasant Point,” though at that time there could have been
nothing very “pleasant” about the place, except the sight of the gold
and silver then being dug out by the pound and by the ton almost at the
surface of the ground—less than a yard below the roots of the
sage-brush. Even as late as October, 1859, the place was called Ophir
Diggings. About that time James Fennimore, known among the miners as
“Old Virginia,” was in the camp one night, having a “little run with the
boys,” when he fell and broke his whisky bottle against a rock. Old
Virginia picked up the bottom part of the bottle, in which still
remained a small quantity of the precious liquid, and, solemnly pouring
it upon the ground, said, “I christen this camp Virginia!” He called
upon those present to bear witness to the fact that he had duly named
and christened the town in honor of himself and his native State.
Old Virginia was a favorite among the miners, and one and all declared
that Virginia should be the name of the town. At first the place was
called “Virginia Town,” but soon the word city was tacked on to
Virginia, the name by which it was christened, and Virginia City it has
remained. Old Virginia had some right to name the town. He was one of
the first to mine on Six-mile Canyon, working at a point now included in
the eastern suburbs of the city, and he was the first man in the country
to locate a quartz vein in the vicinity. This vein was a large one lying
west of the Ophir, and known as the “Virginia Vein,” or “Virginia
Croppings.” This back lead contained a vast deal of “base metal,” but
very little paying ore. The location was made February 22, 1858, more
than a year before the discovery of silver. In July, 1861, “Old
Virginia” was thrown from a “bucking” mustang, in the town of Dayton,
and killed. At the time of his death he was possessed of about $3,000 in
gold coin.
The first buildings were erected pretty much at random in the new town,
but soon streets were laid out. Those nearest the Ophir Mine were first
built on—A and B Streets. In the spring of 1860, B Street was the
principal business street of the town, and there were several places of
business on A Street, while many new buildings were going up on C
Street—the principal business street at present.
The first winter (1859-60) many persons lived in holes excavated in the
side of the mountain and roofed with sagebrush and earth. There were
then no hotel accommodations worthy of the name. Peter O’Riley’s stone
hotel, on B Street, was not yet completed, and the International Hotel,
owned by Bateman & Paul, was a little frame structure, capable of
accommodating only a small number of persons, and those in the roughest
style imaginable. In May, 1860, a war broke out with the Piute Indians
that lasted a month. This trouble caused a grand stampede of the white
settlers, and gave the new town a temporary backset, but the people soon
recovered from their fright, and in another month building was as lively
as before the war broke out.
During the years 1860-61 the town built up very rapidly, and in 1862-63
brick and stone “fire-proof” buildings were erected in all directions,
as already fires began to be of frequent occurrence. Year by year the
city grew in area, population, and wealth. Building went on both summer
and winter, and at times was pushed almost day and night. As the mines
were opened and worked their immense richness attracted hundreds and
thousands of persons from California, and all parts of the Atlantic
States and Canada. Money was more plentiful and the prices paid for
skilled and all other kinds of labor were far higher than anywhere else
on the American continent; all articles of merchandise also brought
greater prices than could anywhere else be obtained. Gold coin jingled
in the pockets of all in the city—those of the drones as well as those
of the workers.
With the honest, industrious, and peaceable came the sharper, the idler,
and the desperado. Adventurers of every class and every grade of
wickedness, both male and female, swarmed in the town. There were many
desperate affrays, robberies, and murders. “Cutting and shooting
scrapes” were of almost daily and nightly occurrence in the streets and
in the saloons. At one time the nightly killings were so frequent that
residents expected each morning to hear that there was “a man for
breakfast.”
Finally murders, robberies, and incendiary fires became so frequent that
a “Vigilance Committee,” known as “601,” was organized and became active
in the spring of 1871. It was the object of the organization to rid the
town of all manner of evil-doers, and particularly of such desperate
characters as almost without provocation killed peaceable citizens.
After there had been two or three hangings by “601,” and after many bad
characters had received “notices” to leave (which all at once obeyed),
the city again became quiet and orderly.