The Bonanza King

by Gregory Crouch

  “The proportions of”: “The War in Western Utah,” Marysville Daily Appeal, June 20, 1860.

  “I hesitate not”: Tennessee Letter to San Francisco Herald, July 12, 1860, Thompson, ed., The Tennessee Letters from Carson Valley, 1857–1860, p. 155.

  Mackay deeded twenty feet: Margaret M. Quinlan, Office of Storey County Recorder and Auditor to Grant Smith, August 19, 1930, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 18.

  CHAPTER 5: SURROUNDED BY RICHES—AND UNABLE TO GET THEM OUT

  “silver veins are”: “Letter from Washoe, January 8, 1861,” Sacramento Daily Union, January 14, 1861 (a retrospective story that looks back on the previous year).

  “swapping of coats”: “Interesting Intelligence from the Washoe Mines,” Daily Alta California, June 21, 1860.

  “a downward tendency”: “The Ups and Downs of Washoe,” Daily Alta California, May 13, 1860.

  “Washoe stock, as”: Almarin Paul letter to San Francisco Bulletin, cited in the Grant Smith Collection, Box 1, Folder: “Comstock Notes 1858–1863.”

  “squally business”: “California Gossip, April 20, 1860,” New York Times, May 15, 1860.

  “put their foot”: “The Late Failure in San Francisco,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 22, 1860; other sources for the spring setback: “The Results of Washoe,” California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, June 22, 1860;

  “You became victims”: San Francisco Evening Bulletin, May 8, 1860, quoted in Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 77–78.

  “a grand humbug”: “The Hidden Wealth,” Daily Alta California, July 25, 1860.

  “glaring and barefaced”: “A Picture of Washoe,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 16, 1860, cited in the Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder : “Comstock Notes 1858–1863”; other complaints about Washoe swindling: “Food and Speculation at Washoe,” Daily Alta California, May 13, 1860; “A Picture of Washoe,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 16, 1860; “The Late Failure in San Francisco,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 22, 1860; “The Results of Washoe,” California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, June 22, 1860; “Notes from Virginia City, July 5, 1860,” Sacramento Daily Union, July 10, 1860; “The Hidden Wealth,” Daily Alta California, July 25, 1860.

  a tank winched up: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 88.

  Mules hitched to: Shinn, The Story of the Mine, p. 94; alluded to but not specifically attributed to the Ophir in other sources.

  double expansion twenty-four-inch caloric engines: “California Gossip, April 20, 1860,” New York Times, May 15, 1860.

  thousands of tons of lower-grade: “Notes of a Hasty Trip to the Washoe Mines,” Daily Alta California, September 27, 1860.

  less than sixty days: “City Items,” Daily Alta California, March 23, 1861, says construction took fifty-seven days.

  Four days later: Every other Comstock history, including ones written by Almarin Paul and others written with his help, claim that the mill started work on August 11, 1860. However, those accounts were written fifteen to twenty years after the fact. A “Letter from Washoe, Silver City, August 15, 1860,” to Sacramento Daily Union (published August 29, 1860) says that “actual operations commenced on August 13 under the supervision of Almarind K. Paul [sic]”; “Silver City Mines,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 25, 1860, confirms the date.

  “monster institution”: “Washoe Items,” Red Bluff Beacon, October 3, 1860, quoting Territorial Enterprise, September 22, 1860.

  The milling boom unleashed: “Letter from Washoe, Silver City, August 15, 1860,” Sacramento Daily Union, August 29, 1860; “Notes of a Trip Through the Western Utah Territory, September 9, 1860,” Daily Alta California, September 17, 1860; “Silver City Mines,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 25, 1860; “City Items,” Daily Alta California, March 23, 1861; “Notes on Washoe, June 1, 1861,” Daily Alta California, June 16, 1861; Henry de Groot, “Comstock Papers, No. 15,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 3, 1877; Henry de Groot, “Comstock Papers, No. 16,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 10, 1877; Henry de Groot, “Comstock Papers, No. 17,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 24, 1877; J. Ross Browne and James W. Taylor, Mineral Resources of the United States, pp. 29–30; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 80–89 (based largely on an 1880 interview with Paul); Shinn, The Story of the Mine, pp. 80–89.

  “cloth cabins”: “Mining Region in Utah,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 8, 1860.

  “deprived a number”: “Letter from Washoe,” Marysville Daily Appeal, citing Territorial Enterprise of September 22, 1860.

  in Virginia City: Henry de Groot took the census in August, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder “Comstock Notes 1858–1863.”

  “first came the”: Marion S. Goldman, Gold Diggers and Silver Miners: Prostitution and Social Life on the Comstock (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1981), p. 1.

  just like the men around: Roland M. James and Kenneth H. Fliess, “Women of the Mining West: Virginia City Revisited,” in Ronald M. James and C. Elizabeth Raymond, eds., Comstock Women: The Making of a Mining Community (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1998), pp. 21–22, synthesizes information about the occupations of Comstock women in 1860.

  “calling him the”: “The Shooting Affair at Virginia City,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 1, 1860.

  captured none of the assailants: “Shooting Affair at Virginia City,” Sacramento Daily Union, August 28, 1860; “The Shooting Affair at Virginia City,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 1, 1860.

  “raising a row”: “More Shooting in Virginia,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 7, 1860.

  “bloodshed, violence”: Henry de Groot, “Sketches of the Washoe Silver Mines—No. 13,” Daily Alta California, March 17, 1860.

  “shadow and shield”: “Letter from Washoe,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 20, 1860.

  “Sodom festering”: “Nevada Territory,” Visalia Weekly Delta, December 1, 1860.

  “float shadows”: “Letter from Washoe, September 17, 1860,” Daily Alta California, September 21, 1860.

  evidence that made it seem: “The Mines of Utah,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 23, 1860.

  “contrariety of opinion”: “Notes on a Trip Through Western Utah, September 9, 1860,” Daily Alta California, September 17, 1860.

  “You bet”: “Letter from Washoe, September 28, 1860,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 1, 1860.

  ladies intended to stick: “From Virginia City, September 13, 1860,” Red Bluff Independent, September 21, 1860.

  recalled working alongside: Grant Smith interview with John B. Shaw, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 2, Folder 6, “Mackay’s First Years on the Comstock,” p. 62; “Mr. Mackay’s Career,” New York Times, February 25, 1892, also claims that Mackay worked for the Mexican, as does “Outline of Life of John W. Mackay” and “John W. Mackay, Chronology,” both in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/II/8 (both likely written by Grant Smith); also “Mackay’s First Years on the Comstock,” Grant Smith Collection, Box 2, Folder 6. (This author is not fully convinced by these sources, as the Mexican mine employed mostly men experienced in Mexican silver mines and notoriously eschewed extensive timbering—a decision that would cost it dearly in 1863, as shall be seen.)

  “a continuous sheathing”: Shinn, The Story of the Mine, p. 95.

  155 feet below the surface: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 89, citing San Francisco Evening Bulletin, October 24, 1860; also, “Later from Washoe,” Marysville Daily Appeal, November 11, 1860, citing Territorial Enterprise.

  “discharged so rapidly”: “The Mines of Utah,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 23, 1860.

  “much elated”: “Later from California,” New Orleans Daily Crescent, November 9, 1860.

  formerly a ship captain: “Notes of Travel in Nevada Territory, June 25, 1862,” Marysville Daily Appeal, June 29, 1862, says Dall commanded the steamship J. L. Stephens before the Comstock era; maritimeheritage.org places him at the helm of SS Columbia; http://www.shippassengers.c
om/ships/steamships#SSColumbia, accessed October 17, 2016. Both vessels served in the Pacific Mail Steamship Company fleet during the 1850s.

  “strong, heavy timbers”: “A Visit to Virginia City,” Sacramento Daily Union, November 4, 1861.

  “striking contrast”: “Ophir and Potosi,” Daily Alta California, March 29, 1861, citing an article in Marysville Democrat.

  “ingenious frames of”: “Notes of Nevada Travel, June 25, 1862,” Marysville Daily Appeal, June 28, 1862.

  novel square-set timbering system: Angel, ed., History of Nevada, pp. 572–74; De Quille, History of the Big Bonanza, pp. 89–92; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 89–90; Shinn, The Story of the Mine, pp. 94–98; William H. Storms, Timbering and Mining: A Treatise on Practical American Methods (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1909), pp. 187–204; Glenna Dunning, “Philipp Deidesheimer and the Comstock Lode,” German Life, May, 2001, p. 39; Otis E. Young, Jr., “Philipp Deidesheimer, 1832–1916: ‘Engineer of the Comstock,’ ” Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 4, Winter 1975, pp. 361–69; Deidesheimer’s claim that the Ophir made him superintendent in the spring of 1861 is suspect. “Notes of Washoe,” Daily Alta California, May 16, 1861, describes the Ophir as “under the superintendence of Capt. Dall.” The first contemporary reference to Deidesheimer as superintendent I found is in “A Visit to Virginia City,” Sacramento Daily Union, November 4, 1861. Also, according to “Washoe Items,” Daily Alta California, October 3, 1861, the forty-horsepower engine Deidesheimer claimed to have installed immediately upon assuming the reins of the Ophir was in transit to Washoe on that date.

  five to ten tons of ore per shift: “From Nevada Territory,” Red Bluff Independent, December 6, 1861.

  The Mexican mined on the dip: Hittell, Mining on the Pacific Slope of North America, pp. 106–7, footnote quoting an article in San Francisco Bulletin.

  Sources don’t reveal: Storey County Mining Records don’t record Mackay making a single transaction in 1861. A few sources published after his death claimed that Mackay went to Aurora and made an unsuccessful investment in the Esmeralda District (Sam Davis, ed., History of Nevada, Volume II, p. 1063; also, Mackay Summary, “Probably Mr. Pratt,” Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/II/3). That claim is difficult to reconcile with an entry in the Storey County Records that shows Mackay receiving 225 feet of Milton Company ground in late November 1862 for completion of the tunnel he’d agreed to build for the Buck Ledge back in March of 1860. The original contract required Mackay to “run said tunnel five days in every week till his contract is completed”; the November 1862 transaction records the “full satisfaction thereof,” and passed to Mackay the feet of mine he’d earned with diligent labor.

  “in a fret because”: “Our Washoe Correspondence, February 5, 1861,” Daily Alta California, February 8, 1861.

  roughly $1 million worth of gold (estimated, predominantly from the Central-Ophir-Mexican bonanza and the Gold Hill mines): Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 416. However, J. Ross Browne and James W. Taylor, Reports Upon the Mineral Resources of the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1867), p. 104, credits the Comstock with only $100,000 of 1860 production, which is less than the Washoe bullion deposited at the San Francisco Mint in 1860.

  “pure silver white”: “City Items,” Daily Alta California, December 16, 1860.

  “Our position is”: “A Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union,” text online at the Avalon Project, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp, accessed October 25, 2016.

  “There never were”: “From California, April 20, 1860,” New York Times, May 13, 1861.

  “California is better”: “From Another Correspondent, January 1, 1860,” New York Times, February 4, 1860.

  secret secessionist societies: “Secessionists at Washoe,” Daily Alta California, May 24, 1861; “Secession in Nevada Territory,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 30, 1861.

  “rag of treason”: “Traitors in Virginia City,” Daily Alta California, June 8, 1861.

  “obnoxious emblem”: “The Secession Flag Flying in Virginia City,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 12, 1861, citing Territorial Enterprise.

  “a man is”: “Matters in Virginia City, June 5, 1861,”Sacramento Daily Union, June 10, 1861.

  “rascal prophets”: “Nevada Territory,” Visalia Weekly Delta, December 1, 1860.

  “locked up in”: “Mining News from Washoe,” Daily Alta California, December 19, 1860.

  The Gould & Curry claim had: “A Washoe Mining Company,” May 4, 1860; “Mining Corporations Formed in 1860,” Sacramento Daily Union, January 1, 1861; Grant Smith Collection, UCB, “The Gould & Curry Bonanza.”

  “San Francisco moneyocratic”: “The Mines of Gold Hill Compared with Those of Virginia,” Daily Alta California, November 2, 1861, citing The Silver Age.

  which was quickly scooped up: James D. Hague, Report on the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Vol. III, Mining Industry, p. 172; “freezing operations”: “Notes of Nevada Travel,” Marysville Daily Appeal, June 28, 1862; “The Mines of Gold Hill Compared with Those of Virginia,” Daily Alta California, November 2, 1861, citing The Silver Age; “Letter from Nevada Territory, November 1, 1862,” Daily Alta California, November 11, 1862; “Our Letter from Aurora,” Daily Alta California, January 13, 1863; “Letter from Aurora, Cal., August 18, 1863,” Daily Alta California, August 26, 1863; Gould & Curry’s Lower Adit begun March 1861: “Gould and Curry Gold and Silver Mining Company,” Daily Alta California, January 1, 1864; construction of the Gould & Curry mill begun: “Late from Virginia City,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 18, 1861, citing Territorial Enterprise, June 15, 1861.

  “curried [the mine] so slick”: “The Mines of Gold Hill Compared with Those of Virginia,” Daily Alta California, November 2, 1861, citing The Silver Age.

  the Potosi mine drove an adit: “Ophir and Potosi,” Daily Alta California, March 29, 1861, citing Marysville Democrat.

  hundredweights of bullion: “Nevada Territory Items,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 1, 1861, citing Territorial Enterprise, May 25, 1861.

  Caledonia gold- and silver-mining: The Caledonia was incorporated April 7, 1861: “Mining Corporation,” Daily Alta California, April 7, 1861.

  Observant citizens built: Living improvements noted in: “Notes on Washoe, June 1, 1861,” Daily Alta California, June 16, 1861.

  “the vigor, energy”: “Letter from Washoe, February 7, 1861,” Daily Alta California, February 11, 1861.

  June 20, around noon: Fenimore’s accident and death: “Letter from Silver City, June 20, 1861,” Daily Alta California, June 23, 1861; De Quille, History of the Big Bonanza, pp. 52–53.

  “at times dissipated”: “Death of a Mineral Discoverer,” Sacramento Daily Union, July 8, 1861, citing Territorial Enterprise.

  “Uncle Sam’s authority”: “Matters in Virginia City, June 5, 1861,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 10, 1861.

  “foreign capitalists”; “noisy amusements”; and “It is more”: “Nevada Territorial Legislature, October 17, 1861,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 21, 1861.

  Winters attacked a man: “Legislative Fight,” Red Bluff Independent, November 26, 1861.

  Bactrian camels: “California, August 11, 1869,” New York Times, September 3, 1860; “More Bactrian Camels,” Marysville Daily Appeal, November 17, 1861; “Gossip from San Francisco, April 11, 1862,” New York Times, May 8,1862; Mining & Scientific Press, October 6, 1863; “Camel Train,” Marysville Daily Appeal, October 9, 1863; Sam Davis, History of Nevada, p. 333.

  “one man on show-shoes”: “State Summary,” California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, November 8, 1861.

  “on a visit of business”: “Gone to Washoe,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 17, 1861.

  “dogs” or “gentlemen”: “From Nevada Territory,” Red Bluff Independent, December 10, 1861.

  exacting as a supervi
sor: “Famous Life of a Maker of Millions,” San Francisco Call, July 21, 1902.

  “circulating sunshine”: “John W. Mackay and His Friends,” New York Times, July 27, 1902.

  never “put on the dog”: Sam Davis, “He Was Manly, He Was Kind and He Was Honorable,” San Francisco Examiner, July 21, 1902.

  Mackay’s “truthfulness” and “sincerity”: “Everybody Liked Him, Says Mr. D. O. Mills,” New York Herald, July 21, 1902.

  “the toil, privation”: New York World, July 27, 1902, quoted in Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17, “Mackay Obituary Comments.”

  “stimulated every fiber”: Grant Smith interview with James E. Walsh, February 10, 1931, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17, “Mackay.”

  “to win a name”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 302, citing an interview with John Mackay, probably around 1880; also, “Mackay’s Ambition,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17.

  CHAPTER 6: REVVING UP THE BOOM

  “Alas, no more”: “History of the Pacific Telegraph,” Marysville Daily Appeal, November 10, 1861, citing San Francisco Bulletin, November 7, 1861.

  “roundly”: “History of the Pacific Telegraph,” Marysville Daily Appeal, November 10, 1861, citing San Francisco Bulletin, November 7, 1861.

  a service that would: Ibid.

  “the principal element”: “The New Gold and Silver Territories,” New York Times, November 12, 1861.

  “Ladies few; women”: “From Nevada Territory,” Red Bluff Independent, December 10, 1861.

  “worth her weight”: “There Is Quite,” Marysville Daily Appeal, January 23, 1863.

  “walk into a”: “Feet,” Marysville Daily Appeal, May 16, 1863.

  “proposition from any”: J. Ross Browne, “Washoe Revisited,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, May 1865, p. 682.

  “fixed fact”: “Telegraphic Celebration,” Marysville Daily Appeal, December 3, 1861.

  “a vast lake”: “Letter from Nevada Territory, January 12, 1862,” Daily Alta California, January 20, 1862.