spontaneous rejoicing: Although George D. Lyman’s The Saga of the Comstock Lode: Boom Days in Virginia City (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934), p. 327, says that the news broke in Virginia City on April 11 (citing Territorial Enterprise), “From the Virginia Union” and “The Virginia Union,” Daily Alta California, April 15, 1865, say that Virginia learned the news “on Monday morning.” Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, a Sunday.
missed their Tuesday issues: “The Virginia Union,” Daily Alta California, April 15, 1865; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 209, citing Virginia Union, April 12, 1865; George D. Lyman’s The Saga of the Comstock Lode, pp. 327–29.
mourning sheets draped nearly: “City Items,” Daily Alta California, April 16, 1865.
“low tones . . . expressive”: “How Lincoln’s Death Was Received in Virginia City,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 16, citing Territorial Enterprise, April 18, 1865; Angel, ed., History of Nevada, pp. 270–71.
“very dissipated”: “Conversation with Mrs. Robert Howland (Louise A. Meyer),” September 5, 1929, Grant Smith Collection, Box 1, Folder 18.
Louise Meyer Howland: Ibid.
for the rest of her life: “The Hungerford Family” and “Mackay’s Lonely Life,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 2, Folder 8, and Box 4, Folder 1; Berlin, Silver Platter, pp. 111–20.
“one thing is” . . . “far famed and”: “A Glimpse at the Washoe Mines,” Daily Alta California, May 27, 1865.
Kentuck had received no mention: “Washoe Mining Claims,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 13, 1863.
said not a word about: The December article about the Gold Hill mines that makes no mention of the Kentuck: “The Mines of Gold Hill District, Nevada Territory,” Daily Alta California, December 24, 1863; the author’s careful scrutiny of every issue of Mining & Scientific Press didn’t reveal a single mention of the Kentuck before the mine’s incorporation notice, which appeared in the October 7, 1865, issue (the Kentuck had incorporated on August 22, 1865), even though it sat between two of the most important mines south of Gold Hill; besides V. A. Houseworth’s location notice in the Gold Hill record book, the earliest published mention of the Kentuck I’ve seen is the mine’s incorporation notice, which appeared in Daily Alta California on August 24, 1865. Kentuck stock quotations appeared regularly thereafter. The Kentuck appeared in a comprehensive list of Comstock mines in Daily Alta California on March 19, 1866.
Maps of the Comstock Lode: “Map of Virginia, Gold Hill, Devils Gate, American Flat Gold and Silver Mining Districts, State of Nevada (1865),” Higgenson & Goldsworthy, UNR Special Collections; “Map of Gold Hill Front Lodes on the Comstock Range (N.T.),” Nelson Wescoatt, 1864, UNR Special Collections.
Houseworth’s claim antedated: Margaret M. Quinlan, Office of the Storey County Recorder, to Grant H. Smith, September 15, 1930, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17, citing Gold Hill Mining District, Book 26 of Deeds, pp. 593; also, Grant Smith, “The Kentuck Brings Mackay’s First Fortune,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 2, folder 7.
Valentine A. Houseworth: Houseworth is recorded as “J. A. Houseworth,” or “John A. Houseworth” in some sources, but as “V. A. Houseworth” in others. He is “Valentine A. Houseworth” in a quitclaim deed for the Kentuck mine in Book 35 of Deeds, Storey County Records, pp. 122–23, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17, “JM Walker.” Precedence is given for documentation over which money changed hands.
John “Kentuck” Osborne: Henry de Groot, “Comstock Papers No. 7,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 14, 1876. The Report of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Vol. III, p. 99, credits the Kentuck with a 932/3-foot slice of the Comstock Lode.
“modest circumstances”: Henry de Groot, “Comstock Papers No. 7,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 14, 1876.
Houseworth conveyed a quitclaim: Book 26 of Deeds, p. 593, Storey County Records, PDF image of the quitclaim provided to the author by Roberta Martinoni, Deputy Recorder, Storey County, April 14, 2017.
The Kentuck incorporated with: “List of Officers of Mining Companies and Incorporations,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 7, 1865, said the Kentuck incorporated on August 22; “Court Proceedings, Wednesday, August 23,” Daily Alta California, August 24, 1865, said the mine incorporated on August 23.
Kentuck’s principal owners: Details of the Kentuck ownership are difficult to discern. Many people said Mackay made his first big “raise” from the Kentuck, many of whom heard it from Mackay himself. Confoundingly, on January 19, 1866, Daily Alta California published a list of Kentuck shareholders who had not paid the December 12, 1865, assessment. The list represents 1,618 of the mine’s 2,000 shares and neither Mackay’s nor Walker’s name is among them. That presents several possibilities—one, Mackay and Walker owned the remaining 382 shares on which they had already paid the assessments and perhaps possessed themselves of many more shares in the January 9, 1866, transactions; two, some of the shares on the published list were actually already owned by Mackay and Walker and the shares were registered in other names to disguise their ownership, a tactic often employed to disguise speculative maneuvers; or three, with the expensive assessment depressing the value of the stock, Mackay and Walker bought out some of their co-owners, a possibility that doesn’t square with the oft-told story that Mackay and Walker pledged their entire fortune to fund Kentuck development.
$20,000 in exchange for: Book 26 of Deeds, pp. 594, Storey County Records, PDF image of the quitclaim provided to the author by Roberta Martinoni, Deputy Recorder, Storey County, April 14, 2017.
borrowed $20,000: Many sources (i.e., Oscar Lewis, Silver Kings: The Life and Times of MacKay, Fair, Flood, and O’Brien, Lords of the Nevada Comstock Lode [Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1986], p. 69) say Mackay and Walker borrowed $60,000, including Grant Smith, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17, “Conversation with James E. Walsh, September 12, 1929.” However, James D. Hague and Clarence King, Report of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Vol. III, Mining Industry (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1870), p. 182, published in 1870, say they borrowed $20,000. I’ve chosen to use the more modest figure because it is more contemporaneous and it seems possible that Hague and King obtained the number from Mackay himself, and because it “feels” like a more reasonable number.
small workforce: “Virginia City and Vicinity,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 3, 1866, reported the Kentuck workforce as eleven men, which may or may not have included Mackay.
“carrying full sail”: “The Great West, November 29, 1865,” New York Times, December 26, 1865.
Most men thought: “City Items: Talk on ’Change,” Daily Alta California, October 1, 1865.
“recent developments in”: “Talk on ’Change,” Daily Alta California, December 10, 1865.
“fresh stampede”: “From the Stock Circular of the Associated Brokers of the S. F. Stock & Exchange Board,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 16, 1865; also, “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, December 13, 1865.
assessment on Kentuck stock: “Kentuck Mining Company,” Daily Alta California, December 21, 1865.
“reports of better”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, December 30, 1865.
Hale & Norcross struck: “Encouraging News from the Comstock Lode,” Daily Alta California, December 30, 1865; Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 87.
“favorable indications”: “From the Stock Circular of the Associated Brokers of the S. F. Stock & Exchange Board,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 30, 1865.
and signed the extension: “Mackay Joins the Bullion Venture; The Kentuck Brings Mackay’s First Fortune,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 16, citing an interview with James E. Walsh, September 12, 1929. Walsh was manager of the Flood estate and connected to James Flood and John Mackay through much of his lifetime. He held a power of attorney for Mackay for the last ten years of Mackay’s life. Walsh described Mackay as
taking great delight in telling this story.
“very rich”: “Mining Summary,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 13, 1866; Gold Hill News, January 3, 1866, said the strike was made at 275 feet; James Hague and Clarence King, United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Vol. III, Mining Industry (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1870), pp. 42, 44.
richest men in the world: For sources for Mackay and Walker’s Kentuck operation, see R. L. Fulton, “Reminiscences of Nevada,” First Biennial Report of the Nevada Historical Society, 1907–1908 (Carson City, NV: State Printing Office, 1909), pp. 85–86; “Conversation with James E. Walsh, September 12, 1929,” and “Kentuck,” Grant Smith, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17; “Mackay Joins the Bullion Venture; The Kentuck Brings Mackay’s First Fortune,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 16; Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, pp. 103–6; Lewis, Silver Kings, pp. 68–70; Michael J. Makley, John Mackay: Silver King in the Gilded Age (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2009), pp. 28–30.
CHAPTER 9: THE RISE OF THE BANK RING
“come out right”: “Washoe All Right,” Sacramento Daily Union, March 13, 1866.
Fearful storms assailed Washoe: “Our Virginia City Letter, January 18, 1866,” Marysville Daily Appeal, January 25, 1866.
The December strike made: “The Rich Deposit in the Hale and Norcross,” Daily Alta California, February 11, 1866, citing Territorial Enterprise.
“an extraordinary advance”: “IMPROVEMENT IN MINING STOCKS,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 10, 1866.
Working from the New Year’s: “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 24, 1866; Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, pp. 103–6.
Of the 1,450 miners: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 99, citing Gold Hill Daily News, February 17, 1866.
“a considerable quantity”: “Virginia City and Vicinity,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 17, 1866.
they rescinded the mine’s recent: “Virginia City and Vicinity,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 17, 1866; “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 24, 1866; “Virginia City and Vicinity,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 3, 1866; For the Kentuck’s $7.50 replacement assessment, see “Kentuck Mining Company,” Daily Alta California, February 28, 1866.
rescinded that one, too: “Kentuck Mining Company,” Daily Alta California, March 11, 1866.
Yellow Jacket miners worked west: “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 10, 1866.
“west stratum”: “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 17, 1866; also, “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 24, 1866; “The Virginia Union,” Daily Alta California, April 8, 1866, citing Virginia Union; “Mining Summary,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 14, 1866.
Mackay worked the Kentuck: “Washoe, Nevada,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 7, 1866.
sent about seven thousand tons: “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 21, 1866.
“full blast”: “Virginia City and Vicinity,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 23, 1866.
receipts for the west stratum: “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 31, 1866, and April 14, 1866; “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 2, 1866.
from fifty to eighty dollars per foot: “Mining Dividend,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 17, 1866; “From the Stock Circular . . . ,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 12, 1866.
exceeded the combined total: “Nevada” and “Bullion Figures from Gold Hill, Nevada,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 23, 1866.
The Comstock’s domination: Adolph Sutro, The Sutro Tunnel to the Comstock Lode in the State of Nevada: Importance of Its Construction, and Revenue to Be Derived Therefrom (New York: John A. Gray & Green, Printers, Stereotypers, and Binders, September 1, 1866), p. 8.
Mackay and Walker upped: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, July 21, 1866, citing Territorial Enterprise; “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, October 12, 1866; “Mackay Joins the Bullion, The Kentuck Brings His First Fortune,” p. 31, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, quoting Gold Hill News, June 21, 1866.
product proved sufficient: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 30, 1867.
brought him happiness: New York World, July 27, 1902, citing a letter Mackay wrote to the paper in answer to the question, “Does wealth bring happiness?” (the article doesn’t date Mackay’s letter), article transcribed in “Mackay’s Ambition,” Grant Smith Papers, UCB.
“No property deteriorates”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 246, citing an interview with Alpheus Bull.
Sharon foreclosed on the mill: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 246.
the lode’s millable ore: “Comstock Ledge,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 27, 1866.
“could be accommodated”: “Stock Sharps: How the Mill Ring Got the Mills,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 18, 1872; also, “Mining Matters,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 20, 1872; “Stock Swindling,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 21, 1872; “Stock Swindling,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 23, 1872; “Stocks and Loans: The Irresistible Combination of Banking and Mining,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 24, 1872; Sam Davis, History of Nevada, Vol. I (Reno and Los Angeles: Elms Publishing, 1913), pp. 412–14; Shinn, The Story of the Mine, pp. 162–65; Makley, The Infamous King of the Comstock, says the Bank of California foreclosed on the Swansea on May 1, 1865, however, Eliot Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 246, says the bank acquired the Swansea in May 1866. The 1866 date is likely accurate.
The Crown Point’s annual election: “Our San Francisco Dispatch,” Marysville Daily Appeal, June 5, 1867; “List of Officers of Corporations and Mining Companies,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 9, 1866.
he had concluded contracts: “The Drainage of the Comstock Lode,” Daily Alta California, April 2, 1866.
nineteen leading Comstock mines: Report of the Commissioners and Evidence Taken by the Committee on Mines and Mining of the House of Representatives of the United States in Regard to the Sutro Tunnel, Together with the Arguments and Report of the Committee Recommending a Loan by the Government in Aid of the Construction of Said Work, p. 52.
and London: Ibid., p. 869.
In Washington, Sutro lobbied: “The Congressional Bill Relative to the Drainage of the Comstock Lode,” Daily Alta California, July 13, 1866; “The Sutro Tunnel Bill” and “The Sutro Tunnel in Congress,” Daily Alta California, July 16, 1866; “Passage of the Sutro Tunnel Bill,” Daily Alta California, August 1, 1866; Robert E. Stewart and Mary Francis Stewart, Adolph Sutro: A Biography (Berkeley, CA: Howell-North Books, 1962), pp. 53–54.
“explode”: Report of the Commissioners . . . , p. 876.
blamed the Bank of California: Ibid., pp. 873–74.
The Crown Point repudiated: Ibid., p. 54.
The Savage reneged: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, September 7, 1867; Report of the Commissioners and Evidence Taken by the Committee on Mines and Mining of the House of Representatives of the United States in Regard to the Sutro Tunnel, Together with the Arguments and Report of the Committee Recommending a Loan by the Government in Aid of the Construction of Said Work, p. 877.
as a Washoe powerbroker: Ibid., pp. 54, 878.
of Adolph Sutro in May 1867: Other Sutro sources: “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta California, April 30, 1866; “Acknowledgment,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 5, 1866; “The Sutro Tunnel,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 29, 1866; “The Present Condition of the Sutro Tunnel Project,” Daily Alta California, December 8, 1866; “The Sutro Tunnel,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 8, 1866; “Mining Companies on the Comstock Lode,” Daily Alta California, December 14, 1866; “The Sutro Tunnel,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 29, 1866; “Mr. Sutro’s Argument,” in Report of the Commissioners an
d Evidence Taken by the Committee on Mines and Mining of the House of Representatives of the United States in Regard to the Sutro Tunnel, Together with the Arguments and Report of the Committee Recommending a Loan by the Government in Aid of the Construction of Said Work, pp. 864–73; Angel, ed., History of Nevada, pp. 504–7; Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, pp. 50–51, 107–10; Stewart and Stewart, Adolph Sutro: A Biography, pp. 46–58. (Although none of the other Comstock histories draws a tight connection between the evaporation of Sutro’s support from the Comstock mining companies and the incorporation of the Union Mill and Mining Company, it strikes this author as almost certainly the decisive factor.)
“insufferable egoism”: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 109.
“Owls would roost”: Ibid., p. 110.
“feverish excitement”: “Too True,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 10, 1866.
“set all New York”: “Podgers’ Letter from New York, December 10, 1865,” Daily Alta California, January 10, 1866.
“Twain took his”: Ben Tarnoff, The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature (New York: Penguin Press, 2014), p. 130, quoting a Bret Harte review of a Twain performance published in the Springfield Republican.
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