The Bonanza King

by Gregory Crouch

  “hurricane of applause”: Ibid., p. 131, citing Twain’s friend Steve Gillis.

  “an entertainment of”: Alf Doten, Territorial Enterprise, November 1, 1866, in “Explanatory Notes,” commentary on Mark Twain to Jane Lampton Clemens, November 2, 1866, www.marktwainproject.org, letters, accessed June 3, 2017.

  “an immense success”: “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta California, November 4, 1866.

  “most uncomfortably genuine”: Twain, Roughing It, p. 500.

  as their own: “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta California, November 1, 1866; “Mark Twain’s Lecture at Virginia,” Sacramento Daily Union, November 3, 1866, citing Territorial Enterprise, November 1, 1866; “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta California, November 4, 1866. For the robbery, see “Mark Twain Robbed,” Sacramento Daily Union, November 13, 1866; “Mark Twain and the Road Agents,” Daily Alta California, November 14, 1866; “A Robbery Joke,” Sacramento Daily Union, November 15, 1866, citing Territorial Enterprise, November 13, 1866; Twain, Roughing It, pp. 497–502; see also, Tarnoff, The Bohemians, pp. 131–33.

  “as the mine is”: “Mines of Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 12, 1867.

  “superior class of”: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 3, 1866, citing Gold Hill News, October 24, 1866; “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 1, 1866; “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta California, December 6, 1866, citing Gold Hill News.

  Gold Hill’s Petaluma Mill: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 1, 1866; “Nevada Items,” Daily Alta California, February 18, 1867.

  bought the mill outright: Gold Hill News, May 25, 1867, article transcribed in Grant Smith, “Kentuck,” UCB, Box 1, Folder 17.

  Tetanus symptoms: Author’s email correspondence with Dr. Mark Robinson, MD.

  June 29, 1866: “Died,” Sacramento Daily Union, July 10, 1866; Pioneer Memorial Park, Laurel Hill Cemetery Association to Grant Smith, September 2, 1930, says Dr. Bryant died on June 30, 1866, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 18.

  The doctor died in debt: Grant Smith, “The Hungerford Family,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, citing an interview with Mrs. Wilson Lochlin; Berlin, Silver Platter, pp. 124–31.

  “active operations”: “For the Liberal Army,” Daily Alta California, August 22, 1866; see also, “By Telegraph to the Union,” Sacramento Daily Union, August 22, 1866. Colonel Hungerford’s hagiographic biography Life of Colonel Daniel E. Hungerford (almost certainly financed by John Mackay) says he departed for Mexico in 1865. Contemporary newspaper articles make it apparent that he went south the following year, on July 24, 1866.

  “went out by the day”: Janet I. Loverin and Robert A. Nylen, “Creating a Fashionable Society: Comstock Needleworkers from 1860 to 1880,” in James and Raymond, eds., Comstock Women, pp. 115–41.

  Daughters of Charity: Anne M. Butler, “The Daughters of Charity in Virginia City,” in James and Raymond, eds., Comstock Women, pp. 142–64.

  “having a hard”: Smith, “The Hungerford Family,” p. 48, Grant Smith Collection, UCB.

  “beautiful, charming, and”: “From Mrs. Howland,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 18.

  “the road to fortune”: Bancroft, Chronicles of the Builders of the Commonwealth, Volume IV, p. 214.

  “filled his sacks”: Ibid., p. 216.

  “knew the exact”: Goodwin, As I Remember Them, p. 178.

  moved his family to Virginia City: Several sources claim Fair started on the Comstock Lode in 1860. However, The Mercantile Guide and Directory for Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City, and American City for 1864–5 lists no resident named Fair. “Nevada. The Fair Divorce Case,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, May 14, 1883, says the Fairs moved to Virginia City in 1866. Precedence is given to testimony delivered under oath.

  Fair shifted his shingle: “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta, California, November 2, 1866, mentions a new man appointed as Ophir superintendent. For James Fair’s background, see “His Business Grasp,” San Francisco Call, December 29, 1894; “Death of Fair,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 1884; “Ex-Senator Fair is Dead,” New York Times, December 30, 1894; De Quille, History of the Big Bonanza, pp. 403–5; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 302–5; Bancroft, Chronicles of the Builders of the Commonwealth, Volume IV, pp. 209–36; Lewis, Silver Kings, pp. 115–31; Makley, John Mackay, pp. 31–33.

  “conversational powers”: San Francisco Bulletin, March 6, 1876.

  Snows hit the lode: “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta California, December 6, 1866, citing Gold Hill News.

  “coasting”: “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta California, December 7, 1866.

  Kentuck’s monthly returns: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 12, 1867.

  For the month of August: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 19, 1867.

  “After diligent inquiry”: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 19, 1866.

  a trip to the East: “Supt. Walker of the Bullion mine has returned from a trip east,” Gold Hill News, September 10, 1866, article transcribed in Grant Smith, “Kentuck,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17.

  “When Walker had”: Grant Smith, “Kentuck,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17, citing an interview with James E. Walsh.

  disgorged bullion worth: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 30, 1867, citing the report of the Kentuck secretary.

  Kentuck’s late-October election: “By Telegraph to the Union,” Sacramento Daily Union, November 28, 1867; “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 30, 1867.

  about a thousand feet downhill: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 2, 1867.

  “beautiful and efficient”: Hague, United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Volume III, Mining Industry, p. 140; description of the Fair Shaft: pp. 97–147.

  down 75 feet: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 16, 1867.

  at 430 feet: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 15, 1867.

  The mine’s stock price fell: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 12, 1867.

  he bequeathed a gallon: Annie M. Butler, “Mission in the Mountains: The Daughters of Charity in Virginia City,” in James and Raymond, eds., Comstock Women, p. 160, citing Territorial Enterprise, February 12, 1867.

  “more generally regretted”: “Nevada State Items,” Daily Alta California, June 12, 1867.

  the rest of McCullough’s life: “Mackay’s Lonely Life and Diversions,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 2, Folder 8.

  “I am a”: Grant Smith, “Marriage,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 4, Folder 1, citing an interview with Mrs. Robert Howland (Louise Meyer, Marie Louis Hungerford’s childhood friend).

  “superabundance of sparkling”: “Mackay-Bryant,” Gold Hill News, November 27, 1867, articled transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/II/2.

  “an old acquaintance”: Daily Trespass, quoted in “Mackay’s Lonely Life,” p. 41, Grant Smith Collection, UCB.

  “It is seldom”: Territorial Enterprise, November 27, 1867, quoted in Makley, John Mackay, pp. 37.

  for $5,000: Storey County Recorder to Grant Smith, September 15, 1930, Grant Smith Collection, Box 1, Folder 17.

  CHAPTER 10: THE IRISH COUP

  five hundred tons of rock: “A School of Mines,” Sacramento Daily Union, January 17, 1868, reprinting from New York World, December 4, 1867, and citing J. Ross Browne, commissioner of mining statistics (and an excellent journalist).

  “a deficit of at least”: “Weekly Stock Circular of Associated Brokers of the S. F. Stock and Exchange Board,” Mining & Scientific Press, September 7, 1867.

  “I’ve mixed waste”: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 93, citing Miriam Michelson’s The Wonderlode of Silver and Gold (Boston: Stratford Company Publishers, 1934), p. 190.

  5:00
p.m.: Oscar Shuck, History of the Bench and Bar of California, p. 489.

  Nor did any record: “Virginia Gossip. How the Stockholders of the Mines Are Robbed,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 11, 1870.

  “made all of”: Marye, Jr., From ’49 to ’83 in California and Nevada, 93.

  Hale & Norcross shares opened: “By Telegraph to the Union,” Sacramento Daily Union, January 1, 1868, giving the closing price for December 31, 1867.

  “How much of”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 14, 1868, reprinting from Territorial Enterprise, January 10, 1868.

  “stock dabblers”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 15, 1868, quoting Territorial Enterprise, January 11 and January 12, 1868.

  “blown up in”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, January 14, 1868.

  “Everything was shrouded”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 14, 1868, reprinting from Territorial Enterprise, January 10, 1868.

  “jolly good time”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 15, 1868, reprinting from Territorial Enterprise, January 11 and January 12, 1868. Another source for the Hale & Norcross’s supposed strike: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 18, 1868.

  “within twenty feet”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 15, 1868, reprinting from Territorial Enterprise, January 11 and January 12, 1868.

  draining the winzes: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 18, 1868; “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 23, 1868.

  “very fine ore”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 23, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, January 17, 1868.

  another $325: Daily Alta California, January 21, 1868.

  “lots of boys”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 15, 1868, reprinting from Gold Hill News, January 7, 1868.

  Tense crowds thronged: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 29, 1868.

  Hale & Norcross sold for $5,600: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, February 12, 1868.

  “apple of discord”: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 15, 1868.

  two went for $7,100: “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, February 14, 1868.

  “There must be”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, February 12, 1868.

  “stray shares”: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 15, 1868.

  rumors claimed that: “By Telegraph to the Union,” Sacramento Daily Union, February 13, 1868.

  “a prominent banker”: Joseph King, History of the San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board, p. 40; see also “Somebody Won,” Daily Alta California, March 3, 1868.

  Hale & Norcross election: “Office Hale & Norcross,” Daily Alta California, February 26, 1868.

  Bank Ring associates: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, March 10, 1868; “Our San Francisco Dispatch,” Marysville Daily Appeal, March 13, 1868; “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 14, 1868.

  $2,900: “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, March 13, 1868.

  decided to sink the Fair Shaft: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 14, 1868.

  the new trustees restructured: The Hale & Norcross reorganization restructured the mine’s capital stock from $1,200,000 divided into eight hundred shares nominally valued at $1,500 each to $1,600,000 divided into eight thousand shares with a nominal value of $200 each: “Stockholders’ Notice,” Daily Alta California, March 24, 1868; “By Telegraph to the Union,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 1, 1868.

  had been footed about for years: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 250; Angel, ed., History of Nevada, p. 279.

  “Virginia & Truckee Railroad”: Angel, ed., History of Nevada, p. 280.

  “spirited”: “Reno,” Marysville Daily Appeal, May 14, 1868.

  $30,000: “At the Sale of Reno,” Marysville Daily Appeal, May 15, 1868.

  “Hurrah for the”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, May 8, 1868, quoting Territorial Enterprise, May 5, 1868.

  The fastest runs employed: C. B. Glasscock, The Big Bonanza: The Story of the Comstock Lode (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1931), pp. 195–97, citing Territorial Enterprise.

  fifty-three and a half minutes: “Virginia City, May 8, 1869,” Daily Alta California, May 9, 1869.

  bypassed them entirely: “The Virginia and Truckee Railroad,” Daily Alta California, May 20, 1867; “Utah and Nevada,” Daily Alta California, May 22, 1867.

  “Do it, and”: “Letter from over the Mountain, February 22, 1868,” Marysville Daily Appeal, March 1, 1868.

  $700,000: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 123, although James, The Roar and the Silence, p. 80, and endnote 17, p. 290, points out that the amount of the mines’ contribution varies in different sources.

  Yellow Jacket stockholders paid: Makley, The Infamous King of the Comstock, p. 47.

  “Can you run”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 251, citing an interview with I. E. James.

  “the indefatigable”: “Letter from Washington, March 14, 1869,” Daily Alta California, April 18,1869.

  “a strong box”: President Grant’s Inaugural Address, March 14, 1869, text online at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25820, accessed August 1, 2017.

  “a favorable lead”: “Letter from Washington, March 14, 1869,” Daily Alta California, April 18, 1869.

  improvements revolutionized capabilities: Angel, ed., History of Nevada, p. 594; summary of Sutro’s actions, July 1867 to February 1869: 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 Load by the Government in Aid of the Construction of Said Work, pp. 54–60, 881–86; Stewart, Jr., and Stewart, Adolph Sutro, pp. 63–69.

  “a buoyant heart”: “Letter from Montana, February 28, 1868,” Daily Alta California, March 23, 1868, also citing Comstock’s letter to Missouri Republican, December 10, 1867.

  “scalping knife of”: Ibid.

  “principal surface diggings”: “Dacotah,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 2, 1869, quoting Territorial Enterprise, December 27, 1868.

  “Comstock, of Washoe”: “Matters in Dakota,” Sacramento Daily Union, July 9, 1868, quoting Cheyenne Leader, June 25, 1868.

  “not more than”: “Dacotah,” Mining & Scientific Press, September 5, 1868, quoting Idaho World.

  deepest shaft in Nevada: Gold Hill News, March 8, 1868.

  Using dynamite quickly became: “Industrial Condition of the State,” Daily Alta California, May 3, 1869.

  “dry as a”: “Heat and Moisture in the Deep Nevada Mines,” Mining & Scientific Press, September 12, 1868.

  found no ore: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, May 17, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, May 15, 1868.

  sank an incline: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, December 11, 1868; “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 12, 1868.

  After their discovery: Merle W. Wells, Gold Camps & Silver Cities, pp. 11, 45.

  Boyd Silver Mining Company: “Law Intelligence,” Daily Alta California, May 27, 1868; “Filed,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 28, 1868.

  George Hearst and William Lent: “Idaho,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 4, 1868, citing Owyhee Avalanche, December 14, 1867.

  Among the other delinquents: “Rising Star Silver Mining Company,” Daily Alta California, October 24, 1868.

  to superintend the mine: James, The Roar and the Silence, p. 103, citing Territorial Enterprise; Makley, John Mackay, p. 32.

  emerged as one of the trustees: “New Incorporations,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 14, 1868.

  “hard working class”: “Death of Flood,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 22, 1889.

  story of the generous stranger: “Death of W. S.
O’Brien,” Daily Alta California, May 3, 1878; “W. S. O’Brien,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 1878, called the ship the Tarolinta, or Farolinta, the printing is unclear.

  In one set of stories: “Death of Flood,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 22, 1889, says he mined on the Yuba River; “Death of W. S. O’Brien,” Daily Alta California, May 3, 1878, says O’Brien, Walker, and Flood mined together on the Feather River.

  Saloon on a corner of: “City Statistics,” Daily Alta California, January 26, 1862.

  “shrewd and thrifty”: “W. S. O’Brien,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 1878.

  opened an office devoted: San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing October 1868, p. 218.

  courage to make the change: The San Francisco City Directory of September 1867 lists Flood and O’Brien at the Auction Lunch; the San Francisco City Directory of October 1868 lists them at the nearby office.

  “beautiful ruby silver”: “Idaho,” Mining & Scientific Press, July 18, 1868, and February 6, 1869.

  Kustel had recently taken: “Improved Method of Working Roasted Gold and Silver Ores in Pans and Barrels by Amalgamation,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 2, 1869; Guido Kustel, Roasting of Gold and Silver Ores and the Extraction of Their Respective Metals Without Quicksilver (San Francisco: Dewey & Company, 1870).

  “so injurious that”: “Overcoming Difficulties in Amalgamation,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 20, 1869. Other Rising Star sources: “Idaho,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 10, November 28, and December 28, 1868, and January 16, January 23, and January 30, 1869; Merle Wells, Gold Camps & Silver Cities: Nineteenth Century Mining in Central and Southern Idaho, p. 45; Richard Lingenfelter, Bonanzas & Borrascas: Gold Lust and Silver Sharks, 1848–1884 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2012), p. 131.

  February 1869: Merle W Wells, “Flint,” Idaho State Historical Reference Series, Number 872, 1972, https://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0872.pdf, accessed February 16, 2017. For knowledge of Idaho mining and its history, the author is indebted to 2016 conversations with Ray Brooks while rock climbing at City of Rocks, Idaho, and to email exchanges in February and July 2017.