The Bonanza King

by Gregory Crouch

  cost him $300,000: Goodwin, As I Remember Them, p. 161.

  high hopes for nine-hundred-foot-level explorations: “Financial and Commercial, Daily Alta California, March 30, 1868.

  The first shares: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, May 11, 1868.

  value by 40 percent: “Mining Stocks,” Marysville Daily Appeal, June 19, 1868; “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 27, 1868.

  trustees levy an assessment: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, July 25, 1868.

  “shorts” and “holders”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, August 1, 1868.

  “considerable quartz”: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, September 19, 1868. Strikes reported in the lowest levels of the Hale & Norcross: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, August 2, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, August 1, 1868; “Brief Items,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 5, 1868.

  Hale & Norcross bullion receipts: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 17, 1868.

  “Latterly, all information”: “”Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 19, 1868.

  dropped 45 percent: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 28, 1868.

  “still shut up”: “Holiday in the Bowels of the Earth,” Marysville Daily Appeal, citing Territorial Enterprise; “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, December 31, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, December 29, 1868.

  “camping underground”: “Still Camping Underground,” Marysville Daily Appeal, January 3, 1869, citing Territorial Enterprise, December 31, 1868.

  “a strange sight”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, December 31, 1868, quoting Territorial Enterprise, December 29, 1868.

  “a farce”: “The Hale & Norcross Miners,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 16, 1869.

  to finance the final quarter: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 117, citing an interview with James E. Walsh.

  Large volumes of Hale & Norcross: “Weekly Stock Circular,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 3, 1869.

  Thursday, January 7: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, January 8, 1869. (The mine had 8,000 shares; 4,001 were needed to control the election.)

  on the 1,030-foot level: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, February 13, 1869, citing Gold Hill News, February 11, 1869.

  “The approaching election”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, February 8, 1869.

  several bodies of good ore: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, February 20, 1869, citing Territorial Enterprise, February 17, 1869.

  “J. G. Fair and Wm. Mackay”: “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, February 21, 1869. The news also appeared in Daily Morning Chronicle on that date.

  “The mine is”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, March 2, 1869, quoting Territorial Enterprise.

  “high grade ore”: “Advices from Virginia,” Sacramento Daily Union, March 6, 1869; “Matters in Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, March 8, 1869.

  reregistered their ownership: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, pp. 117–18, citing an interview with James E. Walsh.

  rescinded the mine’s most recent: “Mining Notices,” Daily Alta California, March 13, 1869.

  the old hoisting works back in operation: “State Line Dispatches,” Marysville Daily Appeal, March 20, 1869.

  “wary tiger”: Grant Smith, “The Hale & Norcross Venture,” UCB, Box 1, Folder 16, 322, citing interviews with Sharon’s nephew, William E. Sharon and Richard V. Dey, Mackay’s longtime confidential secretary; “Outline of Life of John Mackay,” Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/II/8 (probably written by Grant Smith). See also Goodwin, As I Remember Them, pp 161–62. A different version of the story is in Wells Drury, An Editor on the Comstock (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1984), pp. 117–18.

  CHAPTER 11: THE LODE’S WORST DAY

  “the most dreadful”: Edward Jenner, On the Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation (London: D. N. Shury, Berwick Street, Soho, 1801), p. 8.

  “considerable excitement”: “San Francisco News,” Sacramento Daily Union, March 29, 1867.

  to other parts of the state: “A Malignant,” Marysville Daily Appeal, January 17, 1867; “Our San Francisco Dispatch,” Marysville Daily Appeal, March 22, 1867; “San Francisco News,” Sacramento Daily Union, March 29, 1867; “Small Pox,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 2, 1867; “Smallpox,” Marin Journal, April 6, 1867, “Pacific Coast News Summary,” Sonoma Democrat, April 13, 1867, citing The Examiner; “Nevada State News,” Daily Alta California, June 7, 1867; “Small Pox,” Mariposa Gazette, October 12, 1867. (The last two articles mention it east of the Sierras, but don’t seem credible considering the dearth of other mentions.)

  along the stations of the: “Small-Pox on the Railroad,” Daily Alta California, January 13, 1869. For the smallpox in Reno, see “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, December 17, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, December 15, 1868.

  east side of A Street: Weekly Alta California, October 10, 1868, reprinting from Territorial Enterprise, October 1, 1868.

  about eighty cases: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, December 18, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, December 16, 1868.

  She’d lost a younger brother: Daniel D. Hungerford died February 17, 1851: “Daniel D. Hungerford,” Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/V/12, “Douglas, Elaine.”

  “with almost as great rapidity”: “New Sensations in San Francisco,” Daily Alta California, February 8, 1869; “Advices from Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, February 22, 1869.

  Seven adepts racing: “From Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 22, 1869.

  “rapid and easy”: “Velocipedes,” Mining & Scientific Press, September 19, 1868.

  lessons at the Athletic Hall: “Advices from Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, February 22, 1869.

  referring to them as bicycles: The first use of the word “bicycle” in Daily Alta California appears to be in late January 1869; The Mining & Scientific Press seems to have first used it on March 6, 1869.

  Their prime focus: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, January 19, 1869.

  refurbished the Hale & Norcross’s: “Weekly Stock Circular” and “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 2, 1869.

  “new and unheard-of”: De Quille, History of the Big Bonanza, p. 145.

  “Hundreds upon hundreds”: Ibid., p. 146.

  “in every way”: Ibid., p. 145.

  one death per week: “Nevada Items,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 23, 1875, which includes the cited statistic in plain language.

  leg and collarbone: “Casualty,” Sacramento Daily Union, August 25, 1863.

  nitric acid: “A Slight Mistake,” Daily Alta California, January 12, 1862.

  ran over a child: “Accidents in Washoe,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 10, 1862.

  collapsing pile of shoring: “Serious Accident,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 17, 1862, citing Silver Age, June 14, 1862.

  stagecoach driver: “Fatal Stage Accident,” Marysville Daily Appeal, December 9, 1862.

  drove of hogs: “Accidents in Nevada Territory,” Sacramento Daily Union, August 20, 1863.

  A sill timber being lowered: “Mining Accident,” Daily Alta California, August 19, 1863.

  “at the run”: “A Frightful Fall—Saved by Water,” Red Bluff Beacon, October 14, 1863.

  eight-year-old boy: “A Boy,” Marysville Daily Appeal, May 18, 1864.

  Freddie Cowles: “Horrible Death,” Marin Journal, May 21, 1864.

  The brake of a loaded: “Virginia City,” Marysville Daily Appeal, December 18, 1863, citing San Francisco Bulletin.

  impaled on a collection of picks: “Mining Accident,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 11, 1864.

  mill worker trying to dislodge: “Accidents in Nevada Territory,” Sacramento Daily Union,
March 5, 1863.

  severely scalded the back: “Accidents in Nevada Territory,” Sacramento Daily Union, August 20, 1863.

  “insensible”: “Casualties at Virginia,” Sacramento Daily Union, February 1, 1864, citing Virginia Daily Union, January 29, 1864.

  In the Chollar-Potosi: “Virginia City Items,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 1, 1868, quoting Territorial Enterprise, April 29, 1868.

  Kennedy . . . A boy named Miles: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 14, 1868, reprinting from Territorial Enterprise, January 10, 1868.

  John Russell and a gang: “Matters in Virginia,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 30, 1868; “Virginia City (Nev.),” Sacramento Daily Union, June 1, 1868.

  Chauncy Griswold: Weekly Alta California, October 10, 1868, reprinting from Territorial Enterprise, October 1, 1868; “Virginia (Nev.),” Sacramento Daily Union, October 2, 1868, reprinting from Territorial Enterprise, October 1, 1868.

  eight-year-old boy drowned: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, December 17, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, December 15, 1868.

  negligent engineer: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, February 8, 1869, citing Territorial Enterprise, February 5, 1869.

  Michael McGuire: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 19, 1869, citing Territorial Enterprise, January 16, 1869.

  Patrick Price: “Terrible Accident,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 8, 1867, citing Daily Trespass; “Virginia City Items, May 12, 1869,” Daily Alta California, May 13, 1869; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 219–20, citing Gold Hill News, October 7, 1867, and May 31, 1869.

  John Percival Jones: “Over the Mountains,” Daily Alta California, November 12, 1868.

  “Murphy . . . Send me”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 270, citing the testimony of John Murphy at the coroner’s inquest and Gold Hill News, April 26, 1869.

  “the poor women”: “The Enterprise Account,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 10, 1869, extracting from Territorial Enterprise.

  “We are fast”: “Terrible Accident and Loss of Life,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 8, 1869.

  “no blaze of”: “The Burning Mines,” Territorial Enterprise, April 27, 1869.

  “It was such”: “The Enterprise Account,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 10, 1869, extracting from Territorial Enterprise.

  “peculiar and sickening”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, April 14, 1869, citing Territorial Enterprise, April 10, 1869.

  “hot and charged”: “The Fire in the Comstock Mines,” Daily Alta California, April 10, 1869.

  “loud and uncontrollable”: “The Comstock Mine Fire,” Daily Alta California, April 14, 1869, citing San Francisco Bulletin, April 13, 1869.

  The bodies of three men: “The Sharon and Jones Difficulty,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 16, 1872, transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.

  most of whom would have died: Fire sources: “Great Disaster at Gold Hill,” Daily Alta California, April 8, 1869, citing Gold Hill News, April 7, 1869; “News of the Morning” and “Terrible Accident and Loss of Life!” Sacramento Daily Union, April 8, 1869; “The Comstock Mine Fire,” Daily Alta California, April 9, 1869; “The Gold Hill Disaster,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 9, 1869; “The Fire in the Comstock Mines,” “The ‘Enterprise’ Account,” “Second Dispatch,” and “SAD,” Daily Alta California, April 10, 1869; “The Calamity on Gold Hill,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 10, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, April 12, 1869; “From Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 12, 1869; “Last Night’s Dispatches” and “The Comstock Mine Fire,” Daily Alta California, April 13, 1869; “A Fault Somewhere” and “From Virginia, Nevada—The Gold Hill Mines,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 13, 1869; “The Comstock Mine Fire” and “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, April 14, 1869; “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, April 18, 1869, citing Territorial Enterprise, April 16, 1869; “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 17, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, April 20, 1869; “From Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 20, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, April 21, 1869; “From Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 21, 1869; “From Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 22, 1869; “Gold Hill Mines Still Burning,” Territorial Enterprise, April 24, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, April 24, 1869; “The Fires Not Yet Extinguished,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 24, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, April 25, 1869; “The Burning Mines,” Territorial Enterprise, April 27, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, April 28, 1869; “From Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 28, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, May 1, 1869; “From Virginia, Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 3, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, May 4, 1869; “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Daily Alta California, May 5, 1869; “The Disabled Mines” and “Still Burning,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 29, 1869; “Beginning to Understand,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 13, 1872, transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6; James D. Hague and Clarence King, Report of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Volume III, Mining Industry, pp. 184–86, citing John Percival Jones’s report; De Quille, History of the Big Bonanza, pp. 126–31; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 269–77.

  “saved their powder”: “Virginia City, May 8, 1869,” Daily Alta California, May 9, 1869.

  “The last rail is laid”: “The Great Event Consummated,” Daily Alta California, May 11, 1869.

  released everything capable: “Virginia City Gossip, May 10, 1869,” Marin Journal, May 15, 1869; “Virginia City News, May 10, 1869,” Marysville Daily Appeal, May 11, 1869.

  “the greatest industrial”: “By the Vallejo Route,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 12, 1869, quoting San Francisco Bulletin, May 11, 1869.

  “the great National”: “Virginia City News, May 10, 1869,” Marysville Daily Appeal, May 11, 1869.

  $50,000: “Virginia News, August 26, 1869,” Marysville Daily Appeal, August 27, 1869; “Press Dispatches,” Sacramento Daily Union, August 27, 1869.

  at Piper’s Opera House: “From Virginia, Nevada, September 23, 1869,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 24, 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. 48–66. Other sources: Shinn, The Story of the Mine, pp. 200–202; Stewart and Stewart, Adolph Sutro, pp. 76–80; James, The Roar and the Silence, pp. 88–89.

  bridge over Crown Point Ravine: “Completed,” Territorial Enterprise, September 30, 1869; “Railroad Bridge Completed,” Gold Hill Daily News, September 30, 1869; texts online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 7, 2017.

  hefted a pick: “Pacific Coast Dispatches,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 20, 1869; Stewart and Stewart, Adolph Sutro, pp. 81–84.

  “that famous tunnel”: “Mr. Sharon’s Speech,” Gold Hill Daily News, October 7, 1869. (Sharon made the quip in reference to the start of grading the tunnel approach.)

  “shrill screech”: “Virginia and Truckee Railroad,” Territorial Enterprise, November 13, 1869, text online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 7, 2017.

  “champagne and other”: “Great Railroad Jubilee,” Gold Hill Daily News, November 13, 1869, text online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 7, 2017.

  unprofitable low-grade rock . . . delivered nearly four hundred tons: “The First Ore Shipment,” Gold Hill Daily News, November 19, 1869. “Ore by the Railroad,” Gold Hill Daily News, November 18, 1869, citing Carson Appeal, November 18, 1869; texts online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 7, 2017.

  Transportation costs for other: �
�San Francisco Mining Stock Market,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 1, 1870; “The Railroad and the Mines,” Gold Hill Daily News, January 8, 1870, text online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 15, 2017; “Coal or Wood,” Territorial Enterprise, March 23, 1870, transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6; “The Comstock Lode and High Wages,” Daily Alta California, July 8,1870; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 254–55.

  lowest annual total since 1862: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 416. (Sources dispute the exact figures; not the overall trend.)

  would pay the cost of extraction: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 23, 1869; Becker, Geology of the Comstock Lode and the Washoe District, p. 17.

  “most excellent” ore: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 27, 1869.

  “black sulphurets and”: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 11, 1869.

  the most important development: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 27, 1869.

  CHAPTER 12: JONES’S SICK CHILD

  “fierce tooting”: “Through to Virginia,” Gold Hill Daily News, January 29, 1870, text online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 15, 2017.

  “hi-yah mule”: “The Cars,” Territorial Enterprise, January 30, 1870, text online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 15, 2017.

  “built that road”: Oscar T. Shuck, History of the Bar and Bench of California, p. 486.

  published notices warning: “A Fair Warning,” Gold Hill Daily News, December 7, 1869, article online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 15, 2017.

  seven-year-old boy: “Terrible Railroad Accident,” Gold Hill Daily News, January 8, 1870; “A Sad Railroad Accident,” Territorial Enterprise, January 9, 1870; text of both articles online at http://www.virginiaandtruckee.com, accessed August 15, 2017.

  railroad brought hard times: “Hard Times,” Daily Alta California, January 20, 1870.

  and drowned himself: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, January 22, 1870.

  “great cost”: “Hardly Satisfactory,” Territorial Enterprise, March 26, 1870, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.