“colored citizens”: “The Colored Citizens Celebration,” Territorial Enterprise, April 8, 1870, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
checked into the Grand Hotel: “J. Mackay, Virginia” checked in, almost certainly our man, as recorded in “Arrivals,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 10, 1870. His wife and stepdaughter weren’t mentioned, a common omission in nineteenth-century newspapers. Considering that Marie Louise gave birth in the Grand Hotel two months later, both of her parents still lived in San Francisco, and her well-known dislike of Virginia City, it seems probable she accompanied her husband and spent the rest of her pregnancy in San Francisco.
“the wealthier of”: “The Big Hotels of San Francisco,” Marin Journal, August 6, 1870. For the description of the Grand Hotel, see “The Grand Hotel,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 21, 1870.
$164,000 in dividends: Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining West of the Rocky Mountains, 1871, p. 103.
Birth announcements: “Born,” Daily Alta California, August 13, 1870; “Born,” Sacramento Daily Union, August 15, 1870.
Yellow Jacket discharged: “Brief Items,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 8, 1870.
“not very encouraging”: “The Comstock Lode and High Wages,” Daily Alta California, July 8, 1870.
Big Horn Expedition: Executive Committee Big Horn and Black Hills Mining and Exploring Association to General Augur, undated, Index to the Senate Executive Documents for the Second Session of the Forty-First Congress of the United States of America, 1869–1870, in Three Volumes, Ex. Doc. No. 89, pp. 9–11; see also “Wyoming,” Mining & Scientific Press, July 9, 1870, citing Cheyenne Advocate, June 23, 1870.
who hadn’t backtracked: “Colorado,” Daily Alta California, March 16, 1870; “Latest Eastern News,” Marysville Daily Appeal, April 10, 1870; “The Big Horn Mining and Exploring Expedition,” New York Times, April 16, 1870; “Brief Items,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 18, 1870; “Last Night’s Dispatches,” Sacramento Daily Union, April 19, 1870; “From Cheyenne,” Marysville Daily Appeal, May 7, 1870; “The Indian Problem,” Daily Alta California, May 11, 1870; “From Cheyenne,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 11, 1870; “Omaha,” New York Times, May 12, 1870; “Editorial Notes,” Daily Alta California, May 14, 1870; “From Corinne,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 14, 1870; “President Grant” and “The Indians,” New York Times, May 24, 1870; “Corinne,” Daily Alta California, May 26, 1870; “The Big Horn Expedition,” Marysville Daily Appeal, May 26, 1870; “Editorial Notes,” Daily Alta California, May 28, 1870; “The Big Horn Expedition,” Daily Alta California, June 2, 1870; “Eastern Telegraphic News,” Marysville Daily Appeal, June 9, 1870; “Miscellaneous,” Daily Alta California, June 16, 1870; “Montana,” Daily Alta California, June 22, 1870; “The Indians,” New York Times, July 10, 1870; “The Big Horn Expedition,” Marysville Daily Appeal, July 27, 1870; “The Indians,” New York Times, July 27, 1870; “From Cheyenne,” Sacramento Daily Union, July 27, 1870; “The Indians,” New York Times, July 28, 1870; “The Big Horn Expedition Heard From,” New York Times, July 30, 1870; “The Big Horn Expedition,” Daily Alta California, August 2, 1870; “The Big Horn Expedition,” New York Times, August 19, 1870; “The Big Horn Expedition,” Marysville Daily Appeal, September 15, 1870; Raymond L. Welty, “The Policing of the Frontier by the Army,” Kansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. VII, No. 3, August 1938, pp. 246–57; Index to the Senate Executive Documents for the Second Session of the Forty-First Congress of the United States of America, 1869–1870, in Three Volumes, Ex. Doc No. 89, pp. 1–18.
Henry Comstock clenched: “Montana,” Daily Alta California, September 30, 1870; “News of the Morning,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 30, 1870; “A Noted Prospector Gone,” Red Bluff Independent, October 6, 1870; “Departed,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 8, 1870; “Haste Not to Be Rich,” California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, October 20, 1870.
returns for the year ebbed: Richard Lyle Garner, The Comstock: Economic History of a Mining Bonanza, 1865–1885 (self-published), pp. 65–66.
endangered the bank’s: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 279, citing an 1880 interview with William Sharon.
“Virginia is dying”: “Virginia City Declining,” Red Bluff Sentinel, September 3, 1870, citing White Pine News, August 27, 1870.
“exhibits no change”: “San Francisco Mining Stock Market,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 5, 1870.
“drifting about in”: “Local Mining Intelligence,” Territorial Enterprise, February 13, 1870, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
At the morning session: “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, November 12, 1870. (The lowest recorded price for a Crown Point sale the author could find.)
more than $1,000 per foot: “San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board,” Daily Alta California, November 2, 1866. (No Crown Point shares changed hands during the November 2, 1866, sessions.)
allow insiders to ditch: “The Comstock Mines,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 21, 1873.
The drift went 200 feet: Mary Jane Simpson, “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 5 and 12, 1870.
“well-defined clay seam”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 282, citing an interview with John Percival Jones.
“the discovery of”: “Mary Jane Simpson, Virginia Gossip, December 1, 1870,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 3, 1870.
price climbed to sixteen: All stock quotations, “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, November 26 to December 4, 1870.
“supposed” to be: “Crown Point,” Territorial Enterprise, December 8, 1870, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
Mary Jane Simpson explained: Mary Jane Simpson, “Virginia Gossip: How the Stockholders of the Mines Are Robbed, December 8, 1870,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 11, 1870.
“a handsome brunette”: Mary Jane Simpson, “Virginia Gossip, December 29, 1870,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 1, 1871.
“the very name”: Mary Jane Simpson, “Virginia Gossip: How ‘the Ring’ Manages the Mines,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 26, 1870.
“dangerously ill”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 282, citing an interview with John Percival Jones.
“out of the pockets”: “A Corner in Stocks,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 19, 1871.
rumors of $400 rock: The report was published the next day in San Francisco Weekly Stock Circular. Rossiter W. Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States West of the Rocky Mountains, 1872, p. 93.
“The body of”: “Is It a Corner?” San Francisco Chronicle, January 15, 1871.
“sharp practice to”: Mary Jane Simpson, “Virginia Gossip,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 29, 1871.
“had bought stock”: Mary Jane Simpson, “Virginia Gossip,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 22, 1871.
A crack had appeared: Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States West of the Rocky Mountains, 1872, pp. 93–94; Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States West of the Rocky Mountains, 1873, p. 141; “The Comstock Mines,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 21, 1873; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 280–84; George Thomas Mayre, From ’49 to ’83 in California and Nevada (San Francisco: A.M. Robertson, 1923), pp. 123–26; Davis, History of Nevada, pp. 415–16; Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, pp. 126–31; Lingenfelter, Bonanzas & Borrascas, pp. 195–97; Tilton, William Chapman Ralston, pp. 220–24; Lavender, Nothing Seemed Impossible, pp. 321–22.
dodgy overnight exchange: Lavender, Nothing Seemed Impossible, p. 285.
“spreading out in”: Makley, The Infamous King of the Comstock, p. 67, quoting C. C. Goodwin, The Story of the Comstock Lode (Salt Lake City: Tribune Job Printing Company, 1891), p. 20.
Sharon owned nearly the entire: Bancroft, Chronicles of the Builders, Vol. IV, pp. 60–61.
CHAPTER 13: THE CONSOLIDATED VIRGINIA MINE
“When we say”: “The Fire�
�Two Lives Lost and $75,000 in Property Destroyed,” Territorial Enterprise, February 2, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
blessedly free from smallpox: “The Health Of,” Territorial Enterprise, February 3, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
“grand blowout”: “A Grand Blowout,” Territorial Enterprise, February 3, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
sleighing and “coasting”: Mary Jane Simpson, “Virginia,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 5, 1871.
“perform feats that”: “The Skating Rinks,” Territorial Enterprise, February 3, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
“the most popular”: “The Rinks,” Territorial Enterprise, February 10, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
splinted wrists and arm slings: “Sprained Wrists,” Territorial Enterprise, February 2, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
“Skating is an”: “The Skating Rinks,” Territorial Enterprise, February 3, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
deeper than any mine: For the Hale & Norcross operations from January 1871 to April 1871, “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 21 and 28, February 11 and 25, March 4, 11, 18, and 25, and April 1 and 15, 1871.
Taking Willie’s nurse, Alice O’Grady: Mackay’s granddaughter Ellin Berlin’s historical novel Silver Platter, about her grandmother life, says that Louise’s mother and sister accompanied John, Louise, Eva, Willie, and their nurse on the European trip. Contemporary confirmation is difficult to locate. Mrs. Hungerford, Ada, and the nurse are not listed among the passengers who sailed with “Miss Mackay” and “Mr. Mackay wife and son” aboard the SS City of Brooklyn on April 8, 1871 (“Passengers Sailed,” New York Times, April 9, 1871). Most compelling evidence that Ada and Mrs. Hungerford accompanied them is in an essay about John Mackay in Sketches of Leading and Representative Men of San Francisco, Being Original Sketches from the Lives of the Prominent Politicians, Lawyers, Divines, Pioneers, Merchants, Orators, Etc., Etc., of San Francisco, 1875, pp. 959–64 (based on an interview with Louise), which says that “Mrs. Mackay’s sister has just completed a brilliant education in Europe.” Colonel Hungerford likely stayed in San Francisco and Baja California in 1871–75. His biography says he traveled from Mexico to Belgium to meet them in 1874. (Colonel Hungerford donated a collection of Gulf of California marine life to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco on April 6, 1874 (“Academy of Sciences,” Daily Alta California, April 7, 1874), and he was elected to the Academy a month later (“San Francisco Academy of Sciences,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 6, 1874). Colonel Hungerford, his wife, and his daughter appeared on a list of “Californians in Paris” published in Daily Alta California on December 4, 1875. They were not on the list published on November 11. The author judges it likely that Mrs. Hungerford and Ada did not accompany the 1871 trip. Alice O’Grady definitely did accompany the trip, based on Grant Smith’s interviews with her son, Alexander O’Grady.
aboard the steamship City of Brooklyn: “Passengers Sailed,” New York Times, April 9, 1871.
“a ramble of”: “Personal,” Territorial Enterprise, October 4, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
“in that section”: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 1, 1871.
“absolutely immense”: “The Belcher Mine,” Territorial Enterprise, October 21, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
“a degree of”: “The Belcher Mine—The Greatest Silver Mine in the World,” Territorial Enterprise, September 29, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
Arthur Perkins: “Murder in Cold Blood,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 7, 1871 (the murderer’s full name was Arthur Perkins Heffnan or Hefferner, but in Virginia City he was usually called Arthur Perkins).
“epidemic of crime”: “A Vigilance Committee,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 15, 1871.
“Virginia wants weeding”: Mary Jane Simpson, “Mary Jane Simpson,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 26, 1871.
“Hung by Vigilance Committee”: “Swift Retribution,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 26, 1871; “Vigilance Committee in Virginia City,” Daily Alta California, March 27, 1871; “Letter from Virginia City, March 25, 1871,” Daily Alta California, March 27, 1871, reprinted from “The Correspondence of The Union”; “More of the Virginia Vigilance Committee,” Daily Alta California, March 29, 1871. Some sources say he was hanged in the old Ophir works. The most immediate say the old works of the Mexican.
found Kirk’s body dangling: “Have We a Vigilance Committee—A Popular Mistake,” Territorial Enterprise, June 2, 1871; “The Vigilance Committee Again—Another Man Doubtless Hung,” Territorial Enterprise, July 14, 1871; “The Hanging of George B. Kirk,” Territorial Enterprise, July 15, 1871; “Lynch Law,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 15, 1871; “Coronor’s Inquest,” Territorial Enterprise, July 18, 1871; “Another Charge” and “Grand Jury and Charge of Judge Rising,” Territorial Enterprise, August 8, 1871; “Report of the Grand Jury for the June Term,” Territorial Enterprise, September 28, 1871; “The Police and Grand Jury—A Counter Charge,” Territorial Enterprise, September 28, 1871; text of all Enterprise articles transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
“bit” on the joke: “Rumors about the Belcher,” Territorial Enterprise, October 10, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
Pushing a 1,200-pound carload: “A Mule 1,000 Feet Underground,” Daily Alta California, October 1, 1871, citing Gold Hill News, September 29, 1871.
“a bed-tick stuffed”: “A Pair of Mules Living and Working 1,100 Feet Underground,” Territorial Enterprise, October 6, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6; “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 14, 1871.
There had been “horses”: “Rumors about the Belcher,” Territorial Enterprise, October 10, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
“many long powwows”: “A Pair of Mules Living and Working 1,100 Feet Underground,” Territorial Enterprise, October 6, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6; also, “Mules 1,000 Feet Underground,” Pacific Rural Press, October 14, 1871.
to exceed $400,000: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, November 18, 1871.
“singularly rich in”: “A Vast Deposit of Ore,” Territorial Enterprise, October 7, 1871, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
5,853 tons of ore: “The Belcher Mine,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 10, 1872, citing the Belcher secretary’s annual report for 1871.
Smith sent a third mule: “Three of Them,” Territorial Enterprise, January 19, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
A series of underground floods: Underground floods in the Hale & Norcross mentioned often in Mining & Scientific Press in the summer of 1871; baser and less: Smith, The History of the Comstock Lode, pp. 119, 145.
last dividend: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 306.
six hours of running water per day: Mary Jane Simpson, “Virginia Gossip, January 19, 1871,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 22, 1871.
driest since 1850: Only 6.094 inches of rain fell in Sacramento. “Rain Table for Sacramento,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 6, 1872.
Water shortages idled many: “Our Mining Prospects,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 13, 1872; “Mining Review for 1871,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 3, 1872.
three hours a day: Mary Jane Simpson, “Virginia Gossip, January 19, 1871,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 22, 1871.
“Anything can be”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners,
p. 323, citing an interview with J. B. Overton, superintendent of the Virginia City and Gold Hill Water Company.
that supplied San Francisco: “Hydraulic Engineering on the Pacific Coast,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 13, 1873; Dan de Quille (William Wright), A History of the Comstock Silver Lode & Mines, pp. 63–68; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 322–25.
He and his partners turned: For Con. Virginia early history, see Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains, 1870, p. 90; Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 446–49, 306–9; Smith, The History of the Comstock Lode, pp. 145–47 (all of which contain errors).
“Why is it”: “Mines of Nevada, January 4, 1867,” Daily Alta California, January 12, 1867.
“dog in the”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 307.
“The Consolidated Virginia”: “Consolidated Mining Company,” Daily Alta California, June 9, 1867. It isn’t easy to figure out the exact details of the original consolidation. Smith, The History of the Comstock Lode, p. 146, claims the Con. Virginia incorporated with 1,010 feet and 1,160 shares formed from the Sides, the White & Murphy, and the California mines. Confoundingly, historian Eliot Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, pp. 308–9, says the original Con. Virginia had 860 feet on the lode and included the Sides, White & Murphy, Kinney, and the Central No. 2; “Burke v. Flood,” Daily Alta California, December 10, 1880, makes it clear that the Firm acquired the Kinney ground through several purchases from several small holders in April 1872. Confusingly, “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, May 21, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, May 19, 1868, describes the Con. Virginia as including “the California, Central, White & Murphy, and other claims”; “Mining Stocks,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 27, 1872, includes a table of all the Washoe mines that lists the Con. Virginia with 1,160 feet and 11,600 shares. Supporting Smith’s statement, “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, January 1, 1874, describes the creation of the “new” California mine from the Kinney, Central No. 2, California, and Central No. 1 (a consolidation managed by the Firm’s guiding hand). Before the consolidation, Central No. 2 and Central No. 1 traded independently (although were likely controlled by the Firm), and the Kinney (50 feet) and California (300 feet) belonged to the Consolidated Virginia. Con. Virginia shareholders received 581/3 shares of the “new” California mine for every 100 shares of Con. Virginia stock they owned. (They owned 350 of the 600 feet involved.) They’d have received more if either the Central No. 2 or Central No. 1 had belonged to the Con. Virginia. However, “Burke v. Flood,” Daily Alta California, December 15, 1880, reporting on a court case, says, “stock in the Con. Virginia Company was always issued to holders of interests in the 1,160 feet comprised in that mining claim.” Davis, History of Nevada, p. 416, says the Bank Ring organized the Con. Virginia, a contention supported by the slate of incorporators.
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