“Why do [they] not”: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 308, citing Territorial Enterprise, August 27 and October 16, 1867.
Con. Virginia bestirred: “Incorporation,” Daily Alta California, May 19, 1868; “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, May 21, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, May 19, 1868.
ten dollars per share: “Sales, May 26, 1868,” Daily Alta California, May 27, 1868.
“Wonder when they”: “Nevada,” Daily Alta California, May 21, 1868, citing Territorial Enterprise, May 19, 1868.
two dollars per share: “Sales of Stocks,” Sacramento Daily Union, September 15, 1869.
The mine suspended work: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, January 15, 1870.
ore above 500 feet: “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 12, 1870; “Local Mining Intelligence,” Territorial Enterprise, February 13, 1870, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6.
their drifts and crosscuts: Many contemporary mining updates include mildly optimistic Con. Virginia updates.
mine’s trustees levied assessments: “Consolidated Virginia Mining Company,” Daily Alta California, December 10, 1869; January 17, 1870; September 19, 1870; December 9, 1870; February 28, 1871; May 6, 1871; August 2, 1871; December 3, 1871. Many other articles and advertisements announce the assessments.
Con. Virginia’s stock price dipped: I have been unable to locate a daily quotation or a recorded sale at $15/8 in Daily Alta California, but “Bubble of the Day,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 4, 1872, includes a table that lists the lowest stock price of the leading mines in 1871 and places the Con. Virginia at $15/8, as does “The Highest and Lowest Prices of Mining Stocks During 1871,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 3, 1872; also, Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 308, citing the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company’s President’s Report for 1877.
being properly developed: “Consolidated Virginia,” Territorial Enterprise, February 1, 1872; “Consolidated Virginia,” Territorial Enterprise, August 31, 1871; both articles transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6.
“There is no law”: John Russell Young, Men and Memories: Personal Reminiscences, Vol. II (New York: F. Tennyson Neely, 1901), p. 444.
Con. Virginia stock fluctuated: Con. Virginia stock quotations are from “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, October 1, 1871, to January 11, 1872.
just over $100,000: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 309, estimates that the Firm gained control for around $50,000, which seems low (around $4.30 per share); Henry de Groot, writing in John J. Powell’s Nevada: The Land of Silver (San Francisco: Bacon & Company, Book and Job Printers, 1876), p. 78, suggests an average figure of $9 per share and a total cost of $96,300; Shinn, The Story of the Mine, p. 179, suggests $100,000 and Grant Smith concurs. The higher figures seem more reasonable, although perhaps still on the low side ($8.62 per share). The Con. Virginia price never dipped below $8.50 between October 1, 1871, and the January 11, 1872, election. Henry de Groot, “Comstock Papers No. 13,” Mining & Scientific Press, December 23, 1876, says Flood bought the fifty-foot-wide Kinney claim for $1,200, however, “Burke v. Flood,” Daily Alta California, December 10, 1880, says that Flood bought 121/2 feet from G. W. Kinney for $1,250 (the reporting of sworn legal testimony); complicating matters, “Case No. 7,827, Kinney v. Consolidated VA Min. Co., et al, Circuit Court D. California, November 1, 1877,” says Kinney owned “one half part of . . . twenty and one-tenth feet on the ledge” and that he sold it for “$1,200, gold coin of the United States,” as entered into evidence by George W. Kinney himself. The same article records several other purchases from other small holders of Kinney (and possibly Central No. 2) ground, for prices of $390 and $655 per foot, totaling $34,875. If the Firm got the Con. Virginia at an average price of $10 per share (which I suspect is still on the low side), their 75 percent share of the mine probably cost them about $87,000. Adding the figures for the fifty-foot-wide Kinney pushes the total over $100,000. “Case No. 7,827, Kinney v. Consolidated VA Min. Co., et al, Circuit Court D. California, November 1, 1877,” discusses the Firm’s April 1872 acquisition of Kinney’s interest in excruciating detail.
three-dollar-per-share: “By State Telegraph,” Sacramento Daily Union, March 21, 1872, and “Telegraphic,” Marysville Daily Appeal, March 21, 1872, both said two dollars per share, but company advertisements that ran in most early April issues of Daily Alta California (e.g., “Consolidated Virginia Mining Company,” April 2, 1872) said that a three-dollar-per-share assessment had been levied on March 19 and was due on April 24. It seems likely the company would have corrected its ads if it had made a mistake.
“all outstanding claims”: “Case No. 7,827, Kinney v. Consolidated VA Min. Co., et al, Circuit Court D. California, November 1, 1877,” which discusses the Firm’s April 1872 acquisition of G. W. Kinney’s interest in detail.
wildest mining stock excitement: “The Mines of the Comstock—A Tremendous Exhibit,” Territorial Enterprise, April 11, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
Savage from around $65: “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, February 4, 1872.
quadrupled in four days: “S.F. Stock Exchange Board,” Mining & Scientific Press, February 10, 1872. For how the Savage started the boom, see “San Francisco Market Review,” Sacramento Daily Union, February 17, 1872.
“Everything goes up”: “Bubble of the Day,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 4, 1872.
“How are stocks?”: “Mining Stocks,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 27, 1872.
“no man can tell”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, February 11, 1872, citing Territorial Enterprise, February 8, 1872.
“The Crown Point interest”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, February 14, 1872; see also, “Telegraphic,” Marysville Daily Appeal, February 15, 1872.
Despite the common accusation among previous Comstock historians that Hayward and Jones “caused” the Savage boom as a stock manipulation (notably Grant Smith and Eliot Lord, who seem to be the primary sources cited by everybody else), it’s worth pointing out that the first major jump in Savage price occurred between February 2 and February 4, 1872—eight to ten days before “the Crown Point interest” made their massive purchases on February 12. It seems unlikely they’d have invested nearly $2 million in the mine if they didn’t think the strike genuine and substantial. (Changing perceptions of future value drive most stock market fluctuations.)
San Francisco Chronicle ran: From the San Francisco Chronicle: “The Stock Market,” February 16, 1872; “Stock Sharps,” February 18, 1872; “Mining Matters,” February 20, 1872; “Stock Swindling,” February 21, 1872; “Stock Swindling,” February 23, 1872; “Stocks and Loans,” February 24, 1872.
mule that had been sent down: Since “Mary Jane Simpson—The Wonderful Mule of the Big Bonanza,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 27, 1876, says Mary Jane Simpson worked in the Belcher for eighteen months, and “A Strike,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 16, 1872, citing Gold Hill Daily News, March 6, 1872, refers to the problematic mule as a female, it seems probable that it was the mule sent down in January that had to be hoisted out.
“Susan B. Anthony”: “A Strike,” Mining & Scientific Press, March 16, 1872, citing Gold Hill Daily News, March 6, 1872.
“Even in its”: “Lively,” Territorial Enterprise, April 12, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6.
Savage peaked: “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, April 26, 1872.
$30,000 per foot: “S. F. Stock Exchange Board,” Mining & Scientific Press, April 27, 1872.
Hundreds of miners . . . “realized the hard”: “Good Effects of It,” The Gold Hill Daily News, May 3, 1872.
“the largest dividend”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, May 7, 1872.
the Savage and Hale & Norcross: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, May
3, 1872.
“no particular danger”: “Local Mining Summary for the Week Ending May 4, 1872,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 4, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6.
“A sort of panic”: “Financial and Commercial” and “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, May 8, 1872.
“all other motives”: “Deviltry,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1872.
“eagerly bought up”: “The Bombshell,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 1872.
“sensational account”: “Latest Telegrams,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 8, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6.
“showed an appearance”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, May 9, 1872.
“the pallid faces”: “The Stock Panic,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 1872.
“a put-up job”: “Special Dispatches!—The Great Sensation,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 9, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6.
Chronicle’s same Wednesday article: “Deviltry,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1872.
“dead set”: “Second Dispatch—Panic in Stocks,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 8, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6.
“Bomber Tuesday”: “Mining Stocks,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 12, 1872.
nature of the mine fire accusations: “Latest Telegrams,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 8, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6; “Deviltry” and “The Paralysis of Gambling,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1872; “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, May 9, 1872; “The Stock Revulsion,” Daily Alta California, May 9, 1872; “Sharon and Jones” and “The Bombshell,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 1872; “The Sharon and Jones Difficulty” and “Special Dispatches,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 9, 1872; “Those Charges,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 10, 1872; “Full Investigation Demanded,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 10, 1872; “Light Breaking,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 11, 1872; “Subsiding,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 11, 1872; “Beginning to Understand,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 13, 1872; “In Status Quo,” Oakland Transcript, May 13, 1872; “The Stock Market,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 14, 1872; “A Disclaimer from the Gold Hill Miners’ Union,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 14, 1872; “The Last Prop Removed,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 15, 1872; “More Sensation,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 16, 1872, citing San Francisco Call, May 15, 1872; “San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 18,1872; “Yellow Jacket,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 18, 1872; “The Great Crash,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 1872; all Gold Hill Daily News articles transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6.
“The devilish story”: “Comments of the Press,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 1872, citing Territorial Enterprise, May 8, 1872; also, “The Stock Revulsion,” Daily Alta California, May 9, 1872.
“the lowermost depths”: “The Stock Panic,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 17, 1872; also, “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, May 16, 1872; “The Earthquake in Mining Stocks” and “Black Wednesday,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 16, 1872; “Second Dispatch,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 17, 1872, and “The Bottom,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 18, 1872, both articles transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/Box 6.
“lost bottom altogether”: “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, May 21, 1872.
“strewn along the”: “The Great Crash,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 1872.
pale, haggard faces: “Stock Panic,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 21, 1872.
“the heaviest ever”: “The Great Crash,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 1872.
The mine fell from $120: “Stock Market,” Daily Alta California, May 21, 1872; the Con. Virginia’s new shares (23,600 shares instead of 11,600) debuted on May 24.
“discovering hidden motives” . . . “that’s all”: “The Great Crash,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 1872; also, “Mining Stocks,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 11, 1872.
“merciless rapacity”: “A Welcome to Mr. Sharon,” Territorial Enterprise, May 31, 1872, quoted in Makley, The Infamous King of the Comstock, p. 90.
“the Commoner”: Angel, ed., History of Nevada, p. 91.
most entertaining storyteller: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 135.
the Tunnel was in 2,933 feet: Sutro Tunnel sources from the middle of 1870 to the middle of 1872: 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. 891–95; Lord, Comstock Miners and Mining, pp. 298–300; Stewart and Stewart, Adolph Sutro, pp. 91–102; “Washoe,” Mining & Scientific Press, June 29, 1872, citing Gold Hill Daily News, June 22, 1872.
at even greater depth: “Consolidated Virginia,” Territorial Enterprise, February 1, 1872.
Eventually, the two veteran miners: James D. Hague and Clarence King, Report of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Vol. III, Mining Industry, p. 99, credits the Best & Belcher with 250 feet; “Notes of Travel in Nevada—The Comstock Lode,” Mining & Scientific Press, October 19, 1872, gives the mine 224 feet, as does Dan de Quille’s diagram “Longitudinal Section of the North End of the Comstock Lode,” The Big Bonanza, p. 364.
“I’ll help those”: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p.149—the quip is perhaps apocryphal, since Smith included the quote without citation.
CHAPTER 14: THE STRIKE
Mackay left James Fair in charge: Mackay’s movements in the spring of 1872 are difficult to establish. Berlin, Silver Platter: A Portrait of Mrs. John Mackay (New York: Doubleday, 1957), pp. 197–201, says Mackay wasn’t able to be in Paris for Eva’s June operation. She says Mackay went to Paris two months later (August) and returned to Nevada “after Christmas.” Hers is a factually based novel that cites no sources. However, I combed over her files of extensive research in the University of Nevada archives and discovered a New York Times item typed out by a research assistant that says a “John Mackay” arrived in New York from Liverpool aboard the SS California on September 19, 1872 (Box 90-87/V/12 “Douglas, Elaine”)—almost perfectly timed to be our John Mackay arriving in New York after having received a telegraphic summons from Fair or Flood reporting the September 12 discovery of the cross-fissure. They would have used a prearranged, innocuous-sounding message to make the summons—to avoid tipping telegraph operators that something was afoot in the mine. I examined the New York Times article (“Passengers Arrived,” New York Times, September 20, 1872), and although there is nothing specific that proves the John Mackay aboard the California is our John Mackay, among the list of other passengers is one “J. M. Walker.” In the absence of other evidence, it “feels” most likely to me that Mackay would have timed his trip to Europe to coincide with both Eva’s operation and the two months it would take to dig across the Best & Belcher, time during which there was no chance of a development significant to a Con. Virginia owner, and that he returned to Nevada after the September 12 discovery—a development of utmost significance to a Con. Virginia owner. Perhaps Mackay returned to the United States with his old Washoe partner, who is known to have done much European travel after the dissolution of their partnership. Also, Louise gave birth to Clarence Mackay on April 17, 1874, which makes the baby’s most likely conception date between July 22 and July 30, 1873, further supporting the idea that John Mackay had reached Paris before the start of August. (There are no reports of John and Louise Mackay ever having those sorts of problems in their marriage.)
“We’ll go broke”: Berlin, Silver Platter, p. 201.
Considering the penurious years: Ibid., pp. 199–202.
in the last week of June: Rough calculations based on a drifting rate of slightly more than 4 feet per
day. The drift was 50 feet from the Best & Belcher/Con. Virginia boundary on June 15, 1873 (“The Nevada Mines,” Daily Alta California, June 17, 1872, citing Gold Hill Daily News, June 15, 1872), and 100 feet into Con. Virginia ground on July 23, 1873 (“The Nevada Mines,” Daily Alta California, July 23, 1872, citing Gold Hill Daily News, July 20, 1872). That 150 feet divided by 35 days gives a rough drifting rate of 4.3 feet per day. Their drifting rate fell as they encountered increasing difficulties with heat, ventilation, and flooding.
increased the number of shares: “S. F. Stock and Exchange Board,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 4, 1872; “San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board,” Mining & Scientific Press, May 25, 1872; “Financial and Commercial,” Daily Alta California, May 25, 1872.
“The management . . . are”: “Local Mining Summary for the Week Ending May 4, 1872,” Gold Hill Daily News, May 4, 1872, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/Box 6; Gold Hill Daily News expressed a similar sentiment in “The Nevada Mines,” Daily Alta California, July 29, 1872, and September 16, 1872, citing Gold Hill Daily News, July 27, 1872, and September 14, 1872; San Francisco Chronicle mentioned the secretiveness of the Con. Virginia management in “Stocks,” September 18 and 21, “Bulls and Bears,” September 29, and again in “Stocks” on October 6, all articles in 1872.
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