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Savage Silver Mining Works, Virginia
City, c. 1867-1868
Courtesy of National Archives,
NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-77-KN-95 |
In 1859, placer miners and prospectors in the western Great Basin
made two remarkable strikes of gold and silver ore breaching a mountain's
slope near Virginia City. It was the culmination of regional discoveries
and excitement that began a decade before with the famed California
Gold Rush of 1849. The 1859 discovery in the Great Basin provides an
epilogue for the California Gold Rush. It was not so much the end of
a story as it was an indication of how future mining would change an
entire region.
The Comstock Lode, as people soon called the ore body, was distinct
in the ways that it influenced subsequent development in the American
West. First, the Comstock Mining District quickly became home to deep
underground, hardrock mining. Although some California operations had
also taken this direction, the Comstock established approaches to technology,
corporate investment, and community growth that were imitated internationally
for the next 50 years. For example, the Comstock had a huge labor force
of salaried professionals, breaking from the California pattern of thousands
of independent mining entrepreneurs digging for themselves in small
groups.
Aerial view of Virginia City in 1877
Photo courtesy of Terri
McBride |
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The Comstock was unusual and will always be famous for the presence of
silver as well as gold, and especially for the spectacular amount of wealth
it generated. Miners retrieved what today would be billions of dollars
in riches; the mines in and around Virginia City produced one-half of
the nation's silver up until 1886. However, corporations were necessary
to exploit a resource requiring an immense, complex infrastructure. This
meant that only a few people ultimately benefited most from the Comstock
mines, but that did not inhibit a worldwide fascination with the discovery.
In addition, during the flush times money flowed freely and many enjoyed
the prosperity.
Unlike the small settlements throughout the California Gold Country,
the Comstock District was a highly urbanized, industrial setting. Again,
this was the model that all future mining developments generally followed.
By the early 1870s, the mining district's capital, Virginia City, together
with its smaller neighbor, Gold Hill, reached a population of nearly
25,000, becoming one of the nation's larger communities.
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Comstock Lode "King" John Mackay made
a fortune in the Comstock mining boom
Photo courtesy of Terri
McBride |
Part of the 19th-century interest in the Comstock resulted from the millionaires
it propelled into the international limelight. Wealthy men, from George
Hearst and John Mackay to Adolph Sutro and William Ralston, made their
fortunes while working or investing in the mines around Virginia City.
The mines also spawned the successes of William Stewart, John P. Jones,
William Sharon, and James Fair, each of whom served in the U.S. Senate.
Much of the historical treatment of the Comstock has focused on the
impressive technology, the immense wealth, and the men at the center
of both. Nevertheless, Virginia City and its mining district were exceedingly
complex, attracting immigrants from throughout the world. People from
North, South and Central America, and from Europe, Asia and Africa came
to the district, hoping to capture some of the success that had become
a legend.
For over a thousand Chinese immigrants, it was Yin Shan, the Silver
Mountain. Irish miners from County Cork, on the other hand, typically
saw Virginia City as a chance to sidestep the oppressive Appalachian
coal mines in favor of a better place to work and a higher wage. Similarly,
a modest number of Spanish-speaking people played an important role
in the early development of the mining district. Samuel Clemens, who
invented his Mark Twain persona while reporting for Virginia City's
Territorial Enterprise, wrote, ".all the peoples of the earth
had representative adventurers in Silver-land." Indeed, the mining district
played a pivotal role in giving Nevada one of the largest percentages
of foreign born in the nation throughout the 19th century.
Still, over half of the Comstock's population was born in North America.
The Northern Paiutes, living in the area for centuries before the arrival
of others, possessed a culture and society that thousands of gold and
silver seekers severely disrupted. Although they confronted oppressive
prejudice and treatment, several hundred American Indians eventually
settled around the mining district, and like others, they found various
means to exploit the many opportunities of the new society. African
Americans also came to the Comstock seeking wealth and opportunity.
Many become prosperous, well-respected business owners. Thousands of
Midwesterners, together with many New Englanders and fewer Southerners,
added to the social diversity and complexity of the place. Together
these diverse groups wove the rich tapestry that made the Comstock the
crossroads of the world.
Initially women were rare, but within a few years much of the gender
gap had been bridged. By 1880, one third of the population was under
18 years of age, underscoring the fact that this had become more of
a family-based community than a stereotypical mining boomtown.
C St., Virginia City, 1940
Photo by Arthur Rothstein, courtesy Library of Congress, Prints
& Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, Reproduction Number
LC-USF34-029808-D DLC |
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Mining camps throughout the world pass through an evolution of boom, dramatic
growth and excitement, and then decline. The size and nature of each district's
ore body define the duration of prosperity. The Comstock was remarkable
both for the amount of wealth it produced and for the number of years
it was able to thrive. By the early 1880s, it was becoming clear that
the good times were over. It had been years since miners had discovered
any new bonanzas, and thousands of people were leaving for better opportunities.
By the time of the Great Depression of the 1930s, Virginia City had
declined, shrinking into a town of only several hundred people. These
residents became custodians of a remarkable inheritance that included
countless documents and photographs, hundreds of 19th-century buildings,
and abandoned shafts and adits (an almost horizontal entrance to a mine).
In addition, thousands of historic archeological sites are part of the
rich heritage of a remarkable mining district, which the National Park
Service recognizes as one of the larger National Historic Landmarks
in the 50 states.
Essay by Ronald M. James, Nevada State Historic Preservation Officer
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