Virginia City - Queen of the Comstock
She made the whole world richer . . .
While she grew poorer.

Compiled
by
James Shown

I have attempted to write this part of the story in chronological order.
In some places dates over-lap due to the natural order of things.
 

        Before it was called "The Comstock", it was known as the region of Washoe.
        It is commonly believed among the distinguished mining men of the world that the Comstock Lode was the greatest discovery of gold-silver ore ever made anywhere or at anytime.
        It's deepest shaft measured 3300 feet below the shaft's collar and the Lode itself spread out in a north south direction for approximately five miles.  It was from one quarter to one half mile wide.
        Five mining towns grew from the prosperity  of the Comstock, three of which continued to grow into real cities, the most famous being Virginia City.  Other towns included Gold Hill, Silver City, American Flat and Comstock City.
        At least a dozen large mines stretched out along the Comstock and were heavy producers.  During the peak of production there were about forty stamp-mills running, and about forty thousand people populated the towns along the Comstock.  And before it was all over more than $700,000,000 would come out of the ground in the form of gold and silver, and it would produce a generation of multimillionaires.

How did it all get started?
         In 1851 six miners were placer-mining a little stream where just a year prior a party of Mormons traveling from Salt Lake City to the gold country in California had made a noon day camp along the Carson river.  One of the men in that part, William Prouse, was panning the stream while the others relaxed, had lunch and made preparations for the next part of their journey.  As he was panning he saw something he wanted to bring to the attention of the others.  There seemed to be something of a gold color in the sand.  This part must have felt it wasn't worth their effort to stay and work the area they were camped in, when it was an already established fact that the gold was flowing from the hills in California, so they pressed on.  Upon their arrival they told others of the gold color in the sand in the Washoe region, but since that covered such a large area no one knew exactly where to go.
        But in 1851, a year later, when these other six miners were placer-mining the small stream, they were joined by eleven more from another Mormon party heading for the Carson Valley.  The area of the small stream they had been mining came to be known as Gold Canyon.  The more the word got out, the more showed up and the wilder the scramble became of men rushing in to see who could find the richer placer.
        Four years would pass before the Carson County government came into effect.  It was still Utah territory as the boundaries had specified in 1850.  Governor Brigham Young of the Territory of Utah had appointed Orson Hyde to establish law and order.  The Hyde government appointed James McLaughlin as Justice of the Peace for  the Region of Washoe.  Soon afterwards, Orson Hyde and Jacob Rose received the okay  from the county to construct a canal from the  Carson River to Gold Canyon.
        Chinese laborers were brought in from California to dig the canal.  As soon as it was finished they stayed on becoming placer-miners following the others up to Gold Canyon.
        Two brothers, Hosea Ballou and Ethan Allen Grosh, were among the miners and headed up the scramble toward a rough and rugged peak.  The further up the canyon they got, the narrower it became, and the more difficult placer gold became to find.  But the Grosh brothers were young men, in their early twenties, and they dug into an outcropping of quartz.  In search of gold nuggets they mostly succeeded in piling up a quantity of black sand.  Later when the  sand was assayed it was found to contain lots of pure silver.  This was 1857, and they made out a legal claim, getting it on paper, and continued to work throughout the spring and summer.
        Their food rations began to run low, but they had an agreement with a farmer, a Mr. George Brown, in the Carson Valley.  He was to supply them with the necessary staples they would need to get them through the winter.  Unfortunately for these two, tragedy befell them when Mr. Brown was murdered during the summer.
        About August 20^th Hosea had an accident while digging with a pick-ax, and drove the point of it into his ankle.  He died ten days later from gangrene.  He was buried on a rocky hill in lower Silver City.
        A few weeks later his brother Ethan, decided to cross the Sierras and go on to California.  It was mid November to December and not a good time to try such a journey.  His attempt cost him his life.  Before he died he relieved his self of all his possessions in an effort to lighten the load in a vain attempt to make it across.  In doing so he tossed away his claim papers along with everything else.  He died with frozen feet at the Last Chance Mine on the west side of the mountains on December 12^th.  All legal claims to the  first discoveries of lode-ore of what later would become the great Comstock were lost.

Henry Comstock
        Many miners and even some families moved into the Gold Canyon area.  Among the prospectors was a Canadian named Henry T. Comstock.  Comstock took over the Grosh claim and even moved into the little cabin the brothers had built.  Technically, this was known as claim jumping.  In years to come this type of action would have been met with a shot from a well aimed gun.
        By this time, a town was taking form about a mile below the summit of the mountains up which Gold Canyon made its way.  This was Gold Hill.
        Prospectors from all around were swarming over the hills around Gold Hill.  Just beyond a  little divide to the north two Irish prospectors, Peter O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin, made a lode-strike of high grade ore on an outcropping on June 1^st 1859, along Six Mile Canyon.
        While they were busy at work the notorious Henry Comstock came along and seeing the grade of ore, saw this as an opportunity.
        Let's examine Mr. Comstock for a minute.  Henry was a cunning, boisterous, often prone to threats of violence, and an all around intimidating man.   Already a proven claim jumper, although this was an unknown attribute, which in itself is the same as a thief and a liar.  He had a way with words, which  would prove a useful weapon in intimidating the average uneducated prospector.  Coming across as an educated man, confident in his way, he was also a bully. 
        Seeing the ore McLaughlin and O'Riley had dug out of the ground, Comstock approached the two Irishmen announcing that they were digging on his land.  Patrick and Peter insisted they had a legal claim, but Comstock didn't falter.  He said it didn't make any difference, it was still on his land, but being the good natured person he was, he would allow them to continue as long as they included him as his partner, Emmanuel Penrod on the claim, otherwise he's take legal action, if not violent action against them.  Afterwards Comstock named himself superintendent of the mine and took over running things.  he put up written notice of ownership which he made good by further threats of violence to anyone who opposed him.
        He and his partner Penrod put in three rockers — a rocker is a cradle used for washing or panning the ore — and they were soon taking in $900 a day.
        A few weeks passed when the placer gave out, and the rock just below the surface proved to be another lode.  Claims were staked off for fifteen hundred feet, getting them the lion's share of the greatest mineral find ever made in mining history.
        Three great mines developed from this discovery — the Mexican, the Ophir and the California.  In time these three mines would yield $60,000,000 in gold and silver.

The End of Henry Comstock
        However . . . you reap what you sew it's been said, and they were never truer words than with what happen to Henry The Claim Jumper Comstock.  He and his partner Penrod sold out long before the big money began to role in.  Penrod went on to Montana where years later he was found eking out a meager existence.  Comstock sold out his part of the Ophir for a mere $11,000 and spent his few thousands in debauchery, after which he went to Idaho on foot and penniless to work in the  mining camps there.  A few days later he topped  off his miserable dishonest life by blowing his brains out with a revolver.
        Peter O'Riley sold his part for $40,000 and died some time later in an insane asylum.  Patrick McLaughlin ended up working for $40 a month as a cook on a ranch where he died without enough savings for a decent burial and was put to rest in a pauper's grave.  He had sold his part to a little unknown family.  A Mr. George Hearst paid him a mere $3,000 for it — $38 per foot in 1859, and its been rumored that this was in part the beginning of the famous Hearst fortune.  A good example is that George bought his stock for $38 per share in 59 and in 63 it was selling for $1650 per share. 
        Comstock had also sold 300 feet of the Belcher for 33 and a third cents per share, ($99.9) and in 1863 the same property sold for $1680 a foot/share — $504,000.  Not a bad profit for a smart optimistic businessman.
        The fall of 1859 the mines owned by Comstock and Penrod were clustered around a small wild town just over the divide to the north of Gold hill.  suggestions had been made to name the town "Comstock", ( and thank goodness they didn't), but it remained nameless for several months to come.  Everyone was too busy mining, sleeping, or getting drunk to worry about naming a mining town in which their only interest was how much money they could make while they were there.                            BACK TO TOP

First Buildings on the Comstock
       The first buildings erected in Gold Hill were put up by Nicolas Ambrosio, a.k.a.: "Dutch Nick", and the second was a small boarding house and restaurant, in 1859.  All the timber used in the construction had to be brought in from California, over the Sierras by ox teams, a long, slow process.  Fortunately, the native rock was good enough for the first stage of construction.

The Naming of Virginia City
        Among the original group that arrived on the scene back in 1851 was a man named James Finney, a.k.a. James Fennimore — his real name.  Dan DeQuille claimed, "He came to Gold Canyon in 1851 from the Kern River country, California, where he had a 'difficulty' with a man and, believing he had killed him, took a little walk over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, dropping the name of Fennimore and calling himself James Finney."   He was best known to all who knew him along the Comstock as "Old Virginia", or more properly pronounced — Old Virginny.
        He has been described as anything but just an old town drunk.  William Hickman Dolman, described Finney in his memoirs (ca. 1900) as a "frontier hunter, and miner, a man of more than ordinary ability in his class, a buffoon and practical joker; a hard drinker when he could get the liquor, and an indifferent worker at anything.
        As the story goes . . . late one night in October there was a bit of an accident which provided the proper setting for naming the premier mining camp.  True to his type, Old Virginia — James Finney, lived in a small cabin along with several old-timer prospectors.  One evening while bringing a bottle of Old Reprehensible back to the cabin, Old Virginia tripped and fell over the doorstep, breaking the bottle.  As he drunkenly got up off the floor, his friends rushed to see what the commotion was all about.  There stood old Fennimore, a bit surprised, more disappointed with the broken bottle in his hand than anything else.  Not to be outdone by his laughing friends, the old miner soberly took the remaining few drops of liquor in the bottle, sprinkled then on the ground saying: "I christen this god dammed camp Virginia". 
        His fellow miners got a kick out of this and then they all went back down to Jones' Bar to celebrate (term for another good excuse to drink!), and as they told the story the name spread and "Virginia City" became official.
        "Old Virginia" was a well known face in the many saloons up and down the Comstock, and he was never denied a drink (or two) at the many bars.  He lived life as a happy-go-lucky drunk until August 22^nd, 1860 when he attempted to ride a bronco horse at Dayton.  The horse had other ideas and pitched him off and he fell, breaking his neck.  Old Virginia didn't leave any money to anyone but he did leave many friends — and a nickname for a mining town that has become familiar world wide.
        "In the end, James "Old Virginny" Finney, Virginia City's namesake and probably Nevada's oldest pioneer settler, has found a final resting place in the Dayton cemetery. A new gravestone reflecting the actual date of Finney's death was unveiled in 2001 befitting Finney's contribution to Nevada's mining history."  (Guy Rocha - Myth a Month).

Inflation
        By the middle of 1860, Virginia City was coming into prosperity.  Lots were selling for about $1000 each; lumber was going for $300-400 a thousand.  Any coin to be found in town was primarily at the saloons and gambling houses.  Provisions were scarce.  Flour sold for $16 a hundred pound sack; brown sugar 50¢ a pound; eggs were 50¢ each; blankets sold for $8 each; and a glass of liquor (most likely a shot glass) was 50¢ each.                     BACK TO TOP

Pyramid Lake War
        The Pony Express came racing across the Great Basin late April 1860 with exciting news.  The rider diverted off his regular route, charging up Six Mile Canyon.  Drawing the attention of those immediately aware of his arrival he told them that Indians had attacked and burned a Pony Express station a few miles to the east, killing the four station keepers.
        At once every man in the district was ready to take up arms to protect their families and homes.  In fear they would be attacked they built a temporary fort, calling it Fort Riley, and huddled into it.  The citizens organized and posted sentinels around the town.  Several hundred armed men under the leadership of Major Ormsby from Carson City immediately went in pursuit of the Indians.  They tracked them from the burned station to the north to Pyramid Lake, seventy or eighty miles north of Virginia City.
        But Major Ormsby's party, made up of prospectors was so ignorant of Indian warfare and ill-prepared they were completely ambushed and wiped out at the river banks near the lake on May 12^th.  Ormsby and sixty-five men lost their lives in the Pyramid Lake battle.  Some reports are even higher on the loss of Ormsby's party, but the Indians had no losses.
        More than halfway into the battle, the Major's mule was shot out from under him, and he when he got back up he went to the top of a steep grade, and looking back he saw an Indian he recognized.  He decided to try and parley with the brave since there had been friendly relations between them before he felt there was hope in ending the conflict, and put an end to the massacre.  He called to to the Indian by name, saying, "Don't kill me.  I am your friend, I'll go talk with the whites and make peace."  The Indian responded by saying, "No use now, too late," and he sent an arrow flying into the Major's stomach and then another into his face.  The Major dropped to the ground and was rolled off the ridge into the gully below where he died.
        This battle developed into another, and this action all became known as the Pyramid Lake War.  A second force of soldiers was brought from California to make a second attack near the same spot where Major Ormsby's party was slain.  In this battle five whites including Captain Storey were killed.  An unknown number of Indians were slain, making it a victory for the white settlers.

Retribution
        After report of this massacre got back to the settlers in Virginia City, and surrounding areas, another attack was planned to go to the Pyramid Lake area.  A company of 165 men was raised, armed and equipped and within five days were in Virginia City, having come across the mountains on foot.
        More men came in from Nevada City, CA, San Juan, CA, Sacramento and Placerville and joined forces with those in Virginia City.  The Governor sent 500 mini muskets and plenty of ammunition to use in their efforts.
        The Washoe Regiment was organized and consisted of eight companies of infantry and six companies of cavalry, and included Company K, the Virginia Rifles with Captain E. T. Story.  Total compliment of the Washoe Regiment was 544 strong.  On May 21^st, the regiment was joined by U. S. Troops near present day Wadsworth.  In addition to infantry there were two artillery companies with two howitzers.  Total compliment now was 754 men.
        For a detailed account of these two battles, and other associated events, read: History of Nevada, edited by Sam P. Davis, Vol. I, Chapter II - Indians of Nevada by Major G. W. Ingalls pages 52-74              BACK TO TOP

Camels
        Salt was needed along the Comstock and the method to  get it there was to use a caravan of Bactrian camels, between Placerville, CA and Virginia City.
        The camels were left over from a government herd that had been used in an experiment by soldiers across the deserts of Texas and New Mexico, and on to California in the 1850s.  The experiment was unsuccessful due to the rough rocky roads over the Sierras, and they would frighten  teams of horses causing run-aways.
        As the camels became more numerous in Virginia City they became a greater hazard.  Aside from the run-away horses, their unpleasant odor from sweating in the hot sun led to a city ordinance against them.  They were only allowed on the streets at night.  A few years later they were abandoned and scattered in small herds.  Most of them were later driven to Arizona.        BACK TO TOP

Churches
        The first Baptist church to be organized in Nevada was the Colored Baptist in Virginia City, in 1861.  Under the guidance of the Rev. Satchell, a building was soon erected, funds for which were generated through the efforts of the reverend.  This church had the distinction of having a single white man as a member.
        For six years the colored people of Virginia City found odd jobs, but were limited to certain kinds of labor and this aided in their numbers dwindling until in 1867 when their pastor, the Rev. W. H. Stevenson sold the church property and the members left Virginia City.
        A second church established in 1861, was the Episcopal Church, under the direction of the Rev. F. S. Rising.  The reverend was a very active church leader and soon had a large congregation.  He often took trips through Nevada valleys in search of new members, until while on one of these jaunts into the Humboldt county area, he was killed by Indians.  St. Mary's church still stands today.      BACK TO TOP

First School on the Comstock
       May 1862, the first public school on the Comstock was organized by Mary Gastor.  School was held in a rented building until 1874 when a more permanent building was built by school authorities in Lower Gold Hill.
        In 1863, twenty-one charter members organized the first fire department at Gold Hill.

A Really Big Wagon
       Things seem to always get done in a grandiose way on the Comstock.  Sometime in 1863, the largest wagon ever seen in the west came rolling into Virginia City.  It had been built in Adrian County, Michigan, and was part of a caravan for the Virginia City Mining Company.  It was 30 feet long, 16 feet high and had a capacity of 20 tons.  It was designed for the job of hauling bullion across the mountains to California.

Fire Damage
        August 29^th, 1863, fire swept through Virginia City, causing between $600,000 and $700,000 in damages.  Beginning in a carpenter shop in the business section the fire quickly swept through the dry wooden buildings.  At once it consumed the brittle board and canvas shanties.
        The damage may not have been so great had the two most important fire crews in town fought a heated argument on the street near the scene of the fire, trying to settle an old feud between them.  Instead of putting their differences behind them, and their energy into dowsing the flames, they took to bricks, bats, and fire nozzles to battle one another.  When all was said and done there was one man dead and many more injured — but not from the fire.      BACK TO TOP

Athletics — All Work and No Play, No Way!
        It wasn't all work and no play on the Comstock.  And it wasn't all "high-society" dances and banquets.  The miners and the families of miners would often enjoy picnics during the warmer months.  Athletics were very popular during these gatherings.  Competitive sports ranged from throwing a heavy 22lb. hammer and a light 14lb. hammer; shot-putting a heavy 22lb. stone and a light 14lb. stone; short sack race; 100 yard race; three-legged race; running jump; running high jump; pole vaulting; tossing the caber — a heavy wooden pole, demonstrating strength, this was of Scottish origin; 500 yard race and quoit pitching — a game in which flat rings of iron or rope are tossed at a stake.
        The ladies weren't left out either, young or old everyone could participate.  In addition to the men's competition, there was the ladies race; old ladies; old man's race; and the boy's race.  (No mention of horseshoes was among this list).       BACK TO TOP

Enter — The Big Four
        They came to be known as The Big Four Bonanza Kings.  John W. MacKay, James G. Fair, James C. Flood and William O'Brian.  Four Irishmen, who would turn the Comstock around, and become the most prominent businessmen on the Comstock.
        John W. MacKay — (1831-1902) came to the U. S. as a young man, landing in California, the mining district attracted him most.  It didn't take him long before he was following the trail with thousands of others to the mines of the Comstock.  In 1861 he started out as a miner in the Cook Tunnel for $4 per day.  He was often seen hiking up the trail in Six Mile Canyon with a Ames shovel on his shoulder.  He went to work in the first shallow diggings on the slopes of Mt. Davidson.  He soon became an expert in timbering a mine that he moved on to a timber man position for $6 per day, and then on to superintendent of the Caledonia Tunnel and Mining Company.
        In 1861 after saving his hard earned money, he went to Auroa with John Henning and bought the Esmeralda Claim.  But this venture turned out to be a failure so MacKay returned to Virginia City and hooked up with J. M. Walker in building the Petaluma Mill at Gold Hill which unlike his venture in Aura, this turned out to be more profitable.  It was Mr. Walker that later introduced MacKay to Fair, Flood and O'Brian.
        While he was working in the Kentuck Mine in the Gold Hill district, he would take his salary in shares instead of cash.  In 1863 the owners of the mine wanted to incorporate, but learned they were not able to do so without ownership of a certain amount of shares that belonged to one of the original discoverers. Unfortunately, this shareholder was reported to be off fighting with the Confederacy in western Tennessee.  A large bonus, or reward, was posted for the legal recovery of the shareholders proxy.
        MacKay had a plan and for four months he disappeared.  When he returned he had the missing block of shares and a bill of sale.  The Kentuck Mine could then be incorporated and MacKay found himself for the first time an active capitalist on the basis of his shares.  In his earlier days he had remarked that when he made $200,000 he would retire, but success got the best of him and his early retirement plan fell by the weigh side.
        James Graham Fair — (1831-1894) came to Virginia City across the Sierras from California in 1860.  True to prospecting, it's said he had a gift of knowing where to find ore.  He became superintendent of the Hale & Norcross, and there he developed and took the first big bonanzas from these mines.
        He was always on shift checking up on the deep shafts and winding tunnels.  He would personally check each new find and put a stop to all lagging or listless service.  He missed nothing.  No one under his supervision escaped due punishment for his own faults.  Even in anger, which was often, he remained calm and even voiced.
        It wasn't long before Fair met up with another Irishman who would become his partner on the Comstock.  Fair and MacKay had 400 shares between them of the Hale & Norcross by 1869, but the stock soon dropped from $2900 per in March to $41.50 per in September of '69.  This however worked itself into the scheme of Fair and MacKay, for while the stock was low they were able to buy up the controlling interest with the help of two San Francisco saloon proprietors — James Flood — (1826-1889) and William O'Brian — (1833-1881), and together they became the famous Big Four.                             BACK TO TOP

William Sharon
        In 1864 the Bank of California in San Francisco sent a agent to Virginia City to open one of it's branches.  The agent, William Sharon, had lost his wealth in stocks as a businessman in California.  Since he was seeking a new job he accepted the new position.
        When Sharon arrived in Virginia City, he was in a sense the materialization of a new order.  His keen sense of organization was to have success over confusion along the Comstock.
        When Sharon arrived in Virginia City, the local business' were loaning money to mill owners, and anyone else in the district that needed it, at very high interest rates, ranging from 3% to 4% per month.  This was the standard practice among Comstock business' and the mines.
        Sharon opened his offices and immediately offered loans at 2% a month, undermining the competition.  This practice, either of good will (doubtful) or of shrewd business (probable), got him into plenty of trouble.  For collateral he had been accepting mills and mine plants.  Before long he had mortgages on most of the mining properties on the Comstock.  Problem being as the mills became numerous the ore going to each operation became less, so the profit margin dropped, forcing some of the mills to shut down placing them in Sharon's hands.
        After he had to foreclose of seventeen, Sharon organized a corporation, The Union Mill and Mining Company.  The seven main mills were kept open and busy twenty-four hours a day until the eventually controlled the output of most of the Comstock mines
        The Carson river, 16 miles south of Virginia City, supplied the water for the milling works and therefore the majority of the mills were located along the river.
        Sharon's control of the railroad, the mines and the mills gave him great influence in getting bills passed which were favorable to the Bank of California.  From his arrival in 1864 until about 1870,  Sharon was the Great Bonanza King.  Under his dominion at least $150,000,000 was taken from all of the mines in the district.
        Although Sharon lost his banking power, he maintained his control of the fifty miles of the V & T RR.  It remained a power for him on the Comstock until The Big Four.  The railroad had 28 engines that were in constant use and four more were under construction.  But John MacKay and his partners were intent to rid the Comstock of Sharon, and since his last interest was in the railroad that's where they attacked.
        At one point they demanded a cut in freight rates for all Comstock miners.  The cut was made because MacKay threatened to build another railroad.
        To help thwart matters with Sharon's railroad further, the MacKay interests were shipping their bullion to California via Placerville in huge bullion wagons drawn by teams of horses and mules.  A wagon departed every night, with the bullion at 55% gold and 45% silver, they cast the bricks in such a large fashion, highway bandits couldn't steal it.
        In 1874 Sharon had purchased control of the Ophir mine from "Lucky" Baldwin.  This boosted stock from about $50 in October to $350 in January when Sharon was elected to the U. S. Senate.  Thinking the bonanzas had all been exhausted, he immediately sold his shares in the Ophir, but this caused a panic on the West Coast, and it ruined his associate, W. C. Ralston at the Bank of California in San Francisco.

The Big Four Takeover
        The Irish quartet of the Comstock set up a bank in San Francisco and named it the Nevada Bank.  It had the largest paid-up-capitol of any bank in the world of $5,000,000.  It was created to oppose the California Bank from San Francisco of which William Sharon was the agent.  These two banks began to fight each other, but MacKay was no match for Sharon.  Sharon made threats against the MacKay forces, saying he would see MacKay walk out of town with his blankets on his back.  O'Brian, on the other hand, responded by simply saying he would serve liquor over the counter of the California Bank once it was in their control.
        This went on until August 26^th, 1875, when the California Bank closed its doors.  The cashier in the San Francisco branch went down to the bay for a daily swim and was found later, drowned.  The MacKay interests took over all the assets of the Sharon branch and O'Brian, true to his word, had the pleasure of serving a glass of liquor over the bank's counter.  The California Bank was saved from ruin, but never again opposed the Big Four — the new Plunder Barons of the great Comstock.       BACK TO TOP

William Stewart
        William Stewart, a young lawyer from California, arrived on the scene in Virginia City in the early 1860s.  His role in Nevada history was as an important part as any other.  Known as the Father of the Mining Laws in the U. S., he served Nevada well as a U. S. Congressman for 29 years.  He was responsible as well for the additions of three geographical areas to the Territory of Nevada, from adjoining territories, doubling its size.                   BACK TO TOP

The Railroad
        March 8^th, 1865, Nevada legislature passed a law giving a permit for the construction of a new road.  One with rails, between Virginia City and Carson City.
        The idea for the railroad was that of William Sharon.  A year after his arrival in Virginia City, he concluded something needed to be done on a grander scale to carry the ore to the Carson River, other than horse and mule teams.
        The nearest railroad to Virginia City at that time was being constructed from Sacramento, CA eastward across the sierras, through Reno, to Salt Lake City.  It was the Central Pacific, and in 1865 it was only a few miles out of Sacramento, so Sharon's idea seemed a bit on the wild side.  All the equipment that would be needed for his road — the rails, the cars, even the engines would have to be shipped from the east, by boat, via the Panama Canal to San Francisco.  From there it would have to be hauled overland by freight teams across the Sierras.
        The Central Pacific wouldn't make its connection in Utah until 1869, and didn't even reach Nevada until 1868.  Since Sharon was delayed through conflicts with the legislature, it was lucky for him as he wasn't able to start until December 1868.
       Chinese laborers on the Central Pacific that were finishing its tracks across northeastern Nevada called for a work stoppage.  They were receiving $30 per month for a twelve hour day, and paying for their own room and board on top of that.  The railroad company threatened to replace all the Chinese with other nationalities if they refused to return to work.  They did return, but their actions were brought to the attention of Senator Stewart in Washington.  He fought Congress to pass a law to prohibit any Chinaman from becoming naturalized.
        Finally the surveyor began running a line for the road.  The elevated drop from Virginia City to the Carson River is about 1600 feet, and is about 13½ miles.  The survey took 13 days and construction on the grade was started before the final survey was completed.
        Sharon was able to acquire financial aide from Ormsby County and Storey County through which the railroad would pass.  He obtained $500,000 from the two County Commissioner's and $700,000 from mining interests of the Comstock — part loan and part donation.  All of this was done in less than two months, and there were 1200 men toiling from dawn to dusk on 21 miles of rocky railroad grade.
        Sharon began to break ground on February 1869 on the extension of his railroad from Carson City to Reno.  The last spike on that section of the railroad was driven in on August 24^th, 1872, and the Virginia City and Truckee (V & T) was a reality.
        November 12^th, 1869.  The first train arrived from Carson City with William Sharon on the head of the engine.  He was met by the whole Comstock.  It was a day of celebration.  The mine whistles kept up an increasing clamor.  The Gold Hill band was out in its full dress parade uniforms.  After a few short speeches, Sharon invited everyone for a drink to toast the new line with him.  Prior to his arrival he had set up a supply of the best liquors for the occasion.
        As the engines began winding their way along the rails, the various mines could see in big bold letters, their names, along the sides of the iron cars.  The first up to Gold Hill was the Lyon, then soon after came the Ormsby, the Virginia, the Carson, Storey and the Ophir.
        What a grand sight they were.  All destined to move the greatest body of gold and silver that has ever come out of the bowels of the earth.  Only to be forgotten almost as completely as if they had never been built.
        Sharon's Iron Mules, as the teamsters called them, would have the job of making Gold Hill and Virginia City real mining camps.  Ore that had previously been considered too poor to be taken by mule teams was now able to be shipped down the grade to the mills along the Carson.  The first shipment out was a seven car train of 60 tons from the Yellow Jacket Mine.   BACK TO TOP

End of an Era
        The new railroad soon made the wagons and their teams of horses and mules obsolete and unemployed.  They were for the most part forced to seek work elsewhere.  Even the colorful stages with their four and six head teams had to leave for areas less settled and begin all over.  But even with the new train service in and out of Virginia City, a few stage lines still survived.  Several important lines operated — one to the south to Aurora, and another to Glenbrook, and another westbound line.  These lines were generally laden with tourists, prospectors, baggage and freight.  Bullion was brought into Virginia City on the "old-time" prairie schooners to meet up with the freight trains.
        The road between Placerville, CA, and Virginia City, had been the busiest wagon road during the 1860s.  Along this ninety plus miles of road were a hundred or so stations and with each station was a small town where hundreds of men kept busy year round maintaining the road.  There was so much traffic along this route if a teamster was unlucky enough to lose his place in line, he might have to wait an hour before another opening came.
        The three stage lines along this route carried 24,000 passengers into Virginia City and 16,000 out during just one year.  The fare between Virginia City and Sacramento was $27 for a distance of 162 miles and it took three days.  But the arrival of the rail changed all of this.  It turned an otherwise once bustling busy bi-way into one of neglect and ruin.            BACK TO TOP

 Fire Down Below!  In the Yellow Jacket Mine
       April 7^th, 1869, thirty-six men perished in a fire that has been considered the most horrible of all the mining camps fires.  In the tunnels of the mine were miles of of timber, a thousand feet deep in the main shafts, as well as all the drifts and crosscuts.  Huge ore chambers that had been stoped out, the huge beams set upon one another with heavy plank floors at every six foot level.  All this timber plus the gases made a perfect setup for a fire.
        The fire swept through the Yellow Jacket Mine.  It was early in the morning and a new shift had just come on.  Without any warning, belching smoke poured from the mouth of the shaft.
        Thirteen bodies had been brought out by two in the morning, nineteen hours after the discovery of the fire.  Clothes were burned off some, and the flesh off the fingers to the bone.
        After three days the fires below seemed to rage with even greater fury.  The shafts were covered with planking and wet blankets and wet earth.  Two more days passed before the shaft was reopened, and again the fires raged on, and again the shafts were sealed.
        Ten days after the fire first began forty-one bodies had been recovered.  The camp's hospitals were filled with the men that had been gassed, burned and maimed.  After thirty-nine days a few more bodies were recovered, but the fresh air in the shaft gave life to the fire again.
        Some of the drifts were sealed and abandoned, and three years later when reopened some of the stones were found to be red hot.
        The hero of the day, John Percival Jones, worked diligently up and down the gas filled shaft, directing each step of the rescue, and in the end received the admiration of everyone on the Comstock.  In 1873 he ran against Will Sharon for a seat on the U. S. Senate and won easily, even though Sharon had spent quite a bit on his campaign.  Jones remained a Senator for 35 years.
        Three years passed before the mine was reopened, but the fire broke out again, and again the mine was closed.     BACK TO TOP

The Sutro Tunnel
        October 19^th, 1869, after much deliberation, and securing European capitol, Prussian-born Adolph Sutro, was finally able to begin construction on a four mile long tunnel, known as The Sutro Tunnel. The tunnel was designed to remove water from deep within the mines of the Comstock.
        Prior to Sutro's tunnel idea, the water was pumped out of the mines at great expense.  Flooding in the mines had become a serious problem.  Sutro proposed a horizontal tunnel enabling the water to be drained without the need of the pumps, and the mining companies could likewise use the tunnel to move men and equipment in and out of the mine reducing their expenses by even a greater margin.
        As early as April 4^th, 1865, Adolph Sutro applied for a franchise which the Nevada legislature granted, giving A. Sutro & His Associates, the exclusive franchise to construct and operate the tunnel with a 50 year contract.
        Sutro was able to get the Bill, The Sutro Tunnel Act, passed through Congress as early as July of 1866, which authorized Adolph to use the land, but he still needed the finances to begin the monumental project.  The Bill also gave Sutro & His Associates the exclusive rights to all lode ledges discovered along its course for 2,000 feet on either side for a length of seven miles, with the exception of the Comstock lode.
        Twenty-three of the top mining companies had agreed to pay Sutro & His Associates a royalty of $2 per ton of ore extracted by each mine after the tunnel began to drain them, and in turn the mines could use the tunnel for transportation of men, equipment and supplies at a special rate.
        The Bank of California branch in Virginia City, run by William Sharon and William Ralston, had plans to build a railroad and didn't want the tunnel to be they couldn't control.  They didn't like the competition.  They were able to undermine all of Sutro's efforts at getting the financial backing he needed.
        The terrible fire in the Yellow Jacket Mine gave Sutro the edge he needed.  He explained to the miner's that had his tunnel been built, it would have provided an alternate escape route as well as necessary ventilation.  The Miner's Union backed him with $50,000, and Sutro was able to start the tunnel.
        Other major mining interests feared Sutro would use the tunnel to take control of the entire lode. 
        The idea of the tunnel was to have an upper and a lower lever.  The lower level was to be used for the water drainage, while the upper level would be used for ore cars on tracks drawn by mules.  There would be four ventilation shafts would be sunk along the tunnel at 4,000 foot intervals, but only two were completed.
        The tunnel was completed July 8^th, 1878 and ended up being only 3.8 miles.  It made its connection at the Savage mine at the 1,640-foot level.  If not for William Sharon it would have been completed earlier.  Adolph had to get his financing through England and Germany to complete the project.  By the time the tunnel reached the mines however, they were lower than the tunnel itself.  But it still made it easier to pump out the 150 to 170 degree water.          BACK TO TOP

The Big Fire
        October 26^th, 1875.  A fire broke out on B and Taylor Street in a little rooming house from an upset coal oil lamp, it was reported.  The fire quickly swept through the wooden buildings, spreading north and east very rapidly aided by a strong wind.
        Every man in town and from the mines did everything they could with water and dynamite to stop the spreading of the fire.  The heat was so intense that a great whirlwind sprang up and stood above the town like a great water spout.
        Firemen and miners fought desperately, side-by-side, with water buckets and wet blankets, beating and trampling out the smaller flames.  The firefighters were forced to give ground little by little until most of the city had been consumed by the fire.
        A general panic swept through the citizens faster than the flames themselves.  In one accord men, women, and children fled, taking with them a few prized possessions and family heirlooms.
        At the Ophir Mine, 1000 cords of wood and about 400,000 feet of mining timber burned with black smoke that filed the sky.  Everything around the Ophir was burned and the fire went down the great shaft 400 feet before it was brought under control.
        The Consolidated Virginia Mine lost all it's buildings.  The big mill nearby that belonged to the California Company was a smoldering heap of twisted iron.
        The fire wiped out the business district of the city.  Two thousand buildings in all were in ashes, the damage was at least $10,000,000 leaving hundreds homeless and destitute — in October — not the best time of the year to be homeless in this area.

The Morning After
        Hundreds of people were busy clearing the hot ground of its smoking timbers and debris, the very next morning.  Some buildings were even under construction again, and in a few days the town was beginning to take shape again.  But if the fire wasn't enough, out of the west came a regular tornado, gusts of wind strong enough to blow down all the new frames , and scatter the lumber all over town.
        But Virginia City was not to be stopped . . . not yet anyway.  The construction went forward again and within two months the main streets were once again lined with brick and lumber buildings, most being far more stout than the ones before them.

A Year Later
        All traces of the fire were wiped out just a year after.  Hotels, theaters, and schools sprang up and the city presented a more modern appearance than other cities much older.
        A local paper reported on October 29^th, 1875:  "The Great Fire left two-thirds of the flourishing city of Virginia a blackened smoldering heap of ruins.  The fire was the greatest calamity that had befallen the state of Nevada since its organization, but the city had great recuperating powers.  It was situated on the most productive mine in all the world. one which produced annually more gold and silver than all the other mines in the Union combined".
        The biggest excitement following the fire was in the first few weeks.  Martial law was proclaimed and for two weeks the state Militia was the law in Virginia City.  The better citizens welcomed the new control, but others such as the saloon keepers frowned upon it.  Martial law called for early closing of saloons and drunken men were grabbed by the scruff of the neck and put in the guard house.             BACK TO TOP

A Liquored Up Town
        In 1876 a count was taken of saloons in the Virginia City area.  Having been christened with whiskey, the town lived up to its baptism.  The count showed there were 100 retail liquor establishments in Virginia City; 37 in Gold Hill; and 7 in Silver City.  There were also 10 wholesale liquor houses and four breweries.

A City Reborn
        Eighteen months after the Great Fire, a mere six months after Virginia City was rebuilt, the city had 35 doctors including two homeopathic doctors; 14 big gambling tables; 150 saloons, and other places that sold liquor; 30 rooming and boarding houses; 18 barbers; 20 insurance agents; 2 pawn brokers; only four banks; 150 dry good stores; three billiard saloons; so carpenters; 10 tailors; 10 meat markets; four quartz mills; four hay yards; 8 dairies and 20 laundries.
        The population was at its peak as was production.  Business was thriving on all levels and banquets were given day and night.
        Even the railroad was on tops.  With 52 miles of track, it had 32 powerful engines and made a clear profit of $850,000 in 1877.  No other rail line twice the size in the world could equal the V & T's income.  1877 was the highest point of production and service in the history of the Comstock for the V & T.

The White Winter
        The winter of 1889-1890 saw the heaviest snowfall in Nevada history.  Known as the White Winter nearly 100 inches fell over a one month period.  The wagon roads and railroads were blocked high.  The mail train between Virginia City and Carson City was pulled by five engines with a snow plow attached to the front.  By January 28^th, all roads between the two cities were blocked totally.  The mines were shut down and the V & T was spending $1000 a day in efforts to get traffic flowing again, as several engines were knocked off their tracks.  The White Winter was so brutal, 90-95% of the state's livestock perished.
       Finally on February 4^th, a train made it through, it was the first one in 18 days.          BACK TO TOP

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