Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Chapter I. Gold Canon Placers Discovered in 1850--The Grosh Brothers--The Comstock Discovered at Gold Hill--The Ophir Discovery--The Early Locators--Snow-Shoe Thompson--"Old Virginny"--John W. Mackay--The Ophir in 1859--Early Transactions
Chapter II. 1860, A Year of Disillusionment--Deidesheimer Invents the Square Set--1861, A Craze of Mill Building--1862, New Discoveries--Renewed Confidence
Chapter III. The Boom of 1863--An Orgy of Litigation--Social Conditions--The Placerville Road--Geiger Grade--Early Prominent Men
Chapter IV. Development of the Washoe Process--Early Mining and Improvements
Chapter V. The Depression of 1864--Arrival of William Sharon--Civil War Spirit--Nevada Becomes a State--Stewart Elected United States Senator
Chapter VI. 1865, An Emotional Year--Lee Surrenders--Lincoln's Death and Funeral Procession
Chapter VII. The Panic of 1865--Comstock Production and Profits from 1859 to 1866--Stock Devilment
Chapter VIII. The Law Governing Mines--Litigation
Chapter IX. The Comstock Lode--The One-Ledge Theory Prevails--The Ore Bodies
Chapter X. The Early Bonanzas--The Ophir, The Gould & Curry, The Savage, The Chollar-Potosi, The Yellow Jacket, and The Original Gold Hill Bonanzas
Chapter XI. Three Years of Steady Progress, 1866, 1867, and 1868--The Kentuck Brings Mackay's First Fortune
Chapter XII. The Sutro Tunnel
Chapter XIII. The Hale & Norcross Venture of Mackay, Fair, Flood, and O'Brien in 1869--They Join the Water Company Which Brings Water From the Sierras
Chapter XIV. 1869, A Discouraging Year--The Yellow Jacket Fire--Sharon Builds the V. & T. Railroad
Chapter XV. The Gloomy Year of 1870--The Crown Point Revival in 1871--The Boom of 1872--Sharon-Jones Contest for Senator
Chapter XVI. The Crown Point-Belcher Bonanza--The Gold to Silver Ratio--The Silver Question
Chapter XVII. The Consolidated Virginia Bonanza: Early History--The Firm Takes Control--The Discovery of Low-Grade Ore--The Top of the Bonanza Encountered--Capital Stock Increased as Bonanza Develops--Dan DeQuille's First Report on the Bonanza--The Califo
Chapter XVIII. Sharon Starts a Boom--A Wild Market--The Consolidated Virginia Boom--The Chronicle Boosts the Bonanza--The Market Reaches the Top--Extravagant Forecasts
Chapter XIX. The Fateful Year of 1875--The Market Crashes in January--Mackay Thought the Panic Was Temporary--The Chronicle Attacks "The Bank Crowd"--Partial Recovery in the Spring--New York Tribune Correspondent Visits the Comstock--Prof. Rogers and the
Chapter XX. 1876: High Water Mark on the Comstock--A Troublous Year for the Bonanza Firm--The Market Revives and the Bears Threaten--Fair Claims Mackay Gutted the Con. Virginia--Keene Leads a Smashing Bear Attack on Bonanza Stocks--Mackay, Fair, and Flood
Chapter XXI. 1877: The Bonanza Terminates on the 1650 Level--Warring Brokers and Speculators--Hard Times in 1877--The Decline Begins
Chapter XXII. 1878 to 1881: Dewey Sues The Bonanza Firm--The Sierra Nevada Deal--General Grant and President Hayes Visit the Comstock--End of the Bonanza Period
Chapter XXIII. Life on the Comstock in the '70s--Comstock Millionaires--Notable Mine Superintendents
Chapter XXIV. Miners' Wages and Hours--Heat and Ventilation--Giant Powder, Burleigh, and Diamond Drills--Lumber and Firewood--The V Flume
Chapter XXV. Fire in the Stopes--Low-Grade Operations in the Bonanza Mines--The Comstock Milling Monopoly--The Last Washoe Process Mill--Losses in Tailings--Tailings Reworked
Chapter XXVI. Bonanza Production and Dividends--Bonanza Firm Played Fair--Mackay as the Comstock Knew Him
Chapter XXVII. Why Deep Mining Ceased--Cornish Pumps
Chapter XXVIII. "The 1886 Deal"--The Revival from 1886 to 1894--The North End Mines Pumped Out, 1899 to 1920
Chapter XXIX. The Balance Sheet of the Comstock
Chapter XXX. The South End and Middle Mines; The United Mining Co. and Comstock Merger Mines Adventures--The North End Mines, The Con. Virginia--Silver Slides into the Depression
Chapter XXXI. The Depression--A New Gold Price--Comstock Tunnel and Drainage Co. and Sutro Tunnel Coalition--The Arizona Comstock--The Crown Point--World War II and L-208
Chapter XXXII. A Small Post-War Revival--The Last Stamp Mill--Gerald Hartley's Tourist Mine--A Long Dry Spell
Chapter XXXIII. Union Pacific Railroad, Howard Hughes, Minerals Engineering, and Finally, Houston Oil and Minerals; Back to Gold Hill and American Flat--The Con. Imperial Pit and Greiner's Bend--A Changing Community
Chapter XXXIV. The Middle Mines, United Mining Corp. Goes Underground--Art Wilson Co. and the Crown Point Mill--Marshall Earth Resources on the North End
Chapter XXXV. The Balance Sheet of the Comstock, 1997
Appendix I. The Comstock Production Record--1859-1919
Appendix II. The Comstock Production Record--1920-1996
Index
Supplementary Index
