The Comstock gradually reached borrasca, but its fame lived on.  As a wonderful quote by “Kettle Belly” Brown, who had been the fire chief in Virginia City during the 1870’s, and who was being interviewed by a San Francisco newspaper said about San Francisco, “Where would the Palace Hotel be, I’d like to ask, if […]

Next week I’ll get into the economic results of the Comstock, but there’s one more name I want to mention about the characters of Virginia City, and that is Adolph Sutro.  Born in Germany in 1830, he immigrated to America, and became a cigar maker in San Francisco.  Hearing about the possibilities of riches in […]

By the year 1873, the Comstock mines had been in and out of bonanza several times.  After each slump, new mining ideas and devices came on, new prospectors came on the scene, and more silver was found.  No one was getting rich, but everyone was persistent.  The Comstock mines had produced scores of millionaires, and […]

In 1859, ten years after the gold rush of California, a group of poverty ridden but determined prospectors, were gathered around Sun Mountain in Nevada, trying to uncover a supposed great silver strike uncovered by Ethan and Hosea Grosch.  Unfortunately, the Grosch brothers had died, and left no trace or identifying landmark of their find.  […]