Pioneer Pieces: Greater than the Comstock

Comstock from the very start was the standard to which all others were compared.  "Greater than the Comstock" became THE phrase when overnight established towns emptied out, always in haste across the mountains and desert in search of the next big prospect of wealth.

First used in 1860's,"Greater than the Comstock" was heard in mining circles, and in speculator's circles - reportedly sending the market into a see saw. Long after the Comstock itself was no longer, new prospects at such places as Rawhide, Bullfrog, Rhyolite brought many with only the belief that this was the "big one".

Those who belonged to this group ranged from the top hats on Nob Hill in San Francisco with their millions in discovered gold and silver, to the poor pioneer who, after a lifetime of searching,  had only his mule and his pride left. Banks financed these bonanza fevers, even shady stock promoters like those that swindled millions out of British investors and brought relations between the US and Britain to an all time low in the 1800s.

Was anything "Greater than the Comstock"?  Next time...