Pioneer Pieces: Paramint

Nowhere else is the phrase "Greater than the Comstock" more often associated than with Paramint (but not for the reason you would think!)  Paramint was high up in the Paramint Mountains on the edge of Death Valley, with only the minimum background of mining resources.

In the mid-1870's the impact of the Comstock on the West was one of mass hysteria and it was into this that Paramint was born. 

The Silver Senators, Stewart and Jones along with Tenor Park, a San Francisco aristocrat, skillfully and manipulated Paramint shares.  Paramint soared in mining exchanges around the world and with nothing to prove their claim, they were great salesmen, however illegal they were.

Obviously Paramint was never greater than anything and after it folded people forgot about Paramint  and the entire idea of "Greater than the Comstock".  Like those imaginary bonanzas, the phrase never really found validation in recovered gold and silver.  It became, in later years near the turn of the century, more of a joke, a prediction of doom and failure.

A half century after those forgotten diggers thought the camp and city dead, Virginia City had been in business longer than all of them together!

Next time we go searching the West for more history...

Pioneer Pieces: Greater than the Comstock Really?

Most of those referred to as "Greater than the Comstock" never recovered much of any ore, or even came close to the Comstock.  There were exceptions, however, such as South Dakota's Homestake whose single largest shareholder was George Hearst.  Hearst began in Virginia City.  Homestake out produced and outlived the Comstock.

Bodie, in California Mono County, was one of the earliest and long lasting of all mining camps, and its gold production actually dates back seven years before the Comstock discovery, but was only acknowledged in 1862 after Comstock was going strong.  Waterman Body, "the Dutchman from Poughkeepsie" found substantial deposits - and the rush was on to Bodie.

The wagon road over the Senora Pass was once again filled with miners who brought into Bodie all that made up a mining camp: whiskey, girls, firearms, mining supplies, gambling tables, and shack dwellings.

Was Bodie or Homestake really "Greater than the Comstock"? No.  Bodie kept operating with new discoveries that came along well into the turn of the century.  The "Bad Man of Bodie" is a part of the legend of the Old West.

The end of the phrase "greater than the Comstock" next time...

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...

Pioneer Pieces: The Shadows Fall

Many believe  the Comstock mines finally gave out as the 1800s came to a close, but the facts say that's just not true.  The vast ore deposits remained deep inside Mount Davidson, but the problem was the cost for mining this remaining ore was not economically justified - and it was extremely dangerous to do so.  So the mines didn't give out - they just became unworkable.

As the shadows descend over the Nevada desert, old-timers (aka "hot water plugs") moved to California to escape the severe winters of Nevada.  Businesses closed, railroads were torn up, houses were dismantled and moved to new towns in California.  New discoveries offered new wealth opportunities to die-hard miners, something known in history as "Greater than the Comstock"...next time.

Pioneer Pieces: The Wealth of the Comstock Reaches Far

The wealth produced in the Comstock mines had an enormous affect on the nation's economy.

Nevada's role in the Civil War was also huge - the Union wanted one more state with northern sympathies for Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.  Nevada's annual production, even in that time, was nearly 35 million in silver bullion! What a great aid to the Union troops!  At the time it became the 36th state in 1864, Nevada had less than 1/6th of the population required for statehood - but hey - Nevada had something the US needed.

The Comstock's wealth was also significant in San Francisco prior to and after the great fire of 1906.  Lavish financing for expansion was made possible by the Comstock wealth of Con-Virginia, Gould and Curry, Hale and Norcross and other celebrated mines of Virginia City.

After the 1906 fire, these wealthy businesses helped to rebuild San Francisco's Palace Hotel (see Luxury at Its Finest post), the Flood and Sharon Buildings, the Fairmont Hotel, the Pacific Union Club, and the San Francisco Examiner.

John MacKay, the richest and most farsighted of all the "silver kings", acquired a monopoly of the world's cable services (telegraph, not TV).  His wife reportedly spent huge sums entertaining in London and Paris.  MacKay, however, is remembered for his great generousity upon his death to many charitable institutions.

How long did this frenzy of Virginia City last?  Next time...

Pioneer Pieces: Nevada or Bust...

No discovery has ever rivaled the intensity or concentration of those pioneers headed across the Sierra Mountains!  They left San Francisco and the California mining towns in droves, almost depopulating them in their pursuit of the Nevada foothills.

For 30 years (1840s - 1870s) Comstock mines in Nevada continued to produce riches.  In fact, mining in Nevada become quite advanced in those years. Here is a bit of background of the mining of silver ore:

During the prosperous years, the Comstock worked 8 hour shifts, and employed 1/3 of the total population of Virginia City (25,000 population).  They used explosives, drills, air conditioners, ice water storage, modern hoisting techniques and even telegraph connections and bathroom on each level of the mines.

Once the raw ore was mined, it went to the stamp mill where iron stamp shafts turned the ore into powder.  The crushed ore powder mixed with water and then went to the settling tank where the amalgamated ore became quicksilver.

Eventually, 3/4 of a billion dollars of gold and silver were mined in Nevada alone!  In the 1800s that was quite a fortune and helped to build the fortunes of many of our historic wealthy famlies.

Next time...Mining Towns Grew Up Fast