Editing Comstock Lode (section)

==Legacy==
Nevada is commonly called the "Silver State" because of the silver produced from the Comstock Lode.  However, since 1878, Nevada has been a relatively minor silver producer, with most subsequent bonanzas consisting of more gold than silver. In 1900, Jim Butler discovered Nevada's second largest silver strike in [[Tonopah, Nevada]]. Nevada is currently ranked as the second largest producer of silver in the United States. Nevada's leading silver producer is the [[Coeur Mining|Rochester Mine]] in [[Pershing County, Nevada|Pershing County]]. This mine ranks behind the [[Greens Creek mine]] in Alaska, the largest producer of silver in the US.<ref name=usgs>{{cite web|title=Silver|url=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/silver/mcs-2015-silve.pdf|website=Mineral Commodity Summaries|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey|access-date=March 24, 2016|date=January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Rochester, Nevada|url=http://www.coeur.com/mines-projects/mines/rochester-nevada#.VvM3TyKO6So|website=Mines & Projects|publisher=Coeur Mining|access-date=March 24, 2016|archive-date=March 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318081919/http://www.coeur.com/mines-projects/mines/rochester-nevada#.VvM3TyKO6So|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Greens Creek Admiralty Island, Alaska|url=http://www.hecla-mining.com/greens-creek/|website=Hecla Mining Company|access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref>

According to [[Dan De Quille]], a journalist of the period, "the discovery of silver undoubtedly deserves to rank in merit above the discovery of the gold mines of California, as it gives value to a much greater area of territory and furnishes employment to a much larger number of people".<ref name="quille">De Quille, Dan [Wright, William] ''A History of the Comstock Silver Lode & Mines'', F. Boegle Publisher, (1889, repr. 1974), {{ISBN|0-88394-024-8}}</ref>

The latter quarter of the nineteenth century and first decade of the twentieth employed miners and mining technology invented on the Comstock, throughout various other mining camps in the west. Deep underground, hard rock mining was a constantly evolving development for the miners and their companies, and the tactics developed on the Comstock became famous within the mining industry, worldwide.

Two [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] ships have been named for the Comstock Lode. The first was the [[USS Comstock (LSD-19)]] which was launched in 1945 and the second is the [[USS Comstock (LSD-45)]] which was launched in 1988.

=== Fortunes made ===
{{Main|Bonanza Kings}}
Four Irishmen, [[John William Mackay]], [[James Graham Fair]], [[James C. Flood]] and [[William S. O'Brien]] formed a business partnership in 1869 known as the "Bonanza Firm", which dealt in silver-mining shares, and controlled and ran a number of Comstock mines over the years, notably the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company.  These four men were among the "[[Bonanza Kings]]" or "Silver Kings" of the Comstock.<ref name=Smith/>{{rp|115–117,144–161}}

[[George Hearst]], a highly successful California prospector, became a partner in [[Hearst, Haggin, Tevis and Co.]], the largest private mining firm in the United States, which owned and operated the Ophir mine on the Comstock Lode, and other gold and silver mining interests in California, Nevada, Utah, South Dakota and Peru.  Hearst was a member of the [[California State Assembly]] and became a [[United States senator]] from California.  George Hearst was the father of the famed newspaperman [[William Randolph Hearst]].

Copper King [[Marcus Daly]], a mining engineer, met Hearst while working for [[John William Mackay|John Mackay]] and [[James G. Fair]]. He later went on to form the [[Anaconda Mining Company]], a [[Butte, Montana]] copper corporation.<ref name="Glasscock">{{cite book|author=Glasscock, C.B.|title=The War of the Copper Kings|publisher=Riverbend Publishing|year=2002|isbn=1-931832-21-8}}</ref>{{rp|26,52–53}}

[[William Chapman Ralston]], founder of the [[Bank of California]], financed several mining operations, repossessed some of those mines as their owners defaulted, and ultimately made enormous profits from the Comstock Lode.

[[William Sharon]], a business partner of Ralston, was the Nevada agent for the Bank of California, and acquired Ralston's assets when his financial empire collapsed. William Sharon became the second [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from Nevada.<ref name=Smith/>{{rp|49–51,127–128}}

[[William M. Stewart]], who abandoned mining to become an attorney in Virginia City, Nevada, participated in mining litigation and the development of mining on the Comstock Lode.  As Nevada became a state in 1864, Stewart assisted in developing its constitution, and became the first United States Senator from Nevada, where he helped pass the [[General Mining Act of 1872]].<ref name=Smith/>{{rp|66–70}}

Silver baron [[Alvinza Hayward]], known in his lifetime as "California's first millionaire", held a large interest in the Comstock lode after 1864.

===Writers and artists===
While most who worked the mines did not gain great fortune, a number went on to be notable in their own right in the area of writing.

The [[Sagebrush School]] of journalists and writers arose out of the ''[[Territorial Enterprise]]'' and other newspapers in Virginia City. A young William Wright and Samuel Clemens both tried their hands at mining at Comstock; not prospering at this, they landed jobs at the ''Territorial Enterprise'' where they began writing under the pen names [[Dan De Quille]] and [[Mark Twain]]. The poet and politician [[John Brayshaw Kaye]], also worked in the mine for a short period in the 19th century.<ref name=mag>{{Cite journal |title=John Brayshaw Kaye |date=April 1890 |journal=[[The Magazine of Poetry and Literary Review]] |location=Buffalo, New York |publisher=[[Charles Wells Moulton]] |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=227 |url={{Google books|EdgKAAAAYAAJ|John Brayshaw Kaye|page=227|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref>

In 1939 the arts section of the [[Federal Works Agency]] invited California artist [[Ejnar Hansen (painter)|Ejnar Hansen]] to create a mural for the newly completed post office building in [[Lovelock, Nevada]], as part of the New Deal program. After a visit to the former mining town, Hansen chose the discovery of the lode as a suitable local subject, treating it in the style of modified realism favored by the Agency. Once his canvas was installed over an interior doorway, it was widely admired for its authenticity, especially by miners and prospectors with experience of the desert locale.<ref>National Register of Historic Places, [https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/326fad09-a59e-4b0b-a0aa-1a21c270574f section 8]</ref>