738 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



some of tliem out, Comstock, " Old Virginia," and several others 

 found " surface diggings " near " Slippery Gulch." They named 

 the place " Gold Hill," and, staking out claims, proceeded to work 

 the decomposed outcroppings over Crown Point, Yellow Jacket, 

 Belcher, Kentuck, and other great mines as yet undiscovered. 

 From the time they started the rockers, using water from a spring 

 close by, Gold Hill averaged twenty dollars a day to the man. 

 June 1st, O'Riley and McLaughlin, whose claim in Six Mile Caiion 

 paid only two or three dollars a day, suddenly cut into the rock 

 on the surface of Ophir, at the north end of the Comstock, and 

 began to take out gold at the rate of a thousand dollars a day. 

 They had only been working a few hours when Comstock hap- 

 pened along, saw the value of the discovery, laid a general float- 

 ing claim to a mythical stock ranch in the region, and fairly 

 bluffed the good-natured discoverers into taking himself and 

 Manny Penrod as equal partners. " Kentuck " Osborne after- 

 ward came in, and the five took up the original Ophir claim. 



The miners in the region soon staked out claims around Gold 

 Hill and Ophir. " Dutch Nick " started a saloon and restaurant 

 in a tent. " Old Virginia " went on a spree one night and chris- 

 tened the north-end camp "Virginia City." Comstock bubbled 

 with happiness, and flung his money broadcast. But a rancher 

 from Truckee Meadows, visiting the camp, picked up some of the 

 despised " blue stuff "from the waste heap of Ophir, and after- 

 ward gave it to Judge Walsh, of Grass Valley, California, with 

 the remark that "" over in Washoe the miners were throwing it 

 away." An assayer reported it to be nearly pure silver. This 

 happened about midnight, and before dawn Judge Walsh was 

 miles on the road to Virginia City, while hundreds of other men 

 were making ready to follow. The Truckee Meadows rancher 

 paid no attention to the excitement he had caused, but went 

 quietly back to his farm. When Judge Walsh reached the camp 

 Comstock sold for $11,000, only $10 of which was paid down. 

 McLaughlin soon sold for $3,500, Osborne for $7,000, Penrod for 

 $3,000. Careless, ignorant, the first Comstockers were blown 

 aside like leaves in a whirlwind. They spent their money and 

 drifted off here and there, pursued by ill-fortune. McLaughlin 

 was soon cooking for a gang of men at $40 a month ; " Old Vir- 

 ginia," while on a spree in 1861, was thrown from a horse and 

 killed ; Comstock, who had parted with his interests exactly two 

 months after the ledge was struck, branched out into financial 

 and matrimonial ventures, spent every dollar, wandered over 

 Idaho and Montana vainly looking for another fortune, and in 

 1870 committed suicide. Sandy Bowers, who was considered a 

 millionaire, went to Europe with his wife " to see the queen," and 

 " had money to throw at the birds." He built a costly stone man- 



