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Show Comstock never discovered the Comstock Lode. The Lode is on the eastern slope of an isolated iso-lated mountain range which is separated from the Sierra by a succession of narrow valleys. One ravine runs down from the mountain to the southeast to the Carson river, the stream of water from which merges with the Carson river at a point where the town of Dayton now is. The other ravine runs down nearly, east from Virginia City to the desert. The first has always been known as "Gold Ravine." The second as "Six Mile Canyon." In 1859 a few placer miners were at work with rocl s in each of these ravines. They made modebt wages but were bothered by a sort of blue-black rock that clogged their rockers. rock-ers. Their eyes were closed; they never sought to find out what was in that rock. Two miners, Peter O. Riley and Patrick McLaughlin, at work in Six Mile Canyon, moved up to near the crop-pings crop-pings of what is now the Ophir mine on the Comstock. What they had been washing and what they supposed was gravel, was really decomposed rock from the great lode. As they ascended the ravine it grew richer and richer until they were saving several hundred dollars daily in their rockers. Then they located what they thought was an immensely im-mensely rich bank of gravel. It was in truth only a decomposed section of the great vein and was later known as the Ophir mine. Neither of them knew anything about quartz veins and had no thought of locating anything but gravel. Above their location a little stream ran down from Ceder Ravine. This supplied their rockers witli water, and nine-tenths -of this stream was owned by Henry Comstock and Emanuel Penrod. When Riley and McLoughlin showed Comstock samples of what they were obtaining, Comstock told them that the ground was owned by other men and advised them to buy those men out. This was done for $50 and Comstock exchanged an old horse for the other one-tenth interest in the Ceder Ravine water, alien an arrangement was made between Riley, McLaughlin, Comstock and Penrod by wnich they all became equal owners own-ers in both the claim and the water. About the same time John Bishop and his partner, with "Old Virginia" whose real name was Fenimore and a fourth man located Gold Hill, two miles south, but on the same olde. That, too, was taken up as a placer mine. The rich gold discovery was heralded abroad, a chance vistor put a piece of the black-blue rock in his pocket as a pocket piece, went to Nevada City, Cal., and gave the piece to a friend who had it assayed. It showed some $1500 per ton in gold and about a like amount in silver. Then the rush began. Comstock never discovered anything. He was a mouthy old chap. When the rush come he told of what he had done and some one who heard him, in talking with others referred to the, Comstock Com-stock Lode and the name stuck. Comstock was not a good worker, not a good prospector, but he was fond of whiskey and loved to hear himself talk. It Is pitiable that he should die as he did, but not much unexpected for he was always improvident and given to moods, either up in the shieves or down in the sump. |