Comstock Mines

If you’ve ever heard of the Comstock mines, you know it is a site located in the Virginia City, Nevada area. There was an era called the Comstock Lode, which was when the discovery of silver took place. It was one of the biggest rushes since the discovery of gold. It even caused a large depression in the east because everyone rushed over to the west to the site to find more of this new metal. Miners traveled to depths as deep as 3,200 feet. Mining camps were set up immediately for the excavation. In the period between 1859 and 1878, the excavation brought forth $400 million worth of golf and silver. In 1874, there were increases in the growth of technology for mining.

The Comstock mines caused a huge rush when the first bits of silver and gold were found in the area. This occurred in 1858 and just ten years before, gold was discovered in the west, so the amount of excitement from this was pretty strong. Comstock mines were quickly filled with American and Canadian miners looking for their share of the big silver and gold rush. There are claims that the silver discovery was much bigger than the gold rush because there was a larger amount of it in a larger area and gave employment to a large amount of people.

There is a dispute in who discovered the Comstock mines; it is said to be discovered in 1857 by Ethan Allen Grosh and Hosea Ballou Grosh—these were the sons a clergyman in Pennsylvania. They were mineralogists and veterans of the gold fields of California. You will still hear things about the Comstock Lode because it was a big deal back in the 19th century. You can learn more about Comstock mines by looking around on the internet.