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Prepared in cooperation with the Nevada State Department of 

Conservation and Natural Resources 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 779 

The Story of tl1e 

Water Supply for 

the Comstock 
Virginia City proba]}ly in the late 1870's. Courtesy of Nevada Historical Society. 
THE STORY OF THE 

WATER SUPPLY FOR 

THE COMSTOCK 

Including the Towns of 

Virginia City, Gold Hill, and Silver City, Nevada 

Together With Other Water-Related Events 

For the Period 1859-1969 

HUGH A. SHAMBERGER 

Prepared in cooperation with the Nevada 

State Department of Conservation 

and Natural Resources 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 779 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

ROGERS C. B. MORTON, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

V. E. McKelvey, Director 

Library of Congress catalog-card No. 7G-179642 

First printing 1972 

Second printing 1972 

U N I T E D S T AT E S G 0 V E R N M E NT P R I N T I N G 0 F F I C E, W A S H I N G T 0 N 1 9 7 2 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $1.25 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

I am grateful to the Inany fine friends who gave me much needed assistance 

in putting this story together. I depended a great deal on Harry E. (Red) 

McGovern, Water Master of the Sierra Water System, and am indebted to 

him and to Hobart Leonard, President and Superintendent of the Virginia 

City Water Company, for their fine cooperation. 

The personnel of the Nevada Historical Society were most helpful, as were 

those .of the Nevada State Library, the University of Nevada Library, the 

Ormsby County Library, and the Mackay School of Mines Library. 

For n1aking the reproduction copy of the Buck and Schussler letters, as 

well as other material, I am indebted to the late Jack McCarthy, State Printer, 

and his assistant Tom Carter, now Acting State Printer. 

For some of the engineering details, I want to acknowledge the assistance 

of Walter Reid, P.E., of Virginia City. 

On the matter of editing, I needed considerable help. I was fortunate to 

have the advice of Victor 0. Goodwin, well-recognized writer of Nevada history. I also received help from my daughter, Mrs. Roy (Ann) Callahan, my son 

Allan, and my wife Ethel. Some of the old timers in Washoe Valley who furnished inforn1ation were Henry Heidenreich, Bill Pedroli, and Norman and 

Don Cliff. 

I want to especially acknowledge the work of Ethel Murphy, of the I)epartment of Conservation and Natural Resources, in typing this story, as well 

as other personnel in that office. 

The writing of this story has been done under the auspices of the U.S. 

Geological Survey and the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural 

Resources. I am appreciative of the counsel and guidance given me by George 

Worts, District Chief, U.S. Geological Survey, and his assistant Thomas Eakin, 

and by Elmo DeRicco, Director of the Department of Conservation and Natural 

Resources, and his assistant Norman Hall. 

The list of all those who gave me assistance is too long to include here, 

but I want them to know I am most appreciative. 

HUGH A. SHAMBERGER 

October 1969 

v 

PREFACE 

After spending nearly 34 years in State service, mostly in the field of water 

and related resources, I have retired from the daily grind of full-time work. 

From 1935 to 1957, I served in the Office of State Engineer; from 1957 to 1965, 

as Director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; and 

then 2112 years as Director of the Center for Water Resources Research of the 

Desert Research Institute. 

Like so many professional men who retire, I wanted to spend a part of my 

time in work that would be both interesting and productive. One day when I 

was visiting George (Skip) Worts and Thomas Eakin of the U.S. Geological 

Survey here in Carson City, the discussion got started about the water supplies 

for the old mining camps of Nevada. It was recognized that very little attention 

had been given to this particular subject of water supply, with the possible 

·exception of Virginia City. 

Mr. Worts suggested that I might wish to try my hand on a part-time basis 

under the Federal-State cooperative program between the U.S. Geological 

Survey and the Department of Conservation and N a'tural Resources. Since I 

have always been interested in our State's history, I lost no time in getting 

started. My first effort was on the water supply of the Comstock, bringing its 

history up to 196·9, which is covered herein. 

Since starting the Comstock water-supply story, I have been working on the 

history of other of the old mining camps and their quest for water. I am finding 

it exceedingly interesting, and in time I am hopeful that I can cover most of 

the old mining camps in Nevada, especially those where an adequate source of 

water for the townsite and mills was not readily available, which generally was 

the case. 

October 1969 

HuGH A. SHAMBERGER 

Research Hydrologist 

U.S. Geological Survey 

VII 

488-960 0 - 72 - 2 

CONTENTS 

Page. 

AcknowJedgments _____________________________________________ . _ V 

Preface________________________________________________________ VII 

Statistical Summary_____________________________________________ XI 

Early History__________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 

The Early Struggle for Water_____________________________________ 3 

The First Pipeline_______________________________________________ 16 

The Second Pipeline_____________________________________________ 22 

The Third Pipeline_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 28 

Recapitulation of WaterWorks, 1873-1887 ____________________ . _ _ _ _ 30 

Water-Related Events, 1861-1894 .. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 30 

The Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company________________ 30 

The Sutro TunneL__________________________________________ 31 

Water Power and Electric Power__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 37 

Electric Lights______________________________________________ 38 

Pumping Water From Deep Shafts_____________________________ 39 

The Twentieth Century________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 42 

Curtis-Wright CorporatiOn___________________________________ 43 

Franktown Irrigation Company_______________________________ 44 

Purchase of Sierra Water System by the State__________________ 45 

Conclusion_____________________________________________________ 46 

Notes and References___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 49 

Index___________________________________________________________ 50 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

[Photographs where no credit is given we.re taken by the author] 

FRONTISPIECE. Virginia City probably in the late 1870's. Page 

FIGURES 1-4. Photographs showing: 

1. Red House and diversion dam about 1928_ _ _ _ 17 

2. The Tanks, 1969. Inlet to pressure pipeline____ 17 

3. Outlet end of inverted siphon, 1969 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 17 

4. Old flume between Five Mile Reservoir and 

Virginia City and the pipe replacement. 

Shown is Hobart Leonard, President, Virginia City Water Company _________ ;-____ 17 

5. Profile of siphon and location of air and blow-off valves_ 19 

6-8. Photographs showing: 

6. Section of first pipe laid in 1873__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 20 

7. Section of 1873 pipeline still in place___________ 20 

8. Herman Schussler, Consulting Engineer_______ 21 

9. General map of the water-works system of the Virginia 

and Gold Hill Water Co., 1913_ _ _ _ _ _ __ ____ _ 24 

IX 
X CONTENTS 

FIGURES 10-19. Photographs showing: Page 

10. The screw-joint pipe used in the second pipeline, 1875______________________________ 26 

11. Five Mile Reservoir, 1969___________________ 26 

12. West portal of tunnel through the Sierra 

divide, 1968____________________________ 26 

13. Marlette Lake, 1920_______________________ 27 

14. Concrete block used to anchor pipelines______ 27 

15. Sections of the 1873 and 1887 pipes and method 

of repair_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 28 

i6. Hobart Creek Reservoir about 1928__________ 29 

17. Captain J. B. Overton, Superintendent, Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company____ 29 

18. The white house at Lakeview_______________ 29 

19. Mules used in the construction of the Sutro 

TunneL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 34 

20. Map of the town of Sutro, 1873____________________ 35 

21-26. Photographs showing: 

21. Sutro's mansion __________ .. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 36 

22. Ado] ph Sutro_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 37 

23. Cornish Pump installed at the Union shaft in 

1879__________________________________ 41 

24. James M. Leonard, Superintendent of Virginia 

and Gold Hill Water Company from 1906 

to 1959________________________________ 42 

25. Harry E. "Red" McGovern, of the Sierra 

system________________________________ 43 

26. Signing of the agreement to purchase the 

Sierra water system between the State and 

Marlette Lake Company, June 12, 1963__ 46 
STATISTICAL SUMMARY 

Virginia City, Gold Hill 

(Comstock District) 

and 

Silver City 

Discovery of ore at Virginia City 1 * ----------------

Virginia & Truckee Railroad 2-------------------

Sutro 1runnel 3 _________________________________ _ 

Pipelines from the Sierra Nevada to Virginia City: 4 

First pipeline ______________________________ _ 

Second pipeline ____________________________ _ 

Third pipeline _____________________________ _ 

Mineral Production, 1859-1921 5

------------------

Silver ------------------------ $222,315,814 

<Jold ------------------------- 164,023,917 

Copper and lead_______________ 7, 200 

Mineral production, 1859-1957 6 ------------------

Peak years of production, 1862-80, approx _______ _ 

Peak population, Storey County (Virginia City, 

Gold Hill) 7-----------------------------------

Population, 1960 Census, Storey County----------

Present population, Storey County---------------

Life of towns: 

Virginia City------------------------------- (told HilL _________________________________ _ 

Silver City (Lyon County)------------------

•se-e numbered foortnotes at end of text. 

1859. 

Completed Carson City 

to (told Hill, Dec. 21, 

1869. 

Completed Carson City 

to Virginia City, 

Jan. 29, 1870. 

Completed Reno to Carson City, Aug. 24, 

1872. 

Completed Carson City 

to Minden, Aug. 1, 

1906. 

Started Oct. 19, 1869 

and completed July 8, 

1878. 

Completed August 1873. 

Completed 1875. 

Completed 1887. 

$386,346,931. 

$393,963,725. 

$296,400,000. 

17,528. 

568. 

606.8 

1859 to present. 

Do. 

Do. 

XI 

THE STORY OF THE 

WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

(Virginia City, Gold Hill, and Silver City, Nevada, 1859-1969) 

EARLY HISTORY 

Of all the mining tow·ns in Nevada, more has been 

written about Virginia City than any of the othm'S. 

When Virginia City is spoken of, Gold Hill, which is 

located south of Virginia City in Gold Canyon, must be 

ineluded, since the Cmnstock Lode extended to Gold 

Hill. Silver City, which is a few miles farther down 

Gold Canyon in Lyon County, was actually settled before Virginia City and was a place of considerable importance in 1860. In the early days the 1nines of Silver 

City rivaled those of Virginia City, but no bonanzas 

were ever developed in Silver City.9 * 

Virginia City became famous and has remained fanlous for many reasons. Probably foremost is the fact 

that it was the grea.test producer of silver and gold 

high-grade ore in history. The recorded production of 

the Comstock district to 1957 was $393,963,725 in silver 

and gold,10 the silver portion being about 58 percent of 

the total. This production figure was probably greatly 

exceeded, as there was a large unrecorded production in 

the early days. Another reason for Virginia City's fa1ne 

is the large number of people who were associated with 

the development of the Comstock who later became 

famous; men such as John W. Mackay, James G. Fair, 

Adolph Sutro, Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), 

James C. Flood, W. S. O'Brien, William Sharon, D. 0. 

Mills, and H. M. Yerington, to nan1e only a few. 

"Thile Virginia City and the Comstock Lode \vcre 

famous in their own right, especially throughout the 

West, they have gained world,vide notice during the 

past decade as the result of the "Cartwright family" in 

the National Broadcasting Company television series 

"Bonanza.'' The locale of "Bonanza" is, of course, Virginia City, and the "Ponderosa Ranch" is supposedly 

near Lake Tahoe. The episodes shown on television are, 

like most television series, imaginary; yet the locale is 

real and some of the episodes were developed from 

*See numbered foort:notes at end of text. 

actual events. A facsimile of Ponderosa Ranch, the 

make-believe home of the "Cartwrights," was recently 

constructed at Incline Village on the shores of Lake 

Tahoe, Nev., and is becoming a great tourist attraction. 

The Comstock Lode stands alone in the history of 

Nevada and the early vVest, in the difficulty of the water 

problems presented in the extraordinary engineering 

feats accomplished in order to overcome these problems 

and to develop the Comstock, and in the ingenuity and 

courage demonstrated in the undertaking of these 

projects. 

The first serious prospecting in the Virginia CityGold Hill area occurred as early as 1850, and a mining 

camp existed in Gold Canyon continuously from 1851. 

The early history of the Comstock is recorded in the 

following article entitled Sketch of Em·ly T-irnes, which 

appear in the TeJ"ritorial Ente1·prise on June 20, 1875: 

In the summer and fall of 1857 there was considerable prospecting done for placer mining in the 

section where lower Gold Hill now stands. It is 

impossible to give the names of the early pioneers 

who at that time sought the fickle goddess in these 

parts. They were generally a wandering adventuresmne class, who went where the tidal wave of speculation for the time sent them. 

The next spring a prospecting party was started 

for the Walker River, which, howevm·, returned 

during the summer, having met with no success. It 

was not until early in the year 1859 that prospecting bet\veen the works at Gold Canyon and the diggings which were then worked in the ravine below 

where the Virginia City Cemetery now stands was 

carried on to any extent. At that time Mount Davidson was known as "Sun Peak" or "Sunrise Peak" 

because it caught the first rays of the rising sun, 

and it was a great pity the name was ever changed. 

At that time John Bishop and Aleck Anderson 

discovered in what 'vas then known as the right 

fork of Gold Canyon, a good-looking ledge. "Old 

Virginny" was told of the find, and this early oracle 

in mining matters agreed that it 1night be something good. Comstock, who in that year had a store 

1 
2 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

in Carson, Vigneau and others followed. The first 

pan of dirt went fifteen cents. Water was brought 

up from the canyon by means of a rough flume built 

of boards obtained over in Washoe. 

At that time fifty feet per man was all that the 

early-established code of the Ininers allowed a man 

to claim in one place. The locality was called Gold 

Hill because it was situated on a little hill just 

outside of Gold Canyon. It was thus named February 8, 1859, and today (1875) the place contains 

about twelve thousand inhabitants. 

The flume above-mentioned, in which water was 

brought to what ,,.e shall hereafter designate Gold 

Hill, was nailed together on the precise point where 

the Crown Point works now stand. . . . It was the middle of April before the rockers 

were at work. The first one hundred rockers yielded 

$5 and a little over. The next daY' quicksilver, which 

had been brought from J ohntown, was introduced, 

and $17 were l sic] taken from a single days work 

of one man. This was not very heavy but it beat the 

$2~ $3, to $5 _per day of Gold Canyon so badly that 

quite an excitement was created by it. Afterwards 

some averaged $50 and even $100 per day. 

The first locaters of Gold Hill were ,John Bishop, 

Aleck Anderson, "Old Virginny," Vigneau, Comst?ck, Camp, Sandy Bowers, Joe Plateau, and one 

Richards, a renegade Mormon. Immediately after 

the locations above-mentioned were made Bishop 

and Camp located the present Yell ow Jacket. . . . 

~hen came the building of a log shanty to live in. 

TJ:tis was l?cated immediately in front of the Gold 

Hill cropp1ngs. By the 1st of May so many miners 

had come to the hill that there was neither work 

or room for them. Several of these started off and 

located claims all along the Comstock where the 

City of Virginia now stands. The present Ophir 

was located. at. tha~ time by John Jessup. . . . About tlus time 1t became necessa,ry to build a 

large shanty in Gold Hill to accommodate the influx of miners. Jessup, of the Ophir, turned in and h~lped put it up. After it was finished, Jessup and 

Side:' sat down to play a game of cards for drinks. 

A dispute arose, and Jessup was killed by Sides, 

who stabbed hin1 twice with a bowie-knife. This 

was about May 1, 1859. Sides was taken to Earrle 

V~lley (Carso_n) f~r trial, but there was never a~y­ ~hlng done w1th him. Thus the reign of violence 

Inaugurated on the Comstock. . . . After the death 

of Jessup, and while the rna j ority of the inhabitants 

of Gold Hill ~ere over in Eagle Valley with his 

mu_rderer, Reilly a!ld McLaughlin jumped his 

claim, and have recmved credit of first discovering 

the Comstock. 

The claim was afterwards enlarged by the addition of other claims and had several owners, among 

w.h?m we~e Penrod, Comstock, Finny (Old Virginia), Reilly and McLaughlin and was at one time 

run by Penrod, Comstock & Co. The name was several t~mes . chan~e? 'til at last the name "Ophir" 

was given It. Tlus IS the claim which gave the name 

of Comstock to the lode. There were several ambitions of the honor of standing godfather thereto, 

but Comstock is the only one who was fortunate 

enough to achieve immortality in that regard. If 

the lode had been called after the first discoverer, 

it should have been named the "Grosch lode," for 

the brothers located claims for themselves and 

others thereon long before the days of Virginia 

City and Gold Hill were known. 

John L. Newman, who died in the fall of 1861, 

built the first substantial dwelling ever erected in 

Virginia City. This was situated on the corner of 

"A" Street and Sutton Avenue, and constructed in 

the summer of 1859; but at what time of the summer occupied it is impossible to say. It was not, 

however, until the second house had been put up at 

Gold Hill .... In the fall of 1859, Virginia City had a population of between two and three hundred. Their accommodations would not be considered first-class 

today. Many of them slept in the sage brush on the 

mountain side, for but a small proportion of them 

could get tents or other lodging accommodations. 

But there was plenty of timber here then, and their 

sleeping-rooms were not so desolate and dreary as 

are the hill-sides now. The winter of 59-60 was a 

very severe one, and those who could not procure 

shelter otherwise lived in "holes in the wall," that 

is, they dug holes in the hillside and used them for 

dwellings .... The first snow fell about the 

middle of November, and was from a foot and a 

half to two feet deep. About Christmas a heavy fall 

was experienced, which covered the ground about 

five feet deep .... The first frame house ever built in this city was 

erected by James H. Hickman and was located 

on "A" Street, between Union and Taylor. It was, 

however, unroofed by a zephyr the following May. 

The first International Hotel was built on the corner of "B" and Union Streets, of lumber whipsawed down in Six-Mile Canyon by the men who 

were the proprietors. John Connell was one of the 

proprietors and --- Paul the other. It was 

erected in the winter of '59 and spring of '60. It was 

one story high, had a bar-room, dining room, and 

about a dozen lodging-rooms. The kitchen and dining rooms were in the basement. The furniture, as 

may be surmised, was neither mahogany, rosewood, 

nor yet walnut, yet the first day it was opened the 

receipts were $700. It was afterwards (about '62) 

packed in two wagons and moved to Austin where 

it now stands. 

In the above news article, mention was made of the 

settlement of J ohntown. Until the writer started his 

research for this story he does not recall ever having 

heard of this place, and in all likelihood not too many 

other people have. Several of the early writers mention 

it; it was situated in Gold Canyon about 4 miles above 

Dayton. Its population consisted mostly of Chinese 

placer miners. Fron1 18!56 to 1858 it was described as the 

"big" mining camp of western Utah Territory, although 

it never had more than a half -dozen flimsy wooden 

shacks at any one time.11 
THE EARLY STRUGGLE FOR VVATER 3 

THE EARLY STRUGGLE FOR WATER 

Virginia City and the Comstock Lode faced a variety 

of water problems, which can be considered in three 

general groups. First, it was necessary to provide an 

adequate supply of water for the population. Secondly, 

the operation of the mines required an inordinate 

amount of water. The final problem was an excess of 

water in the lower levels of the shafts. Adequate solutions were found for the supply for the population and 

the mines, but the conditions created by the excess 

amounts of scalding water in the shafts were never 

overcome and resulted in the discontinuation of deep 

mining on the Comstock in 1886. 

Dan DeQuille described the early struggle for water 

as follows: 

In the early days, when the first mining was done 

at Virginia City and Gold Hill, natural springs 

furnished a supply of water for the use of the few 

persons then living in the two camps. For a time 

after the discovery of silver, these springs, and a 

few wells that were dug by the settlers, sufficed for 

all uses; as the town grew in population, an increased supply of water was demanded. A water 

company was formed and the water flowing from 

several tunnels that had been run into the mountains west of Virginia City for prospecting purposes was collected in large wooden tanks and distributed about the two towns by means of pipes. At 

length the tunnels from which this supply was obtained began to run dry, and a water famine was 

threatened. It then became necessary to set men 

to work at extending the tunnels farther into the 

hills to cut across new strata of rock. This increased 

the supply for a time, but at length the whole top 

of the hill into which the tunnels extended appeared to be completely drained.12 

Although thousands of dollars had been expended 

in these various experiments, -the danger of water 

famine constantly confronted the peopleY 

Two companies, the Virginia Water Company and 

the Gold Hill Water Company, had been formed to 

collect and distribute water. These two companies were 

consolidated on May 12, 1862, as the Virginia and Gold 

Hill Water Company.14 Eliot Lord gave the following 

description of the efforts of the company to meet the 

water needs. 

Before September 1863, they had bought or 

leased the streams from seven tunnels, .the principal 

water sources, and conducted them through flumes 

and ditches into large cisterns, from which the 

water was distributed to all points in Virginia City 

and Gold Hill. The mains· first laid were wooden 

boxes, roughly joined, and placed on or near the 

surface, with branch pipes of lead tubing. In August 1863, iron supply pipes were laid in South C 

Street and were thenceforth substituted for wood 

to a considerable extent. If the supply had been 

commensurate with the demand, the profits of the 

company would have been extraordinary, but the 

amount obtained was so scanty that it was necessary to dole it out at exhorbitant rates. 

In October 1863, only 561h flowing inches (664 

gallons per hour) of water could be obtained for 

the use of Virginia City, 48 of which came from the 

Santa Rita tunnel alone, and if the stream from the 

last named tunnel decreased, as appeared probable, 

a water famine was imminent, (Santa Rita tunnel 

was located in Ophir Ravine) .... Fortunately 

the supply was 1naintained with slight diminution 

until the melting of the winter snows refilled the 

springs. Every succeeding year, as the city grew, 

the peril of water-drought increased; every year the 

record was repeated-flumes and pipes running full 

in spring and half empty in autumn.15 

The Santa Rita Tunnel was the main water supply 

for Virginia City until a prospecting adit, known as the 

Cole Tunnel, encountered a quartz seam on January 7, 

1867, that produced 135 inches of water (1,515 gallons 

per minute). Apparently this quartz seam also supplied 

the Santa Rita Tunnel water because its flow ceased at 

once. Following this the Virginia and Gold Hill Water 

Company leased the water from the Cole Silver Mining 

Company. This supply was still insufficient, and the 

water company was forced to supplement their good 

quality water supply with Virginia City mine water, 

primarily from the Ophir mine shaft. 

This caused the people of Virginia City and Gold 

Hill to complain about the water quality, but the water 

company very shrewdly encouraged each of the cities 

to believe that it was the favored one, and that the other 

was receiving poor quality water. 

The Cole Company, realizing the value of a pure 

water supply, refused to renew the water company's 

lease on the water at the expiration of the old lease in 

1870, and immediately began to lay a new system of 

pipes alongside those of the water company.16 

The Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company, apparently anticipating such a move, commenced the extension. of an adit known as the Nevada Tunnel, which 

would intercept the heretofore noted quartz seam at a 

point about 30 feet lower than the Cole Tunnel. This 

work was carried on as rapidly as possible, although it 

later developed at the hearing before the Ninth Circuit 

Court, which will be discussed subsequently, that the 

timing by the water company was such that the quartz 

seam supplying the water supply would be reached at 

the time their lease terminated. 

The Cole Silver Mining Company filed a bill of complaint before the Ninth Circuit Court, applying for a 

preliminary injunction restraining the water company 
4 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

from diverting the water until a final hearing. The case 

was heard before Circuit Judge Sawyer February 13, 

1871. The plaintiff alleged that it had discovered and 

actually appropriated and enjoyed the water for 1nany 

years. The water had been sold to the defendant, the 

Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company, by the 

plaintiff, the Cole Silver Mining Company, and paid 

for under a lease agreement for several years prior to 

September 1870. 

Judge Sawyer, in his opinion, stated that the plaintiff, 

in excavating a tunnel in a mountain to its mining claim 

on the public lands of the United States, struck a subterranean flow of water, which it appropriated and enjoyed for several years. That the defendant ran a tlumel 

from a distant point into the mountain, to a point some 

30 feet in altitude, directly below the point where the 

plaintiff obtained the same water; and thereupon the 

water which flowed through plaintiff's tunnel was 

intercepted and discharged through defendant's tunnel, 

and was by it appropriated to its own use. It was 

held by Judge Sawyer that said diversion and appropriation of the water was wrongful, and that the complainant was entitled to an injunction. 

It was further stated that the defendant started a 

tunnel to run to its ledges, commencing lower down the 

n1ountain~ and at a considerable distance to the southward of the entrance to complainant's tunnel. The exeavation of this tunnel, called the Nevada Tunnel, was 

prosecuted at times, for several years. Finally, the said 

defendant entered into a contract to extend the tunnel 

into the mountain until it should strike a ledge, 

called the Macey Ledge. 

The complainant insisted that defendant extended 

the said tunnel expressly to take its water; the defendant claimed that its objective was to prospect ledges 

beyond the complainant's claim. A preliminary injunction was granted October 6, 1871. Later a motion by 

the defendant to dissolve the injunction was denied by 

Circuit Justice Field. 

Following this ruling, the defendant effectually bulkheaded the Nevada Tunnel, causing the water to once 

again flow out of the Cole Tunnel. The Cole Company 

then continued to furnish most of the dmnestic water 

to the area, but as the Virginia and Gold Hill Water 

Company continued to furnish water from the mine 

shafts to the mills in Gold Canyon exclusively, their 

revenue exceeded that of the Cole Company. 

The writer recalls that many years ago he had occasion to investigate this source, which was flowing out 

of an old mining tunnel that was completely caved in. 

It was known as Cedar Hill Canyon Spring. Later, in 

1952, Mr. H. E. Winchester, Division of Water Resources, also investigated this source, in com1ection with 

the possibility of developing an auxiliary water supply 

for Virginia City. In his report he stated that the flow 

of the spring on November 10, 1952, was found to be 39 

gallons per minute, which is about 56,000 gallons per 

day. 

It had long been evident to the water company that 

an extraordinary effort was required in order to secure 

water from some unfailing souree; however, according 

to Eliot Lord, when the plan to conduct water from a 

Sierra creek across Washoe Valley was broached, in the 

early 1860's, even the boldest speculators werestartled.17 

The decision to go to the Sierra Nevada for water was 

finally reached at a meeting of the directors of the water 

company held in August 1871. 

Just recently during a visit to Virginia City, Hobart 

Leonard, President of the Virginia City Water Company, showed me .two letters that certainly have historical value and, so far as is known, have never been 

made public. l\1:r. Leonard kindly agreed to their use 

and they are reproduced here in facsimile form. The 

first one, dated July 14, 1864, addressed to Virginia and 

Gold Hill \Vater Company, was fron1 a civil engineer 

by the name of S. M. Buck. In this letter, it will be 

noted, Mr. Buck gave an adve.rse report as to conveying 

water from the Sierra to Virginia City. The second 

letter was in the form of a report from Hermann 

Schussler, addressed to Messrs. Flood and O'Brien, 

which was dat8d October 1871, outlining a plan to 

bring the water from the Sierra Nevada to Virginia 

City. 

There are several things of interest in this letter. It 

was written about 3 months prior to statehood and 9 

years prior to the actual construction of the first pipeline. It must be remembered that at that time no pipeline 

had ever been laid with a head of as 1nuch as 1,000 feet. 

As Mr. Buck stated near the end of the first paragraph 

" ... to bring water across Washoe Valley at a sufficient 

height to make it available to supply Virginia City 

would, to say the least, be one of the most arduous 

undertakings of engineering and 1nechanical skill in 

modern or aneient time." Later in his letter he stated, 

" ... it is an undertaking in whieh no prudent eapitalist 

would ever invest his money; and I hardly need observe 

that without eapital, and that in great abundanee, this 

undertaking could never be. aceomplished." 

It is surmised that the route Mr. Buck had in 1nind 

erosse.d vV ashoe Valley near its southern end, with the 

intake in Little Valley about 2 miles north of Red 

House. His elevations were reasonably accurate, and he 

stated that his starting point would be about 300 feet 

above the level of Lake Tahoe., whieh would make the 

inlet about 6,520 feet above sea level in elevation. Mr. 
THE EARLY STRUGGLE FOR VVATER 5 

488-960 0 - 72 - 3 
6 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 
THE EARLY STRUGGLE FOR WATER 7 
8 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

Buck mentions Alta Lake and Summit Lake. I have 

found no rna ps showing these lakes, but I am sure that 

Summit Lake is now known as Spooner Lake. Perhaps 

his Alta Lake is what we know as Marlette Lake although at the time of his letter it was called Goodwin 

Lake. 

Nine years after Mr. Buck's letter, when the pipeline 

was an actuality, it was considered one of the engineering marvels of all time. Accordingly Mr. Buck should 

not be condemned for his conservative outlook. It was 

unlikely that in 1864 any competent engineer would have 

given a favorable report. 

However, the need for pure water in large quantities 

continued, and no more reasonable alternative was discovered. More significantly, the powerful combination 

of Mackay, Fair, Flood, and O'Brien was formed and 

in March 1869 wrested control of the Hale and Norcross 

mine from William Sharon. In the same year, they 

bought Sharon's interest in the Virginia and Gold Hill 

Water Company, which was subsequently reorganized 

in 1871. The directors of the new company were Walter 

S. Dean, W. S. Hobart, John Skae, John W. Mackay, 

James G. Fair, James C. Flood and W. S. O'Brien. 

Following the discovery of the Crown Point-Belcher 

bonanzas in 1870, the new owners of the water company 

formally decided to go to the Sierra Nevada for water. 

Mr. Hermann Schussler, a consulting engineer who was 

also the Chief Engineer of the Spring Valley Water 

Works of San Francisco, was requested to submit a report concerning the feasibility of the project. He compiled a favorable report and submitted it to Messrs. 

Flood and O'Brien in October 1871. Mr. Schussler had 

conducted a survey of the proposed Sutro Tunnel in 

about 1869, and was no doubt well acquainted with the 

locale of the area and the water problems confronting 

the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company.18 A facsimile of the original report is given here. 

It would appear that prior to the time of Mr. Schussler's report, a tentative route had been decided upon. 

Dall Creek mentioned in the report as the first source 

of supply was at that time so named because a Mr. Dall 

had a lumber 1nill in Little Valley. Later the name was 

changed and that portion of the creek above Red House 

was called Hobart Creek. The portion below Red House 

was named Franktown Creek. Messrs. Flood and 

O'Brien, to whom the letter was addressed, as well as 

those mentioned in the letter-Messrs. Skae, McKay 

(Mackay), Hobart and Fair-were all directors of tht:· 

Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company as reorganized 

in 1871. 

A portion of the report was devoted to a power 

scheme which would require a larger .pipe alongside 

the first pipeline to convey a large volume of water 

to the Gold Hill area, where it could be passed through 

turbines. While two other pipelines were later installed, 

they were for an additional water supply to Virginia 

City and not for the power development as mentioned. 

In 1887 a power scheme was developed, which will be 

referred to later. 

A few months after submitting the aforementioned 

report, on May 18, 1872, Mr. Schussler submitted the 

specifications and requisition of iron for the pipe. A 

month later, June 15, 1872, he submitted the specifications and requisition of rivets for the pipeline. The 

number of rivets as requisitioned figured out to be 

952,900. 
THE EARLY STRUGGLE FOR WATER 9 

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10 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 
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14 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

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16 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

THE FIRST PIPELINE 

The initial project involved the construction of a 

diversion dam on Hobart Creek (fig. 1) from which 

'a wooden flume 18 inches deep, 20 inches wide, and 

24,403 feet ( 4.62 miles) long, conveyed the water to 

a tank at the inlet of the pressure pipe (fig. 2). The 

pressure pipe formed an inverted siphon which was 111;2 

inches in average inside diamete-r and 7 miles 140 feet 

in length. At Lakeview Hill saddle the pipe was 1,997 

feet lower than the intake and at the outlet end of 

the pressure pipe a wooden flume 16 inches by 18 inches 

in cross section and 21,370 feet ( 4.04 miles) in length 

conveyed the water to a saddle where 'a reservoir named 

Five Mile Reservoir was later built (fig. 3). From 

the reservoir site a wooden flume followed around the 

mountainside, a distance of 29,970 feet ( 5.66 miles), to 

tanks located above Gold Hill and Virginia City (fig. 4). 

Good deseri ptions of the water system have been 

given by Galloway,19 DeQuille,20 and Lord. 21 Some discrepancies exist, especially as to elevations. In 1964 

Walter G. Reid, P.E./ 2 ran a level profile from Marlette 

Lake to the Virginia City T!anks for the State of 

Nevada. The Reid elevations compare closely with the 

latest topographic maps of the U.S. Geological Survey, 

and are no doubt correct. His profile indicates that 
THE FIRST PIPELINE 17 

-------

FIGURE 1.-Red House and diversion dam about 1928, located 

below Hobart Creek Reservoir. Courtesy of Harold Berger. 

FIGURE 2.- The Tanks, 1969. At this point water entered the 

inverted siphon. Picture by George Woods. Courtesy of Harold 

Berger. 

the pipe at Lakeview Hill saddle is 1,997 feet below 

the intake and the outlet end of the pressure pipe is 

471 feet below the intake. The pressure head at Lakeview saddle (the vertical distance from the pipe to the 

hydraulic gradient of the pipeline) was 1,887 feet, giving a pressure of 819 pounds per square inch. The 

important elevations obtained by Mr. Reid are herewith 

shown. 

Marlette Lake____________ 7,838 feet (high-water line). 

Hobart Reservoir_________ 7,554 feet (high-water line). 

Inlet to pressure pipe_____ 7,140 feet ('l'ankhouse, the Tanks). 

Lakeview Hill saddle______ 5,143 feet (lowest point on pipeline). 

Outlet of pipe____________ 6,669 feet. 

Five Mile Reservoir______ 6,645 feet. 

Virginia City water tank__ 6,525 feet. 

FIGURE 3.-0utlet end of the inverted siphon between Lakeview and Five Mile Reservoir, 1968. Carson City appears in 

the distance. 

FIGURE 4.-The old flume between Five Mile Reservoir and 

Virginia City and the pipe replacement. Shown is Hobart 

Leonard, President, Virginia City 'Vater Company. 

The construction of the flumes presented no problem, 

but the engineering problem pertaining to the inverted 

siphon was of great magnitude, as up to that time no 
18 THE STORY OF THE ~ATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

pipeline had been constructed subject to a pressure head 

of 1,887 feet, or 819 pounds per square inch. 

It is likely that one of the reasons the water company 

desired Mr. Schussler's services was because of his previous experience in the design and construction of pressure pipelines for the Spring Valley Water Works and 

for the Cherokee Hydraulic Mining Company. For the 

latter company he designed and supervised the construction of a 30-inch pipeline 12,100 feet long, which crossed 

a branch of Feather River near Oroville, Calif., and 

which was subject to a pressure head of 930 feet, or 

a pressure of about 400 pounds per square inch-about 

one-half of the pressure of the Virginia City pipeline 

at Lakeview Hill saddle. 

The writer was fortunate to find a very illuminating 

article concerning the Virginia City pipeline in the December 13, 1873, issue of the Mining and Scientific Press 

in the Mackay School of Mines Library at the University of Nevada. According to the author of the article, 

the information as well as the illustrations were furnished by Mr. Schussler shortly after the first pipeline 

was completed. In describing the specifications of the 

pipe, reference will be made mainly to this article, although the specifications noted by Galloway are similar 

but not as detailed. 

The iron used consisted of 10 different numbers of 

the Birmingham gauge, graduated from No. 16 (0.062 

inch) to No. 0 ( 0.312 inch). The firm of McCrindle 

and Company of San Francisco furnished the Scotch 

iron, which was shipped from Scotland in plates 3 by 

10 feet. The George C. Johnson & Company of San 

Francisco furnished the rivets, which were of American 

manufacture. The contract for fabricating the pipe was 

awarded to the Risdon Iron and Locomotive Works, 

also of San Francisco. This company had made most 

of the iron pipe in use at that time in the hydraulic 

mines in California, especially when high heads were 

needed. 

The Mining and Scientific Press article stated that 

" ... after three months use, the pipe has proved wonderfully successful. It is worthy of remark, as showing the kind of pipe turned out by the Risdon Works, 

that there was absolutely no leakage in the pipe joints, 

it only occurring at the lead joints where the pipes are 

joined togethet." 

The pipe lengths, having an average inside diameter 

of llllz inches, were fabricated at the Risdon Iron and 

Locomotive Works by cutting the plates and rolling them into a cylinder and lapping the edges 

an amount sufficient to permit two lines of rivets 

to be driven, thus forming a "double riveted" longitudinal joint. The sections thus formed were about 36 

inches long and were joined to form individual lengths 

of pipe 26 feet 2 inches long. The transverse, or circular, seams between the 36-inch sections were overlapped and single riveted. At one end of each pipe 

length a nipple 6 inches in width was riveted, with 3 

inches projecting beyond the pipe .• Toints between sections in the field were made by placing a wrought iron 

ring, 5 inches wide and of sufficient diameter to leave 

a space of three-eighths of an inch between the inside 

of the collar and the outside of the pipe. This space was 

filled with lead and calked to make a tight joint. A 

total of 35 tons of lead was required to seal the joints 

in the field. The total weight of the pipe in place was 

given as about 700 tons. Figure 6, copied from the 

Mining and Scientific Press, shows the lead joint in 

detail. 

All the iron pipe used was coated, inside and out, 

with a mixture of asphaltum and coal tar, thoroughly 

boiled together. Each separate length of pipe was 

plunged and rolled about in a batch of this mixture for 

7 to 10 minutes before being shipped. The fabrication 

of the pipe commenced in March 1873. and it was in 

place and water was "flowing 5 months later. 

The pipe was shipped to Reno on the Central Pacific 

Railroad and thence to Lakeview by the Virginia & 

Truckee Railroad, which had only completed the section from Reno to Carson City on August 24, 1872. 

The first section of pipe was laid June 11, 1873, and 

the last on the 25th of July of the same year. The laying of 7 miles of 12-inch pipeline over very rough terrain in just 6 weeks was obviously a remarkable feat, 

keeping in mind that the motive power was men and 

mules. Schussler's original specifications called for a 

trench 4 feet deep in which to lay the pipe, although 

DeQuille gave the depth as 21/z feet. Probably this 

varied, depending on the hardness of the material the 

trench penetrated. No doubt much of the trench was 

dug prior to the arrival of the pipe. The 14.32 miles 

of wooden flumes, together with the diversion works on 

Hobart Creek, were also ready to convey water as soon 

as the pipe was. laid. 

DeQuille wrote that the course of the pipeline was 

surveyed in the spring of 1872. The Risdon Iron and 

Locomotive Works was furnished with a diagram of 

the elevations and the course on which the pipe was to 

be laid. Each section of pipe was accordignly made to 

fit a certain spot. Where the route lay around a point 

of rocks, the pipe was made to fit the required curve, 

and other curved sections were required where the line 

crossed deep and narrow ravines. There was just one 

place and none other for each section of pipe as received from the iron works. 

At each point where there was a depression in the 

pipeline, a blow-off valve was installed for the removal 
THE FIRST PIPELINE 19 

of any sediment and on the top of each ridge an air 

valve was placed for blowing off the air when the water was first let in and at other times when the pipe was 

filled. The so-called air valves were also designed to 

admit air, should a break occur in the pipeline below 

the air valve, and within its district. This device would 

thus prevent a vacuum and a collapse of the pipe. There 

were 14 air valves and 15 blow-off valves (fig. 5). 

Figure 6 shows an example of the elbow designed for 

the purpose of making short curves in the line of the 

pipe around rocky bluffs and through sharp canyons. 

Angle irons were riveted on the pipe on the outside of 

the curves, which, by means of iron straps. were conn~cted with the corresponding angle iron on the next 

p1pe. 

Figure 5 also shows the manner in which the pipes and 

elbows were strapped together, wherever the curve was 

sufficiently short to require this precaution against an 

outward movement. An iron strap was put on the outside of the curve to strengthen the pipe. The elbow, 

as shown in fig. 5, was made in San Francisco, the angle 

varying according to the degree of curvature. 

Figure 5 shows the profile of the pressure pipe across 

Washoe Depression and the location of the air valves 

and blowoffs. 

In addition to the special fabrication of the curved 

portions of the pipe, the foundry also took the pres-

£i.E!'- '/,16 

_I\ _,\ 1-1 d',...o~c-

_, "~ 

.g 

s--~ 

- 1 

-~ 

- - t'\ 

~ ' ,_ \ 

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L' 

sure differences into account in maunfacturing a particular length of pipe for a particular location. At the 

point of heaviest pressure the iron used was No. 0 gauge 

( f:ive-sixteenths of an inch). The water pressure decreased gradually as the ground rose to the east and 

west from the Lakeview saddle and the iron decreased 

in thickness from five-sixteenths at the saddle to onesixteenth of an inch toward both the inlet and the outlet. On its course to the outlet, however, the pipe crossed 

a great many spurs and sags, and the thickness of the 

iron was varied to accommodate the changes in pressure. 

The Mining and S cientific Press stated that although 

the inlet had a perpendicular elevation above the outlet of 465 feet (Reid's profile indicated a figure of 471 

feet) only 300 feet were used, as that head would supply 10 times as much water as Virginia City and Gold 

Hill had theretofore used. With this head, the pipeline 

could carry about 2,000,000 gallons per day; by increasing the head to its full capacity, the supply would be 

increased to 2,350,000 gallons per day. With the water 

running under a 300-foot head, there was a perpendicular pressure head of 1,720 feet, or about 750 pounds to 

the square inch at the Lakeview saddle. 

Perhaps the reader may be confused by the quote 

that only 300 feet of available head was used. Head, as 

used here, is the difference in elevation between the 

intake to the pressure pipe and its outlet. The greater 

I c ...r 

I I 

I ' 

_1_1 

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h. f t 

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.. -~: l l , r>OOFLC:AO JOINT 

-, f "21 -~ 

~-- ----

------ ---

. ·-· 

0 

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.,__, 

Vt~GINIA AND GOLD f-ltLL 

~TC.R COoiW.A'fNY 

PR~LI ANP DerAN-6 

rNf.ST' ~I$$V/fl& p,,.l!: ifCift.OS-3 

WA.$HOI!: £~€,.~_, .. ,_., /8?.3 

J LJGcr/lo ""'J' 

C11,.,/ Enr;Jn#wr 

FIGURE 5.-Profile of siphon and location of air and blow-off valves. Courtesy of Nevada Historical Society. 
20 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

the head, the more water the pipe will carry. As constructed, this difference was 465 feet, but as the water 

company didn't need the full capacity at first, the inlet 

at the tank was lowered a vertical distance of 165 feet. 

With this lowered head, the pipe carried 2 million gallons per day. The need for water increased rapidly, and 

no doubt within a short time the pipeline was used to 

its full capacity. 

The Risdon Works tested the pipe at the foundry to 

a maximum pressure of 1,400 pounds to the square 

inch. After installation, the pipe was tested in place 

using the full head. 

Immediately after the pipe was put in use, some of 

the leaded joints developed leaks, primari·ly as a result 

of the longitudinal movement of the pipe due to expansion and contraction. Captain John B. Overton, 

who was Superintendent of the Virginia and Gold Hill 

Water Company, realizing that this trouble would continue, took emergency measures to correct this condition. A clamp was developed that fitted over the 5-inch 

collar, and when tightened, forced the lead back in 

plUJce. Then pennanent brackets were fitted over the collar. Figure 6 shows the clamp as it was used to force 

the lead back. A sample of the pennanent bracket is 

shown resting on the pipe. The brackets were 51;2 

inches long and 3 inches wide, with a l-inch lip at each 

end. It took 13 of these brackets for each leaded joint 

(fig.7). 

According to Davis, Captain Overton hired all the 

bla.cksmiths he could find to make the wrought iron 

clamps. 23 No figure has been found as to the number 

of brackets which were made, but it well could have 

been in the thousands. 

The newspapers of the period in question often are 

the best source of information concerning early western 

history, and in many cases they are the only source. In 

describing the arrival of Sierra mountain water in Virginia City, the Virginia Evening Chronicle carried the 

following articles : 

July 31, 1873-The Sierra Nevada water was 

turned on again last evening and reruched and ran 

into the flume for some time, when two leaks were 

discovered by Engineer Schussler and deeming it 

unsafe to continue the pressure again caused the 

water to be shut off for repairs to the pipe. It was 

his intention to turn the water on again at 2 o'clock 

this afternoon, and he estimates It will take the 

pumped fluid six hours to reach Bullion Ravine 

after it passes into the flume, as the latter is dried 

up. The water will probably reach the Divide before morning. 

August 1, 1873-vVater Works :tre like brewers 

yeast hereabouts at this season of the year, when 

the mercury is up 6,000 feet above the level of the 

FIGURE. 6.-A section of the first pipe that was laid in 1873. 

The clamp used to force the lead back into the sleeve is slhown 

at the bottom of the photograph. The permanent clamps are 

shown on the top <Of the pipe. 

FIGURE. 7.-A section of the first pipeline laid in 1873, still in 

place between Lakeview Hill and Five Mile Reservoir. 

sea. Yesterday the Sierra Nevada water came 

through the pipe and ran "up the flume" to a point 

near the Ophir Grade toll house. Then a "sleeve" 
THE FIRST PIPELINE 21 

(the bell portion of the overlapping pipe) gave 

'":ay and the water was shut off for repairs to the 

pipe. The water may reach Bullion Ravine late 

this afternoon and it may not be for several days. 

August 2, 1873-The pouring into this city and 

Gold Hill of a large stream of water from the Eastern Summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at 

6 :_45 last evening, marked an eroch in the history 

<;>f t_h~ C?msto:::k, an~ .'':as the signa1 for a general 

JOlhficatton and reJOicmg of twelve or thirteen thousan~ people. Bonfires and rockets girdled old 

Mt. Dav1dson for hours and cannons continued to 

roar. until a late hour in the night. A stream of 

153 mches of water (about 1717 gall_ons per minute) poured through the flume mto Bullion 

Ravine, betw~en this cit,v and Gold Hill. The water 

was turned mto the p1pe on the Sierra at noon 

yesterday and reached here in six hours and fortyfive minutes. It had been estimated that it would 

take the stream eight hours to reach here a distance 

of twenty miles, 134 feet. ' 

The author lives near the foot of Lakeview Hill in 

Washoe Valley. It is easy to look across the valley, 

trace ~he c?urse of the pipeline towards Virginia City, 

and visuahze the scene that took place as the first water 

entered the pipeline. As described by DeQuille: 

As th~ water ~arne surging down through the 

great mverted siphon from the elevated mountain 

spur and began to fill . . . one after another of 

the blow-off cocks on the crests of the ridges 

crossed, opened, and allowed the escape of compressed air. Compared with what was heard when 

these cocks blew off, the blowing of a whale was 

a mere whisper ... 

. As the pipe filled, the progress of the water in 

It could be traced by the blowing off of the air 

on top of the ridges through the vwlley, and at 

last, to _the great joy of the engineer and all concerned m the success of the enterprise, the signal 

fire a~ the outlet, on. the s_ummit of Virginia range, 

was for the first time lighted showing that the 

water was flowing through the whole len!rth of 

the pipe.24 "" 

. About 4 months after the completion of the first pipehue, the Mining and Scientific Press observed that "It 

w~s an engi~eering feat of no small magnitude to carry 

th1s enterprise to a successful completion; and in view 

of the difficulties to be overcome, it will attract the attention of engineers all over the world." The same article ~oted that the Virginia City pipeline was the greatest m the world, and withstood almost double the pressure of the next highest pressure line. 

The reader will no doubt be interested in learning 

more about Hermann Schussler. According to the Mining and S cientific Press of December 13, 1873, 

M~ .. Schussler was a graduate of the Prussian 

Ml'litary Academy of Oldenburg, of which he was 

a student from 1859 to 1862, and was promoted 

to lieutenant on January 1, 1862. In the fall of that 

year he took leave of absence for 2 years, and during that time attended the civil engineering schools 

of Zurich and Carlsruhe, for the purpose of perfecting himself in his· intended profession of civil 

engineering. In the fa.Jl of 1864 he had his leave 

of absence changed into a definite leave, and then 

came to San Francisco where he entered into the 

service of the Spring V a:lley Water Works, first 

as an Assistant Engineer and then Chief Engineer. 

From that time his career in other large works on 

the Pacific Coast commenced. He was connected, 

as consulting engineer, with the Oa.kland water 

works, San Jose water works, Vallejo and Stockton water works. He was Chief Engineer of the 

Marin County water works and then that of Virginia City and Gold Hill. During 1873 he was 

Chief Engineer of the Sutro Tunnel Company 

(fig. 8). 

FIGURE 8.-Herrnann Schussler, the consulting engineer who 

designed the 1873 pipeline system. Courtesy of Hobart Leonard. 
22 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

In addition to the above duties, he was employed 

partly as consulting engineer and partly as projector 

in various hydraulic enterprises in California. Mention 

was made in the article that he projected the Pioche 

water works in Nevada, where he made a 5-inch pipe 

of No. 16 iron, 6 miles in length, sustain a vertical 

pressure of 600 feet. The article mentioned other projects he worked on, and concluded by stating ... "other 

undertakings could be mentioned if space permitted, 

but enough has been given to give our readers an idea 

of his ability in hydraulic engineering." 

In researching the installation of the Tuscarora 

(Elko County) pipe line, it was noted that Mr. Schussler was employed as a consultant for the Tuscarora 

·water Company in 1888. Also, as previously noted, Mr. 

Schussler surveyed the alignment of ·the Sutro Tunnel 

in 1869. 

Figure 9 shows the essential features of the first pipeline, as well as the two later pipelines and other facilities. This map was prepared by E. D. Boyle, Mining 

Engineer, in 1913. Mr. Boyle served as State Engineer 

in 1910 and served as Governor of Nevada from 1915 

to 1922. It is to be noted that the 1873 pipeline has the 

most bends, while the 1887 pipeline is the straightest. 

THE SECOND PIPELINE 

Commenting on the water supply of Virginia City, 

the Territorial Enterprise of June 17, 1875, had this 

to say: 

One of the boasts of Virginia City, Gold Hill and 

Silver City is, that in this land of barrenness-of 

shifting sands and burning alkali, they have the 

purest and best mountain water and plenty of it. 

~or is the boast lightly made. There is no place 

m the ;world w·here so many natural difficulties have 

been overcome and so many triumphs achieved as 

in bringing the pure, fresh and soft water of the 

Sierras across Washoe Valley and into the places 

ab?':'e mention~d ... hut already. is the necessity ar~si_ng for an mcreased supply. ~Ills are daily reqmrmg more and more; the mmes an increased 

supply for steam and other purposes; people are 

flocking in by the thousands, and manufactures are 

increasing in proportion. . . . 

The Gold Hill Daily News of July 1, 1875, also described the need for an increased supply : 

The supply of water for milling and mining purposes has been gradually lessening for the past two 

weeks and if the utmost economy is not" exercised 

in its use by our people, may continue to do so 

until eyen some of our mills may have to suspend 

operatiOn. During the past week the Virginia Consolidated Mill has lost four hours per day, for the 

want of a sufficient supply. The Water Company 

wisely looking forward to such ·a necessity, has 

already got the placing of another line across 

Washoe Valley well under way. 

The need for a larger water supply for fire protection 

was made evident on October 26, 1875, when the major 

portion of Virginia City and the head works of the principal mines were burned in a fire that lasted throughout the day. Long before this, and in fact as early as 

1873, preliminary plans for another pipeline across 

Washoe Valley were developed. 

It was estimated that during the spring months the 

flow of Hobart Creek could furnish more than 25 million gallons daily; however, it was not possible to store 

the excess water, and during the summer months the 

flow diminished until it dropped to about 700,000 gallons per day. An added supply of water was needed, and 

could only be obtained from the western side of the Carson Range of the Sierra Nevada above and east of Lake 

Tahoe. 

The Territorial Enterprise of August 17, 1875, stated 

that some idea of the increase in the consumption of 

water in Virginia, Gold Hill, and Silver City during 

the preceding few years could be formed from the fact 

that the amount used in 1875 was 100 times greater 

than that used in August of 1873. The article also indicated that when the Consolidated Mill started operating that spring, the full capacity of the water company's 

supply pipe was reached. The article described the new 

water supply as follows: 

The Company being determined to keep pace with 

the wants of the community ... at once set about 

taking the necessary steps toward laying a new 

pipe and largely increasing their source of supply. 

The outlay involved in the improvements will be 

somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000. The 

cost of their present works was $750,000. Ground 

for the bed for the new pipe was broken on the 1st 

of 1\[ay last. The new pipe, which was manufactured by the National Tubing Company of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, is ten inches in diameter 

and five-sixteenths of an inch in thickness, and 

welded instead of being riveted together. The joints 

are constructed so as to be screwed together like 

gas-pipe, no riveting being required. Messrs. Breed 

& Crosby, of this City, UJ?On whom developed the 

business of hauling the pipe from the railroad up 

the steep mountain sides, have executed their task 

with commendable dispatch. Nearly all the pipe is 

on the ground and ready to be placed in position. 

No haste, however, will be used in laying the same, 

as the old pipe carries all the water "\vhich the Company can at present control. 

As described by Galloway, the work was started on 

the trench May 1, 1875, and the pipeline completed 

that year.

2 5 The pipe sections were of wrought iron, 16 
THE 'SECOND PIPELINE 23 

feet in length and one-fourth of an inch in thi.dkness; 

the seams were lap welded and the joints screwed together. The cast-iron sleeves and lead packing used on 

the first pipeline \vere being disc.arded. The pipe was 10 

inches internal diameter, and was designed to deliver 

about 2 million gallons per day, the same capacity of 

the first pipeline (Fig. 10). The pipeline closely followed the route of the first pipeline but was 1,900 feet 

longer, according to Galloway. A second flume from Hobart Creek to the inlet tank (The Tanks), 25,005 feet 

( 4.72 n1iles) long was built parallel to the first flume, 

and a second tank constructed at the inlet for the pressure pipe. Frmn the outlet end of the two pipelines a 

second flume, 21,050 feet ( 3.98 miles) long, was built 

to Five Mile Reservoir, located about 5 miles from Virginia City. The reservoir had a capacity of approximately 5 1nillion gallons of water (fig. 11). A second 

flume, 38,670 feet (7.31Iniles) long, led fron1 Five Mile 

Reservoir to Gold Hill and Virginia City. The flume 

was located above the first flun1e, high above the city, 

and extended to Cedar Hill at the north end of the city. 

Another reservoir, constructed to hold 2,500,000 gallons, was placed on the dividing ridge between Virginia 

City and Gold Hill. 

During the events leading up to the design, construction, and installation of the first pipeline in 1872 and 

1873, Hennan Schussler was the "man of the hour." He 

designed the pipeline and supervised its installation. 

The writer, in carrying on research relative to the second 

and third pipelines, did not find any further reference 

to ~Ir. Schussler in connection with the Virginia and 

Gold Hill Water Company. The second pipeline, installed in 1875 under the direction of Captain Overton, 

had an altogether different design from the first line, as 

noted in the descriptions heretofore given. It should 

also be noted as a matter of interest that it is this second pipeline which is still in use across Washoe Valley 

and Lakeview saddle. 

Apparently Captain J. B. Overton was not only the 

superintendent of the water company but also carried 

the main responsibilities in the development of additional water supplies. The Territorial Ente1'prise of 

August 17, 1875, made the following comments regarding Captain Overton: 

The controlling spirit in the planning and execution of the present work is Superintendent 

Overton, a man of tireless energy and limitless resources, who devotes himself with a remarkable 

self -saerifieing spirit and zeal to the interpsts of 

the Company: l-Ie superintends, personally, the 

minutest details of the great enterprise; is apparently everywhere at all times, infusing his own 

indomitable energy into the men employed on the 

work, and is the espeeial terror of shirkers. He doeR 

not believe that anything is i1npossible in combating with the forees of Nature. A modest and unassuming gentleman, he enjoys in a high degree the 

confidence of the Water Company, and had earte 

blanehe to earry out his plans as seem to him most 

feasible and best. If the San Francisco Water 

Company people had half of Superintendent 

Overton's energy they would, long ere this, have 

had the water of Lake Bigler (Lake Tahoe) running into their city. Even now, we doubt not, Overton is meditating some plan to steal the waters of 

the beautiful lake and abduct then1 to this city. 

The work of bringing water that normally drained 

into Lake Tahoe from the western slope of the Carson 

Range of the Sierra Nevada to augment the water supply of Virginia City involved increasing the storage 

ea pacity of :Marlette Lake. From the lake the water was 

conveyd by flume northward to a tunnel, and from 

there conveyed to Hobart Creek (fig. 12). Galloway 

described ~farlette dam in this fashion: 

On the "'estern side of the 1nountains a small lake, 

named after ~Iarlette, the Surveyor General of 

Nevada, had previously been made into a reservoir 

by the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming 

Company. That company had built from the lake 

or resPrvoir a "V" flume leading southward to 

Spooner Summit at the head of the main flume 

down Clear Creek, the water being used for flmning purposes. Arrangements were made by which 

the ~Iarlette Dam was raised. As completed, the 

dam was about 213 feet long, 37 feet high, and 16 

fept wide on the erest, \Vith battered sides. The 

extC'rior walls were of dry rubble masonry with 

rough coarsC' laid stones. There is an interior core 

of earth to provide the neeessary impervious elenwnt. There are 3,825 cubic. yards of masonry and 

1,365 cubic. yards of earth 111 the dam. The lake 

formed is about 13,4 miles long by % mile wide, 

and is said to contain 2,000 million gallons of 

water. It lies at an elevation of 8,000 feet above sea 

level. 26 (See fig. 13.) 

From Marlette Lake a flume 14 inehes by 30 inehes in 

seetion and 23,175 feet ( 4.38 miles) in length leads to 

the west portal of the water eompany's tunnel through 

the ridge whieh divides the Lake Tahoe drainage from 

that of Hobart Creek on the eastern slope. The tunnel, 

excavated in granite, was 3,994: feet long, aeeording to 

Galloway. Both DeQuille 27 and Thompson and West 28 

erroneously give the tunnel length at 3,000 feet. Over 

one-half of the tunnel was timbered, its size being 7 

feet high, 41j2 feet wide at the top and 6lf2 feet wide at 

the floor. Eliot Lord states that the connection between 

the two headings was n1ade on May 13, 1877.29 
24 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

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THE SECOND PIPELINE 25 

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26 THE STORY OF THE VVATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

FIGURE 10.-The screw-joint pipe used in the second 

pipeline, 1875. 

The August 17, 1875, issue of the Territorial Enterprise described the location of the tunnel and the method of construction in the following manner: 

The Company has entered upon the herculean undertaking of getting control of Lake Marlette by 

running a tunnel through the Sierra Nevada 

Mountains. The point where the distance through 

the mountain chain is shortest, and the tunnel 

could be run most economically, is a high bluff 

nearly directly west of this city. The tunnel, which 

will be forty-two hundred feet in length ( aotually 

3,994 feet), pierces this mountain chain at a depth 

of five hundred feet and is five miles north of 

Lake Marlette. The reason for the long detour is 

made from the lake to the tunnel is that a wooden 

flui?e can be built at much less expense than tunnelmg through a mountain. The tunnel, if run directly east from Lake Marlette, would have been 

four miles in length .... The work of surveying 

the route for the flume and tunnel was performed 

chiefiy by Mr. Alfred Cravens, a young gentleman 

of acknowledged ability, who has executed his task 

entirely to the satisfaction of the Superintendent 

of the Company. 

The article went on to say: 

The work of running the tunnel has already been 

commenced, and is being pushed ahead energetically, all the modern appliances for assaulting 

mo~her. earth. being called into requisition. Tunnelmg 1s earned on from both ends under the direction of ,Tohn Simpson and Thomas Brown, both 

of whom rank among the best miners on the coast. 

Power drills of the Rand pattern are used for 

FIGURE 11.-Five Mile Reservoir and the old caretaker's 

house, 1968. 

FIGURE 12.- The west po11tal of the tunnel through the Carson 

Range of the Sierra Nevada as it appeared in 1968. 

tunneling purposes. They are driven by compressed air, one engine doing the work for both 

ends, besides furnishing air for ventilation purposes. In order to carry the compressed air to the 

west end of the tunnel, the engine being stationed 

at the east end ... a string of iron pipe had to be 
THE SECOND PIPELINE 27 

FIGURE 13.-Marlette Lake, 1920. Coul"ltesy of Harold Berger. 

laid over the mountain a distance of over a mile. 

Through this pipe the air is forced into a receiver 

stationed at the west end of the tunnel, from which 

it is drawn at will. About one hundred and fifty 

feet of tunneling has been completed at each end, 

and it is thought that the entire work will be finished by next May (1876) .... 

As heretofore mentioned, Lord noted that the connection was actually made May 13, 1877. The Territorial Enterpme of July 4, 1877 stated: "Last Saturday the Water Company completed their connection 

with Marlette Lake and let the water go through for 

a test." So, even though the second pipeline was laid 

across Washoe Valley in 1875, no water from Marlette 

Lake reached Virginia City until about July 1, 1877, 

almost 2 years later. It would seem likely, however, that 

the second pipeline carried Hobart Creek water prior 

to that time. From the eastern portal of the tunnel a 

flume 14,610 feet (2.77 miles) long conveyed the water 

to a small diversion pond on Hobart Creek. 

In traveling along the pipeline from Lakeview saddle 

towards the outlet, the writer noted that at a distance 

of about 1 mile a block of concrete had been poured over 

the three pipes. This was on a rather barren southern 

slope, and apparently it was found necessary to anchor 

the pipe at that point. From looking at the structure, 

it appears likely that after the installation of the second pipe a concrete block was used to hold the 1873 and 

1875 lines. After the installation of the third pipe in 

1887 another block of concrete was added (fig. 14). 

FIGURE 14.-Concrete block used to anchor the pipeline between 

Lakeview saddle and the siphon outlet. In the foreground 

is shown the 1875 pipe ; on the far side is the 1887 pipe ; and 

at right lower edge of the photograph the 1873 pipe can be seen. 

Picture by Allan Shamberger, 1068. 
28 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

THE THIRD PIPELINE 

The production of silver and gold ore dropped off 

sharply following 1878 and reached a low in 1881, when 

only a little more than $1 million worth of ore was 

mined. This low period of production held somewhat 

steady until 1887, when production sharply increased. 

That year it reached a high for the period following 

1878, when the value of ore produced amounted to more 

than $7.5 million. 

Virginia City, as well as Gold Hill and Silver City, 

continued to build new mills, business establishments, 

and homes, during this 1878-87 period. The Septe~­

ber 28, 1878, issue of the Mining and Scientific Press m 

commenting on Virginia City had this to say: 

Population about 25,000 . . . and as written by a 

prominent journalist of Gold Hill, "it contains 

more millionaires than absolute beggars." . It has all the features of a great metropolis, 

hotels, stores, places of amusement, churches_, clubs, 

banks four or five daily journals, foundanes and 

machi~e shors, a railroad with 32 arrivals and departures dally_, water wor~s s~p~rior to that of 

any other city m the world furmshmg an abundant 

supply of pure, soft water di~ct from the springs 

and snow-fed streams of the S1erras. 

The increased activity on the Comstock and the demands for additional 'vater caused the water company 

to construct a third pipeline across Washoe Valley, and 

also to develop new sources of water. The Territorial 

Enterprise of July 27, 1887, stated that Captain J. B. 

Overton, Superintendent of the Virginia and Gold Hill 

Water Company, had designed and supervised the laying of 7 miles of new iron pipe across 'V"ashoe Valley. 

This new pipeline was substantially in the same location as the first two pipelines. As described by Galloway, 

it was made of lap-welded pipe similar to the second 

pipeline, except that the joints were of the converse lockjointed type.30 The pipe walls were three-sixteenths, 

one-quarter, and three-eighths inch thick; the inside diameter was 11% inches and the length 37,685 feet (7.15 

miles). On one end of each of the 21-foot sections were 

two knobs, the other end being fitted with a lock-joint 

sleeve with a layer of lead already in place. On assembling, the end with the two knobs was pushed into the 

lock joint and turned to secure "a lock." Lead was then 

poured in to make this a seal. This lock-joint sleeve was 

patented in 1882 (fig. 15). 

In addition to its discussion of the new pipeline, the 

July 27, 1887, issue of the Territorial Enterprise described other work done during the spring of 1887 under 

the supervision of Captain Overton. A new flume was 

constructed from the inlet of the three pipelines to HoFIGURE 15.-The pipe at the bottom of the photograph is the type 

used in the third pipeline, 1887. Next up from the bottom is the 

type used in the 1873 pipeline. The top section ,shows the 

method used in repairing a broken pipe. 

bart Creek, and the original flume from the east portal 

of the tunnel to Hobart Creek was replaced by a much 

larger flume. Also, from the west portal of the tunnel, 

a new flume would be put in to Marlette Lake. 

I n order however to increase the water supply sub- ' ' . stantially, it was determined that a new flume runnmg 

northward from the west portal of the tunnel along the 

mountains rimming the east shore of Lake Tahoe was 

needed. The same issue of the Enterprise stated 1Jhat 

Captain Overton was then employed in the construction 

of a new flume, running northwesterly from the west 

portal of the tunnel a distance of 9 miles to N ?rth 

(Third) Creek, which would tap several streams tnbutary to Lake Tahoe. 

Galloway stated that this flume was 43,523 feet (8.25 

miles) long, extending to Third Creek, which was sometimes referred to as North Creek. 31 The airline distance 

from the tunnel to the start of the flume at Third Creek 

was about 4% miles. In addition to the water of Third 

Creek, the flume picked up water from First and Second Creeks, Mill Creek, Tunnel Creek, Inclin~ Creek, 

and other , small streams along the way. Th1s flume 

emptied into the Marlette Lake flume at the tunnel's 

west portal. 

The aforementioned issue of the Territorial Enterprise of July 27, 1887, stated that to conserve the water 
THE THIRD PIPELINE 29 

FIGURE 16.-Hobart Creek Reservoir about 1928. The tree stump 

was and still is the measuring gage. The dam is shown in the 

upper right. Courtesty of Harold Berger. 

supply and to have a reserve to draw upon, a small storage reservoir was being constructed on Hobart Creek 

about half a mile above where the flume from the tunnel 

emptied into it. The dam was about 350 feet in length 

and 20 feet high, and the reservoir so formed held about 

35 million gallons, or about 100 acre-feet. This storage 

represented about a week's water supply for the Comstock (fig. 16). Also, during that same period a new 

flume was built from the outlet of the pipes to Five 

Mile Reservoir. 

Captain .J. B. Overton was in charge of the construction of all the works described herein, and in addition 

he designed the second and third pipelines after Mr. 

Hermann 'Schussler had designed the first pipeline 

built. Captain Overton, in addition to his responsibilities as Superintendent of the Sierra Nevada Wood and 

Lumber Company, was responsible for the development 

of the water supplies as well as being Superintendent 

of the Virginia and Gold Hill ·water Company from 

1873 to 1906, at which time Mr. ,James M. Leonard 

became superintendent (fig. 17). 

The white house at Lakeview Saddle was built about 

1873, and Captain Overton, although never living at the 

house, maintained quarters there until he retired in 1906. 

The structure is presently occupied by Harry E. "Red" 

McGovern, who has been in charge of the water system 

from Marlette Lake to Five Mile Reservoir for many 

years (fig. 18). Prior to Red's residence at the Lakeview 

house, it was occupied by Mr. Tom Higgins from 1899 

to 1906 and by Mr. Joe Berger from 1906 to 1935 when 

he retired. The reader will learn a little more about these 

two men later in this story. 

Lord states that to prot.P.d the city in case of fire, pipelines aggregating 4 miles in length were laid in Virginia 

City, Silver City and Gold Hill. 32 These were 2% miles 

of 10-inch and 11;3 miles of 8-inch pipe. This pipe 

belonged to Virginia City, as well as 2% miles of 

smaller supply lines. The length of the pipelines belonging to the water company which ran through the streets 

FIGURE 17.- Captain John Bear Overton, Superintendent of the 

Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company from 1873 to 1906. 

Courtesy of Hobart Leonard. 

FIGURE 18.-The white house at Lakeview, built about 1873. 

The Sierra Nevada looms in the background. 
30 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

of Virginia City, Gold Hill and Silver City was 14 

miles, and through this system of pipes and flumes 

4,200,000 gallons of water was distributed daily 

through the towns on the lode, the mine works consuming two-thirds of the supply. Galloway mentions that 

three large wooden tanks, each holding 30,000 gallons, 

were built on the line of the flume above the cities, and 

in addition, there were large storage tanks at the numerous mines. Also on the high ground of the "Divide" 

between Gold Hill and Virginia City, a distribution 

reservoir was built with a capacity of 2,500,000 

gallons. The water rates in 1880 were 20 cents per 1,000 

gallons to the mining companies and $4 per month to 

families of six or eight persons. Eliot Lord, quoting 

from a statement by J. B. Overton, gave the total cost 

of the water company's plant, including flumes, dams, 

reservoirs, pipes, water rights, litigation, etc., as $2.2 

million. 

RECAPITULATION OF WATER WORKS, 

1873-1887 

The extent of the water-supply system is shown in the 

follo·wing recapitulation. The writer can only echo the 

statement made by Galloway that "as built, the water 

supply was a notable addition to the art of water supply 

engineering." 

Supply line 

and year 

First, 1873. ____ _ 

Second, 1875 .... { 

Third, 1887 . . . . . 

TotaL __ _ 

Flumes to Pressure pipe Flume from Flume from 

inlet of pres- in•ide diameter outlet of pipe Five Mile Divide sure pipe and length to Five Mile Reservoir to tunnel 

(miles) (inches and Reservoir Virginia City (feet) 

miles) (miles) (miles) 

4.62 

I 2. 77 } 2 4. 72 10, 3 4.38 

• 8. 25 

24.74 

11~. 7.0 

7. 32 

4. 04 

3.98 

5.66 ------- -

7. 31 3, 994 

11~, 7. 15 ------------------------ ----- -------

21.47 8. 02 12. 97 3, 994 

I Flume from east portal of tunnel to Hobart Creek. 2 Flume from Hobart Creek to inlet pipe. 3 Flume (14"X30'')-from Marlette Lake to we•t portal of tunnel. • North flume, starting at Third Creek north of Incline, to west portal of tunnel. 

Total length of pipelines _______________ _________________________ .21.47 miles. 

Total length of flumes . . ______________ --- ----------------------- 45.73 miles. 

Tunnel length __ ------ ---- --- ---- --------------- ----- ----------- 3,994 feet. 

Marlette Lake capacity.- --·-----------· · · ---·----- __ -------·· -- 6,1M acre-feet. Hobart Creek Reservoir _____ __ _____________________ __ _____ _____ 100 acre-feet. 

Five Mile Reservoir.-------- · --··----------------______ ________ 15 acre-feet. 

WATER-RELATED EVENTS, 1861-1894 

While this is intended to be a factual history of the 

development of the water supply from the Sierra for 

the Virginia City area, there were other events taking 

place in which these waters were utilized. These events 

were of importance to the early development of the 

Comstock and are worthy of being briefly related here: 

1. The use of the water from the north flume to 

float lumber via a V flume from the incline 

tramway on Mill Creek through the tunnel 

to Lakeview. 

2. The Sutro Tunnel. 

3. The use of water from the Virginia and Gold 

Hill Water Company's system for the development of power at the C & C shaft and the 

Chollar shaft at Virginia City by means of 

Pelton Wheels. 

4. Development of electricity for town use by the 

Virginia City Electric Light Company. 

5. Pumping water from the deep mine shafts on 

the Comstock 

The Sierra Nevada Wood 

and Lumber Company 

The history of this company has been rather well 

documented by E. B. Scott in his The Saga of Lake 

Tahoe, 1957; in David F. Myrick's Railroads of Nevada 

and Eastern California, 1962; and in John D. Galloway's Early Enginering Works Contributory to the 

Comstock, 1947. The author will borrow heavily from 

these three authorities in recounting briefly the details 

pertaining to this lumber company. 

The Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company was 

organized by "\V. S. Hobart and Seneca H. Marlette in 

1878. Captain John Bear Overton, the Superintendent 

of the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company, was 

appointed General Manager, and until the cessation of 

the lumber company's operations at Lake Tahoe in 1896, 

he served in this dual capacity. 

This company was one of the three major lumber 

companies supplying the Comstock during the period 

of greatest demand for cordwood and lumber. By 1880 

a steam-powered sawmill was completed about half a 

mile from the shore of Lake Tahoe, on Mill Creek, and 

about 1 mile easterly of what is now known as Incline. 

Galloway states that the tunnel and water flumes of the 

Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company furnished the 

basis for the plant of the Sierra Nevada Wood and 

Lumber Company. 33 At a point on the north flume 

about 112 miles from the western portal of the tunnel 

the mountainside is very steep. It was here that the company built a double-track tramway from near the mill, 

up the mountainside to the vicinity of the water flume. 

Scott terms it the Great Incline of the Sierra Nevada. 

He describes this structure as follows: 

A double track narrow gauge-tramline, 18 feet 

in over-aU width, was engineered by Captain Overton to run straight up the side of the mountain east 

of the mill. Cross ties spiked to a solid log bed 

carried the rails on which the lumber and cordwood cars were to operate, with the cars canted at 

at angle so that a near level inclination could be 
WATER-RELATED EVENTS, 1.861-1894 31 

maintained on the steep grade. From the stag~ng 

yard adjoining the mill, a spur track feeder line 

ran southeast one-eighth of a mile to join the tramline near its base. Here the carriers were loaded for 

the trip up the 4,000 foot-long, 1,400-foot vertical 

lift to the V-flume running below the granite outcropping that anchored the top of the structure. 

Three-quarters of the way up the mountain, an 

eight-foot rise in every twelve was encountered, 

giving a 67 percent track gradient. 

The machinery and equipment consisted of more than 

8,000 feet of 11j8 -inch endless wire cable fed around two 

massive 12-foot diameter, eight-spoked bull wheels. The 

wheel at the summit was driven by a gigantic sprocket 

and gear turned with a 40-horsepower steam engine 

embedded into a granite-walled powerhouse. Ten- by 

twenty-inch timbers were bolted to solid rock and secured with iron rods and ring bolts to support the 

weight of ·the terminal wheels, with the cable ambiguously described as "running near the tops of the cars 

and hitched on top of the hind ends." 

The V lumber flume paralleled the water company's 

flume and the latter furnished water for the transportation of the lumber and cord wood. The V flume extended 

through the 3,994-foot water company tunnel and thence 

descended about 2,500 feet to a lumberyard at Lakeview. In passing through the tunnel the lumber flume 

was located directly above the water-supply box flume 

to Hobart Creek. 

Red McGovern told this writer that, according to 

reports he had heard, when the V lumber flume was in 

operation, the water from the north flume (Third 

Creek) was used during the day to transport lumber, 

and during the night the water was commingled with 

Marlette Lake water and went to Hobart Creek and 

thence to the Virginia City area. 

The lumberyard at Lakeview was located just south 

of the Lakeview house. The Virginia & Truckee Railroad main line passed a few feet west and south of the 

house, and spurs were built to .the lumberyard. 

About the only evidence left of the Sierra Nevada 

Wood and Lumber Company's operations at Lake 

Tahoe is the path of the Incline Great Tramway, and 

at the top there still remains one of the massive bul1 

wheels which carried the endless cable. 

Myrick states that initial timber cutting by the Sierra 

Nevada Wood and Lumber Company was made about 

a mile north of Crystal Bay. To service the area, a 11hmile narrow-gauge railroad was constructed in the 

spring of 1881. Later the rails were extended several 

miles both northerly and southerly, the southerly terminus being at Sand Harbor. Logs were assembled in 

V-booms at Hobart, at the south end of Lake Tahoe, 

and rafted nearly 20 miles to Sand Harbor, where they 

were loaded on the narrow-gauge cars and conveyed to 

the sawmill.34 

Th~ y lumber flume was continuous from its start 

at the top of the Incline Tramway through the tunnel 

and thence to Lakeview, a distance of about 10 miles. 

According to McGovern, and apparently for inspection purposes, a special type of float was constructed 

to convey a person or persons in the V flume through 

the tunnel and thence down to Lakeview. The speed 

of the float would depend on the amount of water used 

in the flume. This, no doubt, was a thrilling adventure 

for those who dared brave such a ride-especially if a 

full charge of water was used. 

Myrick wrote that the last major season of the lumber company's operations at Lake Tahoe appears to 

have ended in the fall of 1894 and that the railroad was 

abandoned shortly thereafter. However, Scott indicates 

that 1896 was the last year of Sierra Nevada 'Vood and 

Lumber Company activity there. 35 

The Territorial Enterprise of December 2, 1887, quoting Captain Overton, stated that during the 8-month 

period from April to November 1'887, the mill produced 

12 million feet of lumber, all of which was flumed to 

Lakeview. E. B. Scott gives a total production figure 

for the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company's 

Tahoe operation, starting with 1879, as approxim.at:ly 

200 million feet of lumber and more than a million 

cords of wood. Most of this went underground to shore 

up the galleries of the Comstock Lode, or vani~hed 

into the fire boxes of the hoisting works at the mines, 

and the Cornish steam pumps that cleared the mine 

sumps of water at Virginia City. Thousands of cor_ds 

of wood also disappeared through the balloon and diamond stacks of the Central Pacific and Virginia & 

Truckee Railroads' locomotives. 

The V flume of the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company is mentioned here because of its relat~o~ 

to the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company's faCilities. However, the reader should remember that there 

were at least 10 V lumber flumes in operation on the 

eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Galloway, quotii~g 

from an early Surveyor General's report, stated that In 

1869-70 there were 25 miles of flume in Ormsby County. 

During the period 1879-80. there .were 10 ~umes in 

Douglas, Ormsby, and Washoe Counties, totaling mo,re 

than 80 miles in length, which annually transported 

171 000 cords of wood and 33 million board feet of ' lumber. 

The Sutro Tunnel 

In discussing the Sutro Tunnel it is not intended to 

record the full history of this undertaking as it has 

been well documented in many publicationS.36 The au-
32 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

thor will only outline enough of the faets pertaining 

to this great undertaking to enable the reader to understand the tunnel's primary function-namely, the drainage of water from the deep shafts on the Comstock 

Lode, and their better ventilation. The tunnel was also 

utilized as a means of getting rid of the water pumped 

from below the tunnel level, thus eliminating the extra 

pumping distance from the tunnel level to the surface, 

a distance of about 1,600 feet. 

Up until 1861 little difficulty was experienced with 

water in the sinking of shafts on the Comstock; however, with the increased depths, water became a great 

problem. Not only did the water problem increase with 

depth, but adequate ventilation of the mines was the 

most difficult of all problems from the very beginning. 

It was not until the Root blowers were introduced in 

1865 that there was some relief from the air problem. 

Both the air and water increased in heat and foulness 

with depth, and in this early period more men died from 

extreme heat and foul air than from any other cause. 37 

In order to drain the shafts, several tunnels were constructed prior to the Sutro Tunnel. In 1861 the Latrobe 

Tunnel and Mining Company constructed a tunnel under contract with the mining companies whose ground 

it would penetrate. These companies agreed to segregate a portion of their claims adjacent to it in compensation for drainage and prospecting. The tunnel started 

at a point a little more than half a mile east of Virginia 

City, and it was estimated that it would strike the Comstock at a horizontal distance of somewhere near 3.000 

feet and at a depth of about 600 feet below the outcropping.38 In 1864 this tunnel, 2,800 feet in length, tapped 

the Sides and the White & Murphy (which later became the Consolidated Virginia Company) lode on its 

dip at 700 feet. A drift was run to drain the nearby Central and Ophir mines. 39 

In 1862 the Cedar Hill Tunnel and Mining Company 

undertook a similar work, but after tunneling about 

2,000 feet, the project was given up. However a more 

i1nportant enterprise was inaugurated by ~he Gold Hill 

and Virginia Tunnel and Mining C01npany in1863. The 

plan was to begin at a point in Gold Canyon near Silver 

City and run a tunnel the entire length of the lode to 

the Ophir Inine, which it would intercept at a depth of 

about 1,000 feet, and a horizontal distance of 15,000 

feet. Work on this tunnel had been in progress nearly 

a year when the exhaustion of all the upper ore bodies 

on the lode and the failure to discover any new ones 

rendered the outlook for the mining industry so disheartening that capitalists refused to put more money 

into the scheme. Accordingly, the work was suspended, 

and was never resumed.40 

The October 25, 1925, issue of the Oarson Daily Appeal contains a letter addressed to the editor from 

Alfred Chartz, in which some of the early Comstock 

water tunnels were discussed. Mr. Chartz stated that the 

first tunnel excavated was the Mint Tunnel, which 

tapped springs at a depth of 500 feet below the collar 

of the Hale & Norcross_ mine, and which was run about 

1863. Then he 1nentioned a tunnel that was excavated 

in the early days, located at the mouth of Daney Canyon, which was driven a length of about 1,100 feet. This 

may be the same tunnel mentioned previously which 

was started by the Gold Hill and Virginia Tunnel and 

Mining Company, as Daney Canyon lies below Silver 

City. Recently the author was shown the portal of the 

Daney Tunnel by F. N. Dondero, of Carson City, who 

has mining property in that area and who probably 

hauled in the last ore milled at the Sutro Mill prior 

to shutting down its operation. The ceiling of the portal 

is crushed down and overgrown with brush; a small 

stream of water was coming out at the time of our visit. 

Any history of the Sutro Tunnel would be incomplete without at least a short discussion of colorful 

Adolph Sutro, the tunnel's instigator and builder. 

Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro was born in Aachen, 

Prussia, April 29, 1830. At the age of 20, he, along with 

his family, sailed for New York. After a few months he 

left his family in New York and sailed for San Francisco, arriving there November 21, 1850. Within 4 years 

he owned several stores in San Francisco, dealing primarily in imported tobaccos. In 1859 he made his first 

trip to the "Washoe country" and was greatly impressed 

by the Comstock, then in its infancy. While there, he 

came to the conclusion that he could invent a better way 

to treat quartz ore. With the help of a chemist, he developed a process which they were confident would 

work.41 

In about 1862 Sutro again went to Washoe (Virginia 

City) to look for a place to establish a reducing mill. 

He found a good mill site at Dayton, and by 1863 he 

had a substantial establishment there, with eight stamps 

and 20 amalgamating pans. 42 It was during this period 

that his thoughts developed pertaining to a long tunnel 

to drain the mines on the Comstock. 

The matter of running a long tunnel to the Comstock 

Lode at a lower depth with an outlet ner r the Carson 

River was the subject of a great deal of c .. scussion and 

editorial comment during the early day, of the Comstock. Adolph Sutro, while probably not the originator 

of the idea, supported a plan and imm•:diately proceeded to promote it. The obstacles confroating Sutro 

appeared to be almost insurmountable, but not to him. 

He was a combination of many things : a dynamo of 
WATER-RELATED EVE•KTS, 18·61 - 18,94 33 

energy, a great promoter, a great speaker (although he 

spoke broken English), and a fighter. He was hated by 

many, and loved by others. 

His proposed project involved the drilling of a tunnel 

20,000 feet long starting near the toe of the range of 

hills westerly from Dayton, and with the mouth of the 

tunnel about 150 feet in elevation above the Carson 

River. The plans called for the tunnel to cut the Comstock Lode about 1,600 feet below the surface. 

The Sutro Tunnel Company was incorporated by an 

act of the Nevada State Legislature, approved February 4, 1865. This act granted an exclusive franchise to 

construct and operate the tunnel for a period of 50 

years. Other provisions were that the mouth of the 

tunnel was to be located between Corral Canyon and ''T ebber Canyon, that shafts were to be sunk along the 

course of the tunnel, and that the tunnel was to be 

started within 1 year from the passage of the act and 

completed within 8 years. Neither of the latter two provisions were met. 

At that time the title, or fee, to the land was in the 

United States Government, and an act of Congress was 

necessary to enable Sutro to obtain the necessary easements. Sutro visited "\Vashington and obtained the support of Senator Stewart, and on July 25, 1866, a bill, 

commonly known as the Sutro Tunnel Act, was approved, which became the first Federal law to provide 

for a location and patenting of mining claims on public 

lands. The Act, in addition to other provisions, empowered Mr. Sutro to purchase 4,357 acres of land at the 

tunnel mouth and to claim ownership of the mines 

within 2,000 feet on either side of the tunnel, excepting, 

of course, the mines on the Comstock Lode.43 

Mr. Sutro was able to secure contracts in April 1866 

from 23 of the principal mining companies, which represented 95 percent of the stock-market value of the 

Comstock Lode at the time. By these contracts the companies which signed the articles of agreement bound 

themsehes to pay the sum of $2 for every ton of ore extracted after the extension of the tunnel and its lateral 

drifts had reached designated points.44 A survey of the 

tunnel was made by our old friend Schussler, and work 

commenced on the tunnel October 19, 1869.45 

The surface survey was marked with cast iron posts. 

Each post was firmly placed in the ground and its top 

was weighted. A circular hole was machined in each top 

and a brass plug 1% inches in diameter inserted. The 

posts marked the course of the tunnel and were referred 

to as "The Line." 46 

The tunnel was completed July 8, 1878, a construction 

period of 8 years, 8 months and 19 days. On that day a 

connection was made with a short east drift from the 

Savage mine at a depth of 1,640 feet. The length of the 

tunnel as finally completed was 20,498 feet and for the 

greater part of the distance the tunnel, inside the timbering, was 7 to 7% feet in height, 8 feet wide across 

the top, and 9 to 9% feet across the bottom. 

Lateral tunnels to drain the various mines along the 

Lode were then started; in the course of several 

years the north lateral, 4,403 feet in length, reached the 

Union shaft, and the south lateral was extended 8,423 

feet to the Alta shaft. 

It was planned to construct four vertical shafts along 

the line of the tunnel, so that the excavation of the tunnel could be carried on at eight different faces. These 

shafts were located in November 1871. The first was 

4,915 feet from the mouth of the tunnel, at a vertical 

distance of 522 feet above the tunnel level ; the second 

was 4,150 feet farther along, and its depth to the 

tunnel level was 1,041 feet; the third shaft was 4,490 

feet from the second one, and its depth to the tunnel 

level was 1,361 feet. The fourth shaft was 17,695 feet 

from the tunnel entrance. In addition to the four shafts, 

a small air shaft was completed in the summer of 1872. 

It was situated 2,250 feet from the tunnel mouth, and 

had a depth of 211 feet to the tunnellevelY 

Difficulties 'vith water in both the third and fourth 

shafts caused them to be abandoned. In the first shaft, 

after 18 months of labor the tunnel level was reached, 

and drifts both east and west were started, the former 

in due time connecting ''"ith the tunnel header. At the 

second shaft, water was encountered, and pumps had 

to be placed in position. The tunnel level was reached 

in the spring of 1874. East and west drifts were then 

started, and when the former had reached a distance 

of 171 feet and the latter 170 feet a large body of water 

was encountered, filling the tunnel and shaft with water. 

This caused a delay of several months, but eventually 

work was resumed on the headings. 48 

During the first 5 years progress on the tunnel was 

slow. The monthly distance completed averaged 105% 

feet in 187:3; in 1874 2231/g feet per month. At the close 

of_ 1874 some 8,079 feet of the tunnel had been completed. In 1874 Burleigh Drills, operated by compressed 

air, were put in use, and this greatly speeded up the 

''"ork. In 1875 the tunnel advanced 3,728 feet, and the 

average footage completed per month increased to 310% 

feet. As heretofore stated, the tunnel made a connection 

with the east drift of the Savage mine on the 1,640-foot 

level. On July 8, 1878, the Savage mine 'mter, which 

heretofore had to be raised 2,200 feet to the surface, had 

then only to be raised 600 feet to the tunnel level.49 

It is interesting to note that during the early history 

of the tunnel horses were tried for pulling the cars 
34 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

FIGURE 19.-Mules used in the construction of Sutro Tunnel. Courtesy of Nevada Historical Society. 

loaded with \vaste rock. However when anything 

touched a horse's ears, the horse would throw up his 

head, hitting the overhanging rock and hurting his 

skull. Mules, on the other hand, \\'ould drop their heads 

and avoid injury (fig. 19).50 

The cost of the tunnel was $2,096,566, not including 

the cost of the laterals or expenses of management of 

the company.

51 The laterals, amounting to about 12,800 

feet of tunnel 8 feet in width by 7 feet in height, 

probably cost another million dollars. 

Thompson & ·west state that the cost of the tunnel 

itself was about $4,500,000 and the total cost, including 

lateral branches up to and including March 1, 1881, was 

$5,069,801.16. 52 

Sutro had many supporters among the mine owners, 

including William Sharon, during the early construction period; however, later on disputes arose, and a bitter 

fight broke out between the two. The mine owners refused to pay the royalty of $2 per ton of ore mined, 

and Sutro was forced to reduce the royalty to $1 a ton. 

Shortly after this he sold out and retired to more 

pleasant activities at San Francisco. 

Eliot Lord states that in 1880 the tunnel drained some 

3~500,000 gallons of water daily and that during the 

year 1,277,500,000 gallons of water, or 4,752,605 tons, 

drained through the tunnel. Much more was expected after the laterals were fully completed.53 

During the 50 years following the completion of the 

tunnel and its various laterals, the Gold Hill mines, with 

hot waters of 150°, were automatically drained through 

tJhe Sutro Tunnel. In the Virginia City mines, the water 

stood about 100 feet below the tunnel after 1884, except 

for a brief period after 1900, when the north end mines 

were pumped out to the 2,500-foot level. 54 

In 1872 Sutro laid out a townsite near the mouth of 

the tunnel, which he named Sutro. It was to be a model 

town, with the main east and west thoroughfare, named 

Tunnel Street, lining up with the tunnel. This street 

was to be 200 feet wide ; the other east-west streets were 

80 feet in width. The avenues, which ran from north to 

south, were named for women, from Adele through 

Jeanne, and \vere 100 feet wide, except for Florence 

Avenue, which had a width of 150 feet. Four 11-acre 

parks \\'ere laid out, and the plans called for board sidewalks. A large steamboat Gothic style house was built 

for Sutro at company expense near the mouth of the 

tunnel; the structure cost $40,000 to build and furnish (fig. 20). 55 

'Vhen the author first came to Carson City in 19g5, 

this great mansion still stood, as well as the mill which 

had been constructed to process ores coming through the 

tunnel. The mansion burned in the 1940's, and the mill 

was destroyed by fire in 1967 (fig. 21). 
WATER-RELATED EVENTS, 1861-1894 35 

TOWN OF SUTRO 

AND OTHER PROPERTY BELONCINC TO THE 

SUTRO TUNNEL C2 

Lyon County. Nevada. 

FIGURE 20.-Map of the town of Sutro, 1873. The description 

reads: "Lands belonging to the Sutro Tunnel Company are 

enclosed by black lines and are divided into squares representing forty acres each. Each town block is three hundred feet 

square and consists of twenty-four lots 25 x 130 eaeh. Avenues 

Where the mansion once stood, only the foundation 

remains. The reservoir, in front of the mansion, is now 

just an ugly depression, with fallen trees, tin cans, and 

other debris. The writer on a recent visit was saddened 

by the conditions of the tunnel portal. Trees and brush 

almost obscure the portal, and back of the concrete facings, the tunnel is caved in for about 50 feet. Only a 

---- ·t-::.~~ " . --r:~*:~li\ 

are one hundred feet and Streets eighty feet in width, with 

alleys between the blocks forty feet wide. Grade from mouth 

of tunnel to Carson River one-hundred & fifty-five feet." Scale 

of the reproduction above is approximately 1 inch=10,000 feet. 

small stream of water flows out of the tunnel now; this 

water comes from a spring in the tunnel itself. The mine 

drainage waters are dammed off by slides deep in the 

tunnel. Glancing back of the tunnel portal and following the alignment of the tunnel up the hillside, the 

heavy cast iron posts heretofore mentioned are still in 

place. On the ones observed, the brass plugs are gone. 
36 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

FIGURE 21.-S'utro's mansion about 1874 near tunnel portal. Courtesy od' Nevada Historical Society. 

In 1879 Adolph Sutro resigned his position as Superintendent of the Company and moved his activities to 

the San Francisco Bay Area, where he remained until 

his death in 1898. He sold his stock in the Sutro Tunnel 

Company for $709,012. 56 By so doing he became the 

only man who ever made any appreciable amount of 

money from that project. He invested his money in 

property in San Francisco, and became a very wealthy 

man. Although he was unsuccessful in his attempts to 

become United States Senator from Nevada, he was 

elected Mayor of San Francisco in 1894 (fig. 22). 

An article concerning the Sutro Tunnel which appeared in the December 4, 1909, issue of the Goldfield 

News stated thatY csterday was marked by an important event in 

connection with the repairs under 'vay in the Sutro 

tunnel. The steam-tight, stovepipe drain which has 

been underway for the past three or four years, was 

practically completed. The finishing of this pipe 

has been one of the main features of the new work 

in the tunnel, and the latter is now cool in its entire 

length, making rapid progress possible for the balance of the work to be done in the tunnel. 

The Savage Mining Company is now running the 

Comstock Tunnel Company's mill at the mouth of 

the tunnel to full capacity and ore is being shipped 

daily through the tunnel to the mill. A new track 

has been built practically throughout the tunnel 

and a large amount of transportation is being handled early and "·ithout delay. 

The drainage facilities of the tunnel are now perfect to take care of the large increase of water being 

sent through from the C & C shaft. The pumping is 

being steadily increased every day and more 'vater 

is now being raised from the lower le;-els than at 

any time since pumping was resumed some years 

ago. 

Mrs. Jack Greenhalgh of Virginia City, who is the 

daughter of Tom Higgins, foreman for the Virginia 

and Gold Hill Water Company from 1906 to 1937, 

remembers being told by her father that many Dayton 

and Sutro people would go to Virginia City for Saturday night dances by means of the Sutro Tunnel, reaching the surface at Virginia City by riding up the C & C 

shaft. Mrs. Greenhalgh also recalled that as a small 

girl she would ride on the four-horse wagons hauling 

ice from the storage house at Five Mile Reservoir to 

the mines. She would then be allowed to ride down the 

shafts in the hoist cars loaded with ice for the use of 
WATER-RELATE.O EVENTS, 1861-1894 37 

the miners working in the unbearably hot atmosphere 

of the deep tunnels. 

Jack Greenhalgh, who has been with the Nevada 

State Department of Highways for more than 35 years, 

told the author that in the 1930's he took a leave of 

absence from the Highway Department and, with a 

partner, operated the Comstock Mill located at the 

mouth of the Sutro Tunnel, milling mostly custom ore. 

The Comstock Tunnel and Drainage Company and 

the Sutro Tunnel Company have their offices in San 

Francisco. The latter company still owns the property 

adjacent to the portttl of the tunnel, and so far as is 

known still owns the easement for the tunnel granted 

by Congress in 1866, as ''"ell as other properties in the 

general area. 

Water Power and Electric Power 

"No·where else on the face of the globe is there anything of the kind that approaches it." Thus the waterpower development scheme at the C & C shaft was described by the Territorial Enterprise of September 30, 

1887. The article referred to the development of water 

power in the California and Consolidated Virginia 

companies' joint shaft to operate the large stamp and. 

pan mills. 

Water for the project was obtained from the Virginia 

and Gold Hill Water Company. A large tank was constructed near the flume line, capable of holding 80,000 

gallons of water. \Vater was conducted through an iron 

pipe which varied in diameter from 20 inches at the 

tank to about 12 inches where it went down the C & C 

shaft. Both the tank and pipeline, which was about 3,000 

feet long, were -designed and constructed by Captain 

Overton. At the ground surface near the C & C shaft, 

the water, under considerable pressure, hit a 11-foot 

Pelton Wheel, which by means of pulleys and cable, 

ran the 80 stamps of the battery mill and also 12 Boss 

grinding pans. 

A Pelton \Vheel is similar to a water wheel used to 

raise water a few feet from a ditch or stream. The difference in this instance is that the Pelton \Vheel was used 

to develop power. As will be seen, the Pelton Wheels 

at the Chollar shaft ran dynamos which produced electricity to operate the mill, whereas at the C & C shaft 

they produced mechanical power. Water under pressure 

was forced against the cups of the Pelton Wheel, causing them to revolve. The speed of the wheel was governed by the amount of water and pressure. The amount 

of water used at the C & C shaft was about 1,700 gallons 

per minute under a pressure head of about 580 feet. 

After the water was used on the Consolidated Virginia's surface Pelton \Vheel, it was dropped down the 

FIGURE 22.-Adolph Sutro. Courtesy of Nevada 

Historical Society. 

C & C shaft, where it was passed through three other 

Pelton Wheels of the same size, spaced 500 feet apart 

vertically. 

The Territorial Enterprise of September 30, 1887, described the workings in the shaft as follows : 

There is a great deal more of machinery in the 

shaft to conduct the power to the surfa~ than there 

is on the surface to conduct it to the mill. It is an 

entirely different system of transmission. It is the 

only system of perpendicular transmission of 

power upon the face of the earth, and the men who 

planned it and carried it out arc the inventors of 

it-they are the argonauts. The stations are numbered "A," "B," "C," "D,": the last being at the 

Sutro tunnel level, and the first on the surface-all 

being 500 feet apart, and there is a Pelton wheel on 

each station. From A to B there are three wires or 

cables from B to C two wires, and from C to D, one 

wire. The stations arc forty feet in depth, and the 

:face is fully twenty feet high to make room for the 
38 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

bearing wheels. At each station there are grooved 

wheels upon which the "·ires run. There is a system 

of water gauges at the surface and at each station. 

There are six small water pipes that run from A 

to B, four to C and two to D. By turning the water 

on or off at the surface in these small pipes, gates 

arc either opened or shut which gauges the water 

that is played on the Pelton wheels at any station 

desired-that is to say, that any of the Pelton 

wheels or all of them can be stopped or regulated 

at will from the surface. . . . The water was first 

played from an inch nozzle, and strikes the cups of 

the Pelton wheel underneath it and flows back into 

a tank. ... Any size nozzle can be put on from 

one to two and a half inches, according to the power 

desired to be played upon the wheels. The stream 

that comes out of tm inch nozzle is nearly as rigid 

as a bar of iron. From the first tank the water is 

conducted down the shaft, makes a curve at the station and is played under the wheel in the same manner as the first, and so on to the Sutro tunnel where 

it escapes. 

The pan mill was located about 1,000 feet from the 

stamp mill, and between the two there was a depression. 

Pole lines were erected to the pan mill, and cables 

or wire ropes were installed above the ground which 

were a part of the intricate series of Pelton ·wheels, pulleys, cables, etc. operated by water power from the 

water company flume. 

To someone seeing such an installation in the present 

day, it would appear to be a rube goldberg affair. However, in the 1880's it was recognized as a great engineering feat-which it was. 

The reader might be confused as to how the shafts 

could be sunk or worked in with all the equipment 

which was installed, such as the Cornish Pumps, the 

hydraulic pumps, and the Pelton Wheels. The C & C 

shaft was the first of the great third-line shafts. Such 

shafts had four compartments (except the Forman 

shaft, which had five) :one for the pumps, another for 

sinking the shaft, and two for hoisting.57 Later all the 

deep shafts were of this type. 

The first mill on the Comstock to use electric power 

was the Nevada Mill, built in 1887, which had 60 stamps, 

each weighing 800 pounds, 30 amalgamating pans, 15 

settling pans, and 10 agitators.58 The power to operate 

the mill was run both by water power and by electricity. 

The Territorial Enterprise of September 21, 1887, 

stated: 

The ten-inch pipe to conduct water for the waterwheel at the mill and the electric plant is nearly 

complete. The work is under the supervision of Captain Overton and the pipe that is being used is ten 

inches in diameter and will first be used to nm the 

11-foot Pelton wheel at the mill and until it is 

needed down the Chollar shaft will run down Six 

Mile Canyon. 

The electric plant, as described by Grant Smith, consisted of six 40-inch Pelton Wheels set up in a large 

chamber at the Sutro Tunnel level. 59 After the water, 

under a 460-foot head from the water company's flume 

above, was used on the 11-foot Pelton Wheel at the 

surface, it was flumed a short distance to the Chollar 

shaft and was dropped vertically through two large 

iron pipes to six Pelton Wheels. The vertical drop was 

1,630 feet. Each wheel drove a dynamo, and the controls were so arranged that any number of the six 

dynamos could be run at one time. The power was then 

transmitted up the shaft to the mill. The Territorial 

Enterprise further commented that "never before has 

any water wheel been operated under a vertical pressure 

of 1,630 feet." 

The type of power used here and at the Yellow Jacket 

in the Gold Hill section to operate the mills was probably not too widely used on the Comstock, steam power 

being the mainstay until electric power 'vas brought in 

from a powerplant on the Truckee River, 40 miles away, 

about 1900. 

The author has briefly described the water power 

developed at the Nevada Mill to illustrate the resourcefulness of the Comstock miners. This description, coupled with that of the operation of the large Cornish 

Beam Engines and Pumps, and the hydraulic pumps, 

should give some idea of the magnitude and complexity 

of at least some of the outstanding operations on the 

Comstock. 

Electric Lights 

The Virginia Gas Company was organized early, 

and the Virginia City streets and business houses were 

lighted with gas. Illumination in the homes was furnished by kerosene lamps, which continued in general 

use until electric power was brought in from the Truckee 

River about 1900. However, electric lights were used 

in many of the mills, business houses and on the streets 

as early as 1888. 

The Territorial Enterprise of December 2, 1887, 

stated that: 

Our light is no longer "hidden under a bushel" 

in this c1ty set upon a hill. It blazes forth to the 

illumination of all, and is the light that flashed 

dmYn from the heavens long before man was on 

the earth. It is the light that always will be, and 

can never be improved upon. 

The Enterprise article went on to say that the Virginia City Electric Light Company was formed and was 

headed by W. S. Hobart and Alvinza Hayward, with 

Captain J. B. Overton as Superintendent and Manager. 

The works of the electric company were located close 

to the new water mill of the Nevada Mill & Mining 

Company, just in front of the Chollar hoisting works. 
WATER-RELATED EVENTS, 1861-189-4 39 

Water was piped down from a reservoir on the side of 

Mount Davidson, 460 feet above the hoisting works. 

The reservoir in turn received its supply from the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company flume. The dynamos were driven by water power from three small 

Pelton Wheels, working under a pressure of 200 pounds 

to the square inch. The Pelton Wheels were 161;2 inches 

in diameter, and each wheel drove one dynamo. 

The Enterprise article, commenting on the prices 

charged for electric lights in Virginia City, stated the 

charges would be the same as those of the California 

Electric Light Company in San Francisco. 

The December 4, 1887, Territoriaz'Enterprise stated 

that for the first time several electric lights were in use 

along "C'' Street. Most of the lights were in business 

places. The first outside electric light ever installed on 

"C" Street was that in front of the V ucovich Brothers' 

Magnolia Saloon and "Mr. Armer's Cigar Store." In 

commenting on the electric lights, the Enterprise reporter had this to say: "The lamps gave a very brilliant 

and steady light. Beside it, ordinary lights--coal oil or 

gas-look pale and sickly. The electric light could be 

observed by persons distant two or three blocks, as a 

white radiance pervaded the atmosphere for a large 

surrounding area." 

Doubtless some of the homes in Virginia City installed electric lights prior to the power being brought 

in from the Truckee River. These installations were 

probably limited, because of the small capacity of the 

plant and the cost of electricity as compared with that 

of the kerosene lamp. 

It is of interest to note that electricity for the water 

company's Lakeview house was furnished for many 

years by a small Pelton Wheel placed in the 1875 pipeline which ran beneath the kitchen. Red McGovern told 

the writer that the wheel was removed about 1957. 

Pumping Water From Deep Shafts 

A number of shafts on the Comstoek reached and 

even exceeded a depth of 3,000 feet from the surface. 

Among these were the Combination shaft, which 

reaehed the greatest depth, 3,250 feet; the Crown PointBeleher; the Hale and Norcross and the New Yell ow 

J aeket reached depths about 3,000 feet. Several others 

reaehed 2,500 feet in vertical depth. It is interesting to 

note that the bottom of the C & C shaft was more than 

1,700 feet lower than Carson City. 

As previously mentioned, getting rid of the mine. 

water was one of the great pr:oblems confronting the 

mine operators. Many of the deep shafts of different 

eompanies were connected, and additional trouble developed when one or more of the companies was lax in 

pumping water from their shafts. This threw a greater 

burden on those who did. However, the water problem 

eould be handled, espeeially after the Sutro Tunnel 

laterals reaehed the various mine shafts, beea use this 

reduced the pumping level on an average of about 1,600 

feet. The greatest problem, and one which could not be 

suceessfully overcome at that time, was the high temperatures in which the n1iners had to work. 

Temperatures increased with depth, and the miners 

worked in adits and shafts where temperature was as 

great as 134°F. Springs of hot water were often encountered with temperatures as high as 157°F. In the 

Crown Point mine, 2,000 feet below the surfaee, the 

temperature was 150°F., and it was only 16° less in the 

open drift.60 

Large volun1es of air were pumped in the mines, but 

beeause of impaired air circulation, the problems were 

still acute. Tons of ice were sent down daily into the 

mines. Ninety-five pounds of iee were consumed daily by 

eaeh miner employed in the hottest workings of the 

California and Consolidated Virginia 1nines during the 

summer of 1878.61 

While the problems -of heat and water were the main 

eauses of the eessation of deep mining, there were other 

factors involved. No bonanzas had been fow1d during 

the 10 years of deep mining, 1876-1886, and the great 

expense involved, together with the fact that $40 million 

had been expended in those 10 years by mines whieh did 

not pay any dividends, finally brought an end to largeseale deep mining on the Comstock. 62 

All the deep mines ceased to operate between 1882 and 

1886. The New Yell ow J aeket shaft in the Gold Hill 

section, which had reaehed a depth of 3,000 feet, shut 

down in Mareh 1882. The north end mines (the Consolidated Virginia, California, Ophir, Mexican, Union, 

and Sierra Nevada) were the next to stop pumping, 

near the end of 1884. The Alta shaft below Gold Hill 

and the Forman shaft followed in December of that 

year. 

The manner in which the mine operators pumped 

water from the deep shafts in order that they could 

be driven to evei1 greater depths is interesting; it is 

certain that the reader will be impressed at the ingenuity 

of these Comstock mine operators. 

At first, and in the shallow shafts, buckets were 

dropped by means of a windlass and, when filled with 

water, were hauled out by manpower. Later, as the 

workings deepened, a larger bucket was fastened on 

the bottom of the ore bucket, lowered to a water sump, 

and hauled up with the ore by steam engines. As the 

amounts of wrater increased, improved methods had to 
40 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

be used. Plunger pumps run by small steam engines 

were used between 1861 and about 1874. Probably, as 

the depth of the shaft increased, n1ore than one plunger 

pump was used in the same shaft; one pump pumping 

to a certain level, from which the water was pumped 

to a higher level by another pump. 

As depths increased, the water increased in volume 

and larger pumps had to be installed. This brought 

about the advent of the Cornish Beam Engines and 

their pumps. These pumps served their purpose until 

about 1881, when the new hyd~aulic pumps were 

installed. 

The Cornish Beam Engine, or Cornish Pump as it 

was familiarly known, was so named because it was developed by the Cornish people in Cornwall in the mid1800's to dewater their deep copper mines. The Cornish 

miner (commonly known in America as Cousin Jack) 

played an important role in the e:arly mining development in the Western United States. In essence, the 

Cornish taught Americans the technique of hard-rock 

mining. One of their contributions was the introduction of the Cornish Pump to the Comstock and to many 

other deep mining areas in this country. Victor Goodwin 

gives a good description of the Cornish Miner, and 

also the Cornish Beam Engine, in Ne,vada's Northeast 

Frontier. 63 

Probably the first Cornish Pump was installed on 

the Cmnstock in the early 1870's. The last one built 

was in 1879, at the Union shaft (fig. 23) .

64 As it is 

rather difficult to describe these huge machines, one 

good contemporary source will be quoted. 

The pump at the New Yell ow Jacket vertical 

shaft, 3,080 feet deep, has a capacity of 1,000 gallons a minute, or 1,440,000 gallons in twenty-four 

hours, and regularly raised over 1,000,000 gallons. 

The pump rod was 3,055 feet long, made of lengths 

of Oregon pine, 16 by 16 inches, strapped together 

with iron plates. Its weight when in motion was 

1,510,400 pounds. Its greatest capacity was seven 

strokes a minute, each stroke lifting 160 gallons. The 

weight of the pump rod was equalized by 8 balance 

bobs placed at intervals in the shaft, carrying a total 

lifting weight of 240 tons. There were 13 pumps in 

the shaft placed at intervals of about 250 feet, which 

lifted water from station to station, all attached to 

the pumping rod. The two fly wheels weighed 125 

tons. 65 

The Mining and Sc·ientific Press of July 17, 1880, 

carried a very vivid article on this Yell ow Jacket 

Cornish Pump. In this article, the reporter stated: 

"This machinery is regarded· as a remarkable triumph 

of n1echanical skill, and we spare space for the following description of it from the Territorial Enterprise." 

The artiele goes on to describe some of the pump's 

fpatures, which will be briefly covered here. The pump 

rod, more than 3,000 feet long and made up of 16 x 16-

inch lengths of Douglas-fir (then colloquially known as 

Oregon pine) securely bolted together, passed through 

"stays" that were placed across the shaft compartment 

every 30 feet to prevent vibration. There were, in addition, six rod-catchers to prevent the massive wooden 

pump rod falling down the shaft if it should break at 

any place. The balance bob was a long beam of wood 

or iron resting on a fulcrum near its center. On the 

outer end was a large wooden box capable of holding 

many tons of iron ballast. At the inner end of the beam, 

there was a huge iron clevis that was attached to the 

pump rod. The clevis was so attached that the swinging 

or rocking motion of the bob, which described part of 

the circumference of a circle, would impart a vertical 

1novement to the pump rod. 

The pump column was an iron pipe 14 inches in diameter running the full depth of the shaft. In order to 

support the column, a number of large collars were supported by the heavy timbers. The article points out that 

at that time there were six pumps in the Yell ow Jacket 

shaft above where the south lateral of the Sutro Tunnel 

tapped it. After this cgnnection was made these pumps 

were no longer necessary. It is hard to visualize a timber shaft 16 inches by 16 inches square and more than 

a half mile long operating 13 pumps. The article concludes by giving this description: 

The simultaneous starting up of a line of pumps 

360 feet over half a mile in length is truly a most 

remarkable achievement and a feat that has never 

before been performed or attempted in any part of 

the world. When the big engine made its first revolution, all this half mile of pumps made a stroke. 

Not only was the whole pump rod of 300 tons 

moved but a great weight of water was also lifted. 

Great credit is due Mr. Pyen, who placed in position r:l] the 13 pumps, 8 bobs and many other parts, 

for the patience, skill and excellent judgment displayed. A very little thing out of place at any one 

point would have caused a grand smash-up of 

everything. 

All the deep shafts used the Cornish Beam Engine, 

and in many cases hydraulic pumps were added to assist. At the Combination shaft, there was a double line 

of Cornish Pumps, in addition to hydraulic pumps. 

Altogether the pumps lifted 5,200,000 gallons of water 

every 24 hours to the Sutro Tunnel level. On October 

16, 1886, these pumps ceased to operate. 

The last Cornish Pump installed on the Co1nstock 

was at the Union shaft in 1879. The flywheel was 45 

feet in diameter, and the pumping beam was 48 feet 

between centers. The pump rod had similar dimensions 

to that used at the Yell ow Jacket, but was 2,500 feet 

long. Here, as at other shafts, the water was not 
WATER-RELATED EVENTS, 1861-1894 41 

FwURF. 23.-T'he las:t COrnish Pump on the Comstock, installed at the Unian shaft in 1879'. It had a 45-foot flywheel 

weighing 110 tons. Courtesy of Nevada Hislt:or'ieal Society. 

pumped directly from the bottom to the top of the 

shaft, but in stages from one tank to another on different levels. Each tank had a separate pump connection 

with, and was operated by, the main pump rod. 

Some idea of the great size of the Cornish Beam 

Engines may be formed when it is stated that the stations excavated for them in the shafts were 85 feet long, 

28 feet wide, and 12 feet high. 66 

The hydraulic pump was a late innovation on the 

Comstock to supplement the huge Cornish Pumps. 

They were first introduced in the early 1880's. The 

hydraulic pump installation at the Combination Shaft 

is described by DeQuille.G' He states that at the 2,400-

foot level two Cornish Pumps had been in operation and handled the water until a drift encountered additional water which the Cornish Pumps could 

not handle. It was at this time that the management 

installed a hydraulic pump. This pump was operated 

by the pressure of water from the surface. The pump 

merely consisted of a 12-inch iron pipe running down 

the shaft, and in the case of the Combination shaft, to 

the 3,000-foot level. At the 3,000-foot level the end of 

the pipe was turned upward 180°, forming a U shapethe last few feet being tapered down and fitted with a 

nozzle. The water was obtained from the Virginia and 

Gold Hill Water Company's flume, and was conveyed 

from the flume by a pipe and then dropped down the 

shaft in the 12 inch pipe. At the Combination shaft 

the end of the upturned section was fitted with a oneinch nozzle made of phosphor-bronze, through which 

the water was ejected into a larger discharge pipe, both 

being submerged in the water sump. The tremendous 

pressure developed by the water falling more than 

3,000 feet (about 1,300 pounds per square inch) and 

passing through the small nozzle, together with the 

suction it created, forced the water in which the 

pipes were submerged upward to the Sutro Tunnel 

level where it was discharged into a lateral leading to the Sutro Tunnel. The lift was about 1,400 feet. 

DeQuille states that when one stood at the 3,000-foot 

level and looked up a compartment of the shaft, 5 by 6 

feet in size, the little spot of daylight seen at the top 

appeared to be about 4 inches square. 68 

The installation of the hydraulic pump, or elevator, 

as it was sometimes called, was rather simple and not 

too costly. Davis states: 

Using water under such great pressure brought 

forward problems in hydraulics not yet solved. 

The advanta:ges of the system were so great as to 

economy of space and first cost that every feature 

of the system deserves the most careful study. 

Before a hundred thousand dollars had been expended in this system, more water was discharged 

into the drain tunnel at one time by it than had 

been discharged by the five million dollars worth 

of pumps formerly in operation on the Comstock 

Lode. 69 
42 THE STORY OF THE WATEF SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

Any description of the water-supply system for Virginia City, Gold Hill, and Silver City would not be 

complete without tracing its history up to the present 

time. The system reached its greatest magnitude at the 

time the third pipeline was put in operation in 1887, 

at that time had a capacity of nearly 10,000,000 gallons 

of water daily to the Five Mile Reservoir. The main 

task of the Virginia City Water Company in later 

years was to keep the system in operating condition, 

which at times during severe winter weather was a task 

of considerable magnitude. 

In 1906 Mr. J. B. Overton, Superintendent of the 

water company from its inception, retired. He was at 

that time over 80 years of age, and had also served as 

Superintendent of the Sierra Nevada "\:Vood and Lumber Company, as well as being engaged in other activities on the Comstock. His place as Superintendent of 

the water company was taken over by Mr. James M. 

Leonard (fig. 24). Mr. Leonard had started working 

for the company in 1901 and continued in that capacity 

until1959. He was related by marriage toW. S. Hobart, 

who had been one of the principal owners of the water 

company, as well as the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company. The author was well acquainted with Mr. 

Leonard, who was recognized as one of the outstanding citizens of the State. In about 1!)40 he turned a 

great portion of the operation of the system over to his 

son, Hobart Leonard, who became Superintendent and 

President of the water company following the death of 

his father in 1959 (fig. 4) . 

Red McGovern, who started working for the water 

company in 1934, was first employed as a helper to 

the attendants at the various stations on the system between Marlette Lake and Five Mile Reservoir (fig. 25). 

Red recalls that there were stations at Marlette Lake, 

Hobart Creek, The Tanks. West Tunnel Portal, Lakeview, Five Mile Reservoir, the Divide between Virginia City and Gold Hill, and the pump tanks in Virginia City. In addition, the company maintained its 

headquarters in Virginia City. The water company had 

its own telephone line, so that the attendants at the various stations could remain in touch with each other and 

also with the main office in Virginia City. 

Mention should be made of two men who, prior 

to Red McGovern's service with the water company, 

played an important role in the operation at the 

Sierra water system: Tom Higgins and Joe Berger. Mr. Higgins, who was foreman under James LeonFIGURE 24.-James M. Leonard, Superintendent of the Virginia 

and Gold Hill Water Company from 1906 to 1959. Courtesy of 

Hobart Leonard. 

ard, first served as attendant at Red House, the Station 

of Hobart Creek (fig. 1). In 1899 he moved with his 

family to the Lakeview house, and in about 1906, moved 

to the Divide station between Virginia City and Gold 

Hill. He finally retired in 1937.7° Following Mr. Higgins' move to the Divide station, the Lakeview house 

was occupied by Mr. Joe Berger and his family. Mr. 

Berger had previously been the attendant at The Tanks 

(fig. 2) .

71 

On April17, 1922, the Virginia and Gold Hill Water 

Company deeded all its rights in the entire water system to The Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company. On 

April 21. 1933, the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company deeded to The Virginia City Water Company. 
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 43 

Curtis-Wright Corporation 

The Curtis-Wright Corporation purchased the Sierra 

water system, together with all its water rights, lands, 

easements, etc., up to the meter box a hundred feet or 

so northerly (toward Virginia City) from the Five Mile 

Reservoir. The deed was conveyed on August 8, 1957. 

The Curtis-Wright Corporation was then planning a 

large missile-testing program in Storey County, under a 

Government contract. This company, by exchanges and 

purchases, acquired title to about 95 percent of the lands 

in Storey County, which it still owns ( 1969). About the 

only lands not acquired were the townsites of Virginia 

City, which is the Storey County seat, and Gold Hill. 

The program, as planned by the company, involved the 

use of a large and stable supply of "\Vater. At that time 

the future of the Virginia City Water Company, as well 

as its water supply, was somewhat uncertain, as the demand for water in Virginia City and Gold Hill was 

quite small and the water company was having financial 

troubles. Curtis-Wright, therefore, felt it necessary to 

purchase the water company's Sierra water system in 

order to carry out its anticipated program in Storey 

County. In addition to the Sierra waters owned by the 

Virginia City Water Company, the Curtis-Wright Corporation purchased several decreed water rights on the 

Truckee River. Between the years 1956 ancl1959, the corporation filed five applications with the State Engineer 

to change the points of diversion, manner and place of 

use of the purchased Truckee River waters. The water 

was to be conveyed to a reservoir site in sec. 27, T. 19 N., 

R. 21 E., about 12 miles north of Virginia City, and was 

to be used for industrial and domestic use. 

The corporation also planned to pipe a portion of 

the Sierra water from Five Mile Reservoir through Virginia City, and thence northward down Long Valley 

to the reservoir site in said sec. 27. 

About 1941, the Virginia City Water Company, under 

the direction of Hobart Leonard, had started removing 

the first pipeline (1'873) and the third pipeline (1887) 

in the inverted siphon, and using the pipe to replace 

the flumeline from Five Mile Reservoir to Virginia 

City. This operation was not completed until the mid1950's (fig. 4). 

On December 2, 1957, the Curtis-Wright Corporation deeded all its rights in the water system to the 

Marlette Lake Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 

Curtis-Wright. 

Shortly after acquiring title, the Marlette Lake 

Company started a program of improving the water 

system. In 1959 Marlette Lake Dam was raised 15 feet, 

FIGURE 25.-Harry E. '·Red" ~IcGovern, Water .Master of waterworks between Marlette Lake and Five Mile Reservoir. He 

has spent 35 years on the Sierra system. 

increasing the capacity of the reservoir from 2,000,000 

gallons ( 6,154 acre-feet) to 3,400,000 gallons, ~r 

about 10,400 acre-feet. The Hobart Creek Reservoir 

Dam, which had partially washed out in the December 

1955 flood, was repaired in 1956, before the purchase by 

Curtis-Wright. A new 8-inch pipeline replaced the 

sinO'le remainino· box flmne from the outlet of the b b 

siphon to Five Mile Reservoir. This line was put in by 

Curtis-Wright in February 1957, just before it purchased the system. 

The flumdine from Marlette Lake Dam to the west 

portal of the tunnel had long been in disrepair, and 

the company was planning to replace this section with 

a pipeline and repair the tunnel. Even though no water 

was coming to the tunnel from Marlette, the tunnel itself 

actually producing an average of 400 gallons of water 

per minute. As late as 1964, this water was still being 

conveyed by the old box flume to Hobart Creek, toO'ether with other waters collected along the way. 

o According to Edward Kruse, former Superintendent 

of the Department of Buildings and Grounds for the 

State of Nevada, and the Carson City Water Company 

entered into a contract in 1959 with the Marlette Lake 

Company to purchase up to 3 million gallons of water 

per day. The contract with the State of Nevada had a 

maximum of 1 million gallons per day, and the Carson 
44 THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

City Water Company could purchase up to 2,000,000 

gallons daily. Also, the Virginia City Water Company 

had a contract to purchase water not to exceed 300,000 

gallons per day. In 1961 the water used in Virginia 

City, as recorded by the meter at Five Mile Reservoir, 

was 50,864,000 gallons, or an average of 140,000 gallons per day. In 1962, the use was 63 million gallons, or 

an average of 175,000 gallons per day. 

Mr. Jac Shaw, in 1968 the Superintendent of the Department of Buildings and Grounds, informed the 

author that the present use by the Virginia City Water 

Company varied between 220,000 gallons per day during the winter months and 750,000 gallons per day during the summer months, and that the State used about 

100 million gallons during the peak summer months of 

1968. 

Franktown Irrigation Company 

Another chain of events, starting in 1946, concern 

the water conveyed by the old Virginia and Gold 

Hill Water Company's north flume from Third Creek 

and the Franktown Irrigation Company; it should be 

told. 

The Franktown Irrigation Company is composed of 

a group of ranchers on the west side of Washoe Valley 

and southerly from Bowers Mansion, whose lands have 

been irrigated by the waters of Franktown Creek since 

the late 1850's. Oftentimes the streamflow was not sufficient to irrigate all their land.s. In order to increase 

their water supply, a dam was constructed at the lower 

end of Little Valley. This was probably during 1879. 

The Nevada State Journal of February 2, 1881, noted 

that the day before a huge flood had occurred on Franktown Creek as the result of the dam failing. The flood 

waters, reaching crests of 25 feet, washed out all but 

six buildings in Franktown. The property loss was 

estimated to be $50,000. 

The Franktown Irrigation Company and the Virginia City Water Company entered into an agreement 

for the purchase by the Irrigation Company of the 

water rights held by the water company on North 

Creek (Third Creek) and tributaries. Accordingly, on 

June 27, 1946, the Virginia City Water Company filed 

an application (No. 11624) with the State Engineer to 

change the point of diversion, manner and place of use 

of 5.5 cfs of tl1e waters of North Creek. This was the 

major portion of the waters that the north flume conveyed to the west portal of the water company's tunnel. 

The proposed point of diversion was about 1% miles 

uphill from the point where the water company's flume 

diverted water from Third Creek, and approximately 

1,000 feet higher. 

Because of a protest filed against the application, a 

hearing was held on October 29, 1946. The writer, then 

Assistant State Engineer, held the hearing. The main 

witness was James M. Leonard, Superintendent of the 

Virginia City Water Company, who had acted in that 

capacity since 1906. He testified that from 1901, when 

he first went to work for the water company, up to 1944, 

the north flume to the west portal of the tunnel was in 

yearly operation, but no use was made of the flume in 

1944 and 1945 because of the washing out of the diversion works. He added that when in operation the flume 

picked up water from other tributaries on its way to 

the tunnel. 

Mr. Leonard further testified that the water company 

had been decreed 75 inches of water under a head of 

6 inches in 1892, and that W. E. Price was decreed 150 

inches. Later, the water company purchased Price's decreed rights of 150 inches, giving the company 225 

inches of water. (This would represent a flow of 2,524 

gallons per minute, or about 5.5 cubic feet per second.) 

'lihe records of the State Engineer's office show that in 

1939 the water company deeded 5 inches of water to 

Norman Biltz at Incline Lake, leaving them with 220 

inches of water. 

Under the application the works of diversion would 

divert the water from North Creek (Third Creek) at 

points within the S%S%, sec. 26, T. 17 N., R. 18 E.~ 

and then would convey the water through a ditch to be 

constructed approximately one-half mile to a point 

on Ophir Creek in Tahoe Meadows, a short distance 

northwesterly of the Mount Rose Highway. The water 

would then be conveyed by Ophir Creek to Price Lake, 

and rediverted by a ditch approximately 1 mile long 

to a tributary of Franktown Creek in Little Valley, 

where it would be comingled with the natural flow of 

Franktown Creek and used for irrigation purposes by 

the Franktown Irrigation Company. 

As a condition to having the application approved, 

the irrigation company stipulated that it would place 

a Parshall measuring flume at the point of diversion, 

and also one where the diversion ditch emptied into 

Ophir Creek and still another one where the water 

was rediverted from Price Lake. It was agreed that 

the Irrigation Company would assume a 10 percent loss 

of water in Ophir Creek and Price Lake, and that a 

water commissioner, approved by the State Engineer, 

would be engaged each season. 

On June 10, 1946, the Virginia City Water Company 

deeded application No. 11624 together with 5.5 cfs of 

the waters of North Creek to Henry E., Roy F. and 

Edwin Heidenreich, representing the Franktown Irrigation Company. On July 24, 1947, the Heidenreich's 

deeded Permit No. 11624, together with the water rights, 
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 45 

to the irrigation company. Subsequently, on February 

14, 1955, the State Engineer issued Certificate No. 4217 

under Permit No. 11624 in the amount of 5.5 cfs of 

water to the Franktown Irrigation Company. The certificate provided that the irrigation company could divert 1.875 cfs of water during the months of June 

through December and 3.625 cfs during the months of 

January, February and May for the irrigation of 

1969.39 acres of land. 

Because of snow conditions in the winter and spring 

at the higher elevations, the irrigation company very 

seldom is able to get the water from North Creek to 

Ophir Creek and from Price Lake to Franktown Creek 

until late in the spring of each year. As the company's 

diversion point is about 1,000 feet higher and 11;2 miles 

distant from the old water company diversion, it was 

not able to obtain the total water rights it purchased. 

However, this added supply of water, short as it may 

be at times, has been of great value to the Franktown 

ranchers. 

On September 14, 1951, the Franktown Irrigation 

Company, feeling that it should protect its vested rights 

to the waters of Franktown Creek, petitioned the State 

Engineer to make a determination of the relative rights 

to the waters of Franktown Creek and tributaries. The 

petition was granted, and the State Engineer proceeded 

with the adjudication. On July 11, 1960, a decree was 

issued by the Second Judicial District Court of W ashoe County. The decree granted the Marlette Lake 

Company 10 cfs of the water of Hobart Creek and tributaries above the Red House diversion and to the Franktown Irrigation Company 37.09 cfs of the water of 

Franktown Creek below the Red House diversion. 72 A 

certificate of water rights in the amount of 10 cfs was 

issued on June 5, 1967, to the Marlette Lake Company. 

It should again be pointed out that Hobart Creek 

and Franktown Creek are one and the same. The stream 

is generaUy called Hobart Creek above Red House, and 

Franktown Creek below. 

Purchase of the Sierra Water System 

by the State 

The next episode in the long and interesting history 

of the Sierra water supply for the Comstock involved 

the purchase by the State of Nevada of practically aH 

the assets of the Marlette Lake Company. The Federal 

Government contract for the missile-testing program 

having failed to materialize, the Curtis-Wright people 

were no longer interested in their water-supply program, and desired to dispose of the Sierra water-supply 

system and its watershed lands. 'I1he sequence of events 

was as follows : 

On February 8, 1963, Mr. H. J. Knell, President, 

Marlette Lake Company, by letter addressed to Edward 

Kruse, Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds for 

the State of Nevada, ofl'ered to sell the assets of the 

Marlette Lake Company to the State for a price of 

$2 million. 

Mr. Kruse, in a letter to Governor Grant Sawyer 

dated March 15, 1963, recommended the purchase by 

the State. He pointed out that in 1959 the State of 

Nevada and the Carson City Water Company had 

entered into a 20-year contract with the Marlette Lake 

Company for 3,000,000 gallons of water per day, which 

provided that the State could purchase a maximum of 

1,000,000 gallons per day and the Carson City Water 

Company could purchase 2,000,000 gallons daily. The 

water would be conveyed by the State's pipeline from 

The Tanks. The Virginia City Water Company likewise had a contract to purchase water from the Marlette 

Lake Company not to exceed 300,000 gaUons per day. 

In his letter to Governor Sawyer, Mr. Kruse went 

on to say tha-t Mr. Walter Reid, a licensed engineer for 

Marlette Lake Company, stated that under normal operation conditions, the .system had a capacity of 

7,000,000 gallons per day, and that with certain improvements the production could be 10,000,000 gallons 

daily during highest demand. 

In a letter to Ed Kruse from the Southwest Gas 

Corporation, which had purchased the Carson Water 

Company in 1960, it was stated that the Carson Water 

Company had been approached by the Marlette Lake 

Company with an offer to sell its properties. The letter 

stated that since Marlette Lake is the principal water 

source for the State building complex at Carson City, 

and is also a source of supplementary water for the 

Carson "\Vater Company, it would seem prudent that 

either the Carson Water Company or the State of 

Nevada should purchase this very vital asset. Mr. Kruse 

had previously asked the Southwest Gas Corporation 

for an expression of interest in possibly purchasing the 

Marlette Lake Company assets from the State of Nevada, in the event the State should purchase the properties and later decide to sell. In answering, Mr. Laub of 

the Southwest Gas Corporation stated the company definitely would be interested in such an arrangement, 

with the qualification that should the State, at some 

time later, decide to sell, the price which the Southwest Gas Corporation might offer must necessarily be 

based upon the asset value of the water rights. Laub 

further stated that his company would not necessarily be 

bound either contractually or morrully to offer a price 

equa·l to the price that might have been paid by the 

State, should investigation disclose such price to have 

been excessive. 
46 THE STORY OF THE VVATER SU~LY FOR THE COMSTOCK 

l!'IGURE 26.-Signing of the agreement between the State of 

Nevada and Marlette Lake Company for the purchase of the 

Sierra water system June 12, 1963. Standing from left to right 

are Robert L. McDonald and Donald L. Carano, representing 

the Marlette Lake Company. Seated (left to right) are William L. Paul, Deputy Attorney General, Hugh A. Shamberger, 

ex-officio State Land Register, and the late D. VV. Priest, 

Deputy Attorney General. Photograph by John Nulty. 

After further negotiations, primarily between Mr. 

Kruse, representing the State, and the Marlette Lake 

Company, the company agreed to accept a price of 

$1,650,000. 

The Nevada State Legislature was then in session. 

After fully studying the assets of the Marlette Lake 

Company and the necessity of preserving the watershed 

and the water rights and facilities for the State, the 

Legislature approved an act authorizing the issuance 

of $1,650,000 of the State's negotiable coupon general 

obligation bonds and their delivery to the Marlette 

Lake Company, a Nevada corporation. The act authorized the State Land Register to execute a contract 

of purchase for such properties with the Marlette Lake 

Company; the bonds were to bear 3 percent interest, 

and were to be redeemed in 20 years. The same act 

created a State Bond Commission, composed of the 

Governor, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer. 

As ex-officio State Land Register, by virtue of being 

Director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the author executed the agreement with 

the Marlette Lake Company on June 12, 1963 (fig. 26). 

The property consisted, in addition to all water rights 

held by the company, of some 5,378 acres, of land, including 80 acres at Five Mile Reservoir and 3.1 acres 

at Lakeview saddle upon which the caretaker's old 

house, built by the Virginia City and Gold Hill Water 

Company about 1873, is situated. In addition, there 

were included all road easements, flume and pipe easements, and the easement from Five Mile Reservoir to a 

point 100 feet east of the reservoir, where a water meter 

has been installed. The Marlette Lake Company retained about 300 acres of land located immediately 

southerly from the Lakeview house (fig. 18). 

In order to test the legality of the agreement to purchase, the State Bond Commission, by resolution dated 

June 12, 1963, refused to issue and deliver the State's 

general obligation bonds on the grounds that it had 

doubts as to whether the purchase of Marlette Lake 

Company properties came within the authority contained in the second paragraph of Section 3 of Article 9 

of the Constitution of the State of Nevada. They further stated in the resolution that it would create a 

public debt in excess of the debt limitation provided 

by the same Section 3, Article 9 of the Constitution. 

Thereupon the Marlette Lake Company sought a 

writ of mandamus to compel the State Bond Commission to issue said bonds. The Supreme Court of Nevada 

held that the agreement for the purchase of the properties was valid. 73 Following this, the Marlette Lake Company executed a deed conveying the assets of the company to the State of Nevada, excepting the 300 acres 

of land heretofore mentioned, south of the old house 

at Lakeview. 

CONCLUSION 

Following acquisition of the Sierra water system by 

the State, considerable work was done by the Division 

of Buildings and Grounds in improving the water-collecting facilities. In 1966 there was not enough water 

in the Hobart Creek watershed to supply the water 

needs of Carson City. To augment the supply, a pumping station was installed on the east shore of Marlette 

Lake, and water was pumped over the divide to Hobart 

Creek. Again in 1967 the pump was utilized to convey 

water from Marlette Lake to meet the water demands. 

The old wooden flume from the east portal of the tunnel was replaced with a steel pipeline. Although the 

tunnel had caved in in 1957, about 400 gallons per minute of water continues to flow from a spring area within 

the tunnel. This water, together with the water from 

some of the side canyons, is conveyed by the pipeline to 

Hobart Creek. In 1968 The Tanks were torn down, presumably because they had become a fire hazard. (See 

fig. 3.) 

In 1967 the State Legislature authorized the Legislative Commission (Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 21) 

to make a study of the Marlette Lake water system, its 

present and future requirements, and report the results 

of such study, together with specific recommendations, 

to the 1969 Legislature. The Legislative Commission appointed a subcommittee to make the study. This study, 

Bulletin No. 79, was prepared under the general super-
CONCLUSION 47 

vision of Russell W. McDonald, Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, and was submitted to· the 1969 

Legislature in February 1969. This report is an excellent presentation of the available facilities of the 

Sierra water system, and contains some of the early 

history of this system, together with numerous pictures, 

along with recommendations to the Legislature. The 

1969 Legislature authorized the Legislative Commission 

to continue its study, and to advise the next session of 

the Legislature ( 1971) with regard to the administration or disposition of the several elements of the 

Marlette Lake water system. 

THE STORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE COMSTOCK 49 

NOTES AND REFERENCES 

1. Lincoln, Francis Church. 1923. Mining Districts in Nevada 

and Mineral Resources of Nevada, p. 222. 

2. Myrick, David F. 1962. Railroads of Nevada and Eastern 

Oalifornia, p. 229. 

3. Thompson and West. Howell-North Press, History of Nevada, 

pp. 508, 510 ( 1881). 

4. Galloway, John Debo. 1947. Early Engineering Works Oontributing to the Oomstock, p. 57. 

5. Lincoln, op. cit., p. 226. 

6. The Nevada Bureau of Mines lists the total production of 

the Comstock up to 1957 as being $393,963,725, with the 

production from 1920 to 1957 as being $28 million. Using 

Lincoln's 1921 production figure of $558,758 there is a 

difference of $19,794,448 between the two estimates, 

Lincoln's being the larger. 

7. The census report of 1875 gives a population of 17,528 for 

Storey County. The year of peak production was 1877 

and the population could well be doubled. DeQuille stated 

that according to the directory of 1875, the population 

of Virginia City was over 20,000, and that of Gold Hill 

about 10,000. The~?e hvo towns made up the bulk of the 

population for Storey County then as they do now. 

8. Department of Economic Development. 1967. Nevada Oommunity Profile, p. 129. 

9. Thompson and West., op. cit., p. 502. 

10. Nevada Bureau of Mines, personal communication. 

11. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. 1890. History of Nevada, Colorado 

and Wyoming, p. 22; DeQuille, Dan. 1876. The Big Bonanza, p. 33; and Shinn, Charles Howard, 1896. The Story 

of the Mine, p. 226. 

12. DeQuille, Dan, op. cit. 

13. Thompson and 'Vest, op. cit., p. 600. 

14. Lord, Eliot.l883. Oomstock Mining and Miners, p. 259. 

15. Ibid., p. 259. 

16. Ibid., p. 260. In this description the writer is drawing to 

some extent on the account given by Lord. 

17. See Buck's letter following page 4. 

18. DeQuille, Dan. 1889. A History of the Oomstock Silver Lode 

and Mines, p. 69. 

19. Galloway, op. cit., p. 57. 

20. DeQuille, The Big Bonanza, pp. 233-237. 

21. Lord, op. cit., p. 322. 

22. Reid, Walter G., is a professional engineer now residing at 

Virginia City. 

23. Davis, Sam P.1913. The History of Nevada, p. 407. 

24. DeQuille, op. cit., p. 235. 

25. Galloway, op. cit., p. 70. Lord stated that the pipeline was 

600 feet shorter. It would appear that the Galloway figure 

is most likely correct. 

26. Ibid., p. 71. The dam height was raised again in 1957, 

increasing the storage capacity to 35 million gallons, 

or about 800 acre-feet. 

27. DeQuille, op. cit., p. 237. 

28. Thompson and West, op. cit., p. 601. 

29. Lord, op. cit., p. 332. 

30. Galloway, op. cit., p. 73. 

31. Ibid., p. 71. 

32. Lord, op. cit., p. 332. 

33. Galloway, op. cit., p. 99. 

34. Myrick, op. cit., p. 428. 

35. Scott, E. B. 1957. The Saga of Lake Tahoe. Sierra-Tahoe 

Publishing Co., p. 308. 

36. Thompson and West, op. cit., pp. 505-511; Lord, op. cit., 

pp. 223-243, 333. 

Bancroft, op. cit., pp. 141-149. 

Stewart, R. E., and Stewart, M. F. 1962. Adolph Sutro, a 

Bibliography. 

Davis, op. cit., pp. 399-405. 

37. Smith, Grant H. 1943. The History of the Oomstock Lode, 

1850-1920, p. 46. 

38. Davis, op. cit., p. 400. 

39. Smith, op. cit., p. 46. 

40. Davis, op. cit., p. 400. 

41. Stewart and Stewart, op. cit., p. 36. 

42. Ibid., p. 37. 

43. Thompson and 'Vest, op. 'cit., p. 506; and Smith, op. cit., 

p. 109. According to Smith, the original plan was to extend 

tunnel westward under Mount Davidson far beyond the 

Comstock Lode. 

44. Lord, Eliot, op. cit., p. 234. 

45. DeQuille, Dan. 1889. A History of the Oomstock Silver Lode 

and Mines, p. 69. 

46. Stewart and Stewart, op. cit., p.108. 

47. Thompson and West, op·. cit., p. 509. 

48. Ibid., p. 509. 

49. Ibid., p. 510. 

50. Stewart and Stewart, op. cit., p.109. 

51. Lord, op. cit., p. 342. 

52. Thompson and West, op. cit., p. 504-505. 

53. Lord, op. cU., p. 342. 

54. Smith, Grant H., op. cit., pp. 113-115. 

55. Stewart and Stewart, op. cit., p. 112. 

56. Ibid, p. 168. 

57. Smith, op. elf., p. 279. 

58. Ibid, p. 256. 

59. Ibid., p. 256. 

60. Lord, op. cit., p. 396. 

61. Ibid., p. 393. 

62. Smith, op. cit., p. 269. 

63. Patterson, Edna B., Ulph, Louise A., and Goodwin, Victor. 

1969. Nevada's Northeast Frontier, pp. 662c-662d. 

64. Smith, op. cit., p. 278. 

65. Ibid., p. 280. 

66. DeQuille, op. cit., p. 88. 

67. Ibid., p. 87. 

68. Ibid., p. 88. 

69. Davis, op. cit., p. 375. 

70. As related by Mrs. Jack Greenhalgh, of Virginia City, 

daughter of Tom Higgins, who told the author several interesting stories about Virginia City and the Sutro Tunnel. 

71. Mr. Harold Berger, of Carson City, son of Joe Berger, 

told the writer that he was born at The Tanks and his 

brothers, Frank, George, and Clarence and his sister Emma 

were born at the Lakeview house. 

72. Franktown Creek Irrigation Company, Inc., v. Marlette Lake 

Company, 77 Nev. 348, 374 P 2d 1069 (1961). 

73. Marlette Lake Company, a Nevada Corporation, petitioner. 

v. Grant Sawyer, Governor of the State of Nevada, John 

Koontz, Secretary of the State of Nevada, and Michael 

Mirabelli, Treasurer of the State of Nevada, members of 

and constituting the State Bond Commission of the State 

of Nevada, respondents; 79 Nev. 334, 383 P. 2d 369 (1963). 
Alta Lake, 8 

Alta Shaft, 33, 39 

Anderson, Aleck, 1 

Armer's Cigar Store, 39 

Austin, Nevada, 2 

Belcher-Crown Point, 39 

Berger,Joe,29,42 

Biltz, Norman, 44 

Bishop, John, 1 

"Bonanza" (the television show), 1 

Boyle, E. D., 22 

Bowers Mansion, 44 

Bowers, Sandy, 2 

Breed & Crosby, 22 

Brown, Thomas, 26 

Buck, S. M., 4 

Bullion Ravine, 21 

Burleigh drills, 33 

California and ConSiolidated Virginia Co., 37, 39 

California Electric Light Company, 39 

California Mine, 39 

Camp, ... ,2 

Carson City, 18, 39, 46 

Carson River, 32,33 

Carson City Water Company, 43,45 

Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Co., 28 

Cartwright family (Bonanza), 1 

C&C Shaft,36,37,38,39 

Cedar Hill, 28 

Cedar Hill Tunnel and Mining Co., 32 

Central Mine, 32 

Central Pacific Railroad, 18, 31 

Chartz, Alfred, 32 

Chinatown, 2 

ChoHar Shaft, 30, 37, 38 

Cherokee Hydraulic Mining Co., 18 

Clear Creek, 23 

Clemens, Samuel L. (Mark Twain), 1 

Cole Oompany, 3 

Cole Tnnnel, 3 

Oole Silver Mining Company, 4 

Combination Shaft, 39, 40, 41 

Comstock, Henry Thomas Paige, 2 

Oomstock Lode, 32, 33 

Comstock Mill, 37 

Comstock Tunnel & Drainage, 37 

Oonnell, John, 2 

Consolidated Mill, 22 

Consolidated Virginia, 32, 37, 39 

Cornish pump, 38, 40, 41 

Corral Canyon, 33 

Ora vens, Alfred, 26 

Crown Point-Belcher, 8, 39 

50 

INDEX 

Crown Point Mine, 39 

Crystal Bay, 31 

Curtis-Wright OOrporation, 43,45 

Dall, ... , 8 

Dan Creek, 8 

Daney Canyon, 32 

Dayton, Town of, 2, 32, 33, 36 

Dean, WalterS., 8 

Divide, The, 30, 42 

Dondero, F. N., 32 

Division of Building and Grounds, 44, 46 

Eagle Valley, 2 

Elevations (By Reid), 17 

Fair, James G., 1, 8 

Feather River, 18 

Finey (Old Virginia), 2 

Five Mile Reservoir, 16, 17, 23, 29, 36, 42, 43, 44, 46 

Field Circuit Justice, 4 

Flood, James C., 1, 4, 8 

Forman Shaft, 38, 39 

Franktown, Town of, 44 

Franktown Creek, 8, 44, 45 

Franktown Irrigation Company, 44, 45 

Gold Hill, 1, 16, 19, 22, 23, 28, 29, 42, 43 

Gold Canyon, 1, 2, 32 

Gold Hill Water Co., 3 

Gold Hill ·and Virginia Tunnel and Mining Co., 32 

Goodwin Lake, 8 

Greenhalgh, Mrs. Jack, 36 

Greenhalgh, Jack, 37 

Grosch Brothers, 2 

Grosch Lode, 2 

Hale & Norcross, 8, 32, 39 

Hayward, Alvinza, 38 

Heidenreich, Henry E., Roy F., and Edwin, 44 

Hickman, James H., 2 

Higgins, Tom, 29, 36, 42 

Hobart, W. S., 8, 30, 38, 42 

Hobart Creek, 8, 16, 22, 23, 27,28,29,31,42,43,45,46 

Hydraulic Pump, The, 45-46 

Incline Creek, 28 

Incline Lake, 44 

Incline Village, 1 

Incline's Great Tramway, 30 

International Hotel, 2 

Jessup, John, 2 

Johntown, Settlement of, 2 

Johnson, George C. & Company, 18 
Knell, H. J., 45 

Kruse, Edward, 43,45 

Lake Bigler (Tahoe), 23 

Lakeview, Lakeview Saddle, Lakeview HHl, Lakeview 

House, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 29, 39, 

42,46 

Lake Marlette, 26 

Lake Tahoe, 1, 4, 23, 28, 31 

Latrobe Tunnel and Mining Company, 32 

Laub, William, 45 

Legislative Commh;sion, 46,47 

Leonard, Hobart, 4, 42, 43 

Leonard,James,29,42, 44 

Little Valley, 4, 8, 44 

Long Valley, 43 

Lyon County, 1 

McCrindle and Oompany, 18 

McDonald, Russell W., 47 

McLaughlin, . . . , 2 

McGovern, Harry E. (Red), 29, 31, 39, 42 

Macey ledge, 4 

Mackay, John W., 1, 8 

Marlette, S. H., 23, 30 

Marlette Lake, 8, 17, 23, 27, 28, 31, 42, 43, 46 

Marlette Lake Company, 43, 45, 46 

Marlette Lake Flume, 28 

Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens), 1 

Mexican Mine, 39 

Mills, D. 0., 1 

Mint Tunnel, 32 

Mill Creek,28, 30 

Mount Davidson, 1, 39 

National Broadcasting Company, 1 

Natibnal Tubing Company, 22 

N eV'ada Mill, 38, 39 

Nevuda State Legislature, 46 

Nevada Tunnel, 3, 4 

New Yellow Jacket Shaft, 39 

Newman, John L., 2 

North (Third) Creek, 28, 44, 45 

North End Min:es, 39 

North :Flume, 31, 44 

O'Brien, W. S., 1, 4, 8 

'Old Virginny', 2 

Ophir Claim, 2 

Ophir Creek, 44, 45 

Ophir Mine, 32, 39 

Ophir Ravine, 3 

Ormsby County, 31 

Oroville, California, 18 

Overton, Captain John Bear, 20, 23, 28, 29, 30, 31, 37, 

38,42 

Pelton Whe~l, 37 

Penrod, ... , 2 

Pioche, Nevada, 22 

Plateau, Joe, 2 

Ponderosa Ranch, 1 

Price's Lake, 44, 45 

Price, W. E., 44 

Pyen, 40 

INDEX 

Red House, 4, 8, 42, 45 

Reid, Walter G., P. E., 16, 17,45 

Reilly, ... , 2 

Reno, Nevada, 18 

Richards, . . . , 2 

Risdon Iron & Locomotive Works, 18,20 

Root blowers, 32 

Sand Harbor, 31 

Santa Rita Tunnel, 3 

San Francisco, California, 8, 18, 32, 34, 36, 37, 39 

Sa V'age Shaft, 33 

Savage Mining Company, 36 

s~awyer, Circuit Judge, 4 

Sawyer, Governor Grant, 45 

Schussler, Hermann, 4, 8, 18, 21, 22, 23, 29,33 

Sharron, William, 1, 8, 34 

Shaw, Jac, 44 

Sides, ... , 2 

Sides Lode, 32 

Sierra Nevada Wood ·and Lumber Oo., 29, 30,42 

Sierra Mountain Water, arriV'al of, 21 

Sierra Nevada Mine, 39 

SHver City, 1, 22, 28, 29, 32,42 

Simpson, John, 26 

Six Mile Canyon, 38 

Skae, John,8 

Slouthwest Gas Company, 45 

Spring Valley Water Works, 8, 18 

Spooner Lake, 8 

Spooner Summit, 31 

State Bond Commission, 46 

State Land Register, 46 

Storey County, 43 

Summit Lake, 8 

Sutro, Adolph, 32, 34, 36 

Sutro Mill, 32 

Sutr'o Townsite, 34, 36 

Sutro Tunnel, 8, 22, 31, 32, 37, 39, 40,41 

Sutro Tunnel Act, 33 

Sutro Tunnel Oompany, 33, 36, 37 

Stewart, Senator, 33 

The Line, 33 

'The Tanks', 42, 45, 46 

Third (North Creek), 28, 31, 44 

Truckee River, 31, 39, 43 

Tunnel Creek, 28 

Tuscarora Water Company, 22 

U.S. Geological Survey, 16 

Union Mine, 39 

Union Shaft, 33 

'V' Flume, 31 

Vigneau, . . . , 2 

51 

Virginia City, 1, 3, 4, 8, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 

31,32,36,39,42,44 

Virginia City Cemetery, 1 

Virginia City Electric Company, 30, 38 

Virginia Gas Company, 38 

Virginia City Mines, 34 

Virginia City Water Company, 4, 42, 43, 44, 45 
52 

Virginia and Gold Hill Water Co., 3, 4, 8, 20, 23, 28, 29, 

31, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46 

(The) Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company, 42 

Virginia Consolidated Mill, 22 

Virginia and Truckee Railroad, 18, 31 

Virginia mine, 39 

Virginia Water Company, 3 

Vucovich Brothers Magnolia Saloon, 39 

Walker River, 1 

Wasboe Depression, 19 

INDEX 

Washoe Valley, 4, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28,44 

Webber Canyon, 33 

West Tunnel, 42 

White and Murphy Lode, 32 

Winchester, H. E., 4 

Union Mine, 39,40 

Yellow Jacket, 2, 38,40 

Yerinton, H. H .. 1 

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1972-0-488-960 

Shamberger-THE STORY OF THE W Al'ER SUPPLY I<'UR THt l:UMS'I't>la\.-lieological Survey l'rotesstonal l'aper 

/