The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-12-22
OLD CoMsToCK's FATE.

OLD CoMsToCK's FATE.
Story of a. Man who Missed Mil
The other day 1 stood by the grave
Of "Old Pan Cake,' up at Bozeman.
And who. do you inquire, was .Old
Pan Cake? A man known through
out the civilized world a man ia
nous in all lands, whose name will
live in history long after Presidents
and Kings are forgotten q man who
il he had kept all he owned would
have been the richest man in The
world, and beside whom the Wander
bilts, Mackays, and Goulds of to-day
would he mere Iigmies-Henry Tho
mas Paige Comstock, the world
known owner Of the Comstock lode
of Nevada. Poor Old Pancake! He
lay there quietly il his six feet of
mother earth and his grave was IN
marked-he the richest man the
world ever knew. It seem but yes
terday he was over at Washoe in the
flesh, and yet he has been dead these
thirteen years-so fast do We grow
old. Let me see if I can tell you the
story. They called MIN Pan Cake
because he was so busy, or always
imagined himself so busy, he had no
time to bake bread. With a spoon in
one hand he would beat some -four
to a batter and bako a pan cake, his
dreamy eyes often fixed the while on
some distant lofty peak and his mind
busy with specuIations as to how
much gold and silver it contained,
His was a dream of wealth, at last
found, but never realized by him.
Yet he was not the discoverer of
the Comstock lode. I know this
statement will astonish many. but it
Is nevertheless true that 40 more did
Comstockldiscever the Com.tcck than
discovered America.
There are some great lies in history.
was tOiling over in A'nerl-
can Flat ravine, when Peter O'Reilly
and Pat Mclaughlin discovered the
lode. John Bishop, a
miner, spoke to "Old Virginia."
James Finney) another old miner,
about indications see by him at
Gold Hill. Finney said he had no.
ticed them while hunting deer, but
attached no Importance to them. Old
Virginia told MCLAUGHLIN and o.
in a causual conversation and
they resolved to 60 and see for them
The parties were then all
working in Six Mile Canyon, and
Old Virginia was drunk most of the
time. One day-Saturday, January
%. 1S59-Old Virginia being sober,
O'ReiIly. Mclaughlin, and Finney
over to Gold Hill. They pros
but did not find much. One
pan yielded Is cents, another 5 cents,
and a third S cents, but there was lit
tie or no water to work with. Vir-
ginia followed the ravine up and
presently came back and said he had
plenty Of water. They then
decided to locate. Mclaughlin and
O'Reilly set to work we'll up to ard
the head of the raviEe. They used
rockers and got but small pay-$l.5O
TO So per day. So they worked away
until June l, 1859, when becoming
discouraged, they were on the point
abandoning the mines and going
to Walker river. To gather water
hey commenced digging a hole for a
reservoir. and when four feet down
hey struck decomposed ore at the
point where the Ophir mine now is.
The odd looking dirt did not at first
attract their attention, but, as ii is
he custom of miners to try every
Mclaughlin put some of the
lirt and ore into his rocker and
washed it out. The result was aston
The bottom Of the rocker
was literally covered with fine gold.
and again they tried. and with
he same results. They welc taking
,ut gold at the rate of $500 per t; y.
some of the harder Jumps of Gre ue+e
beaten in a hand mortar anu one
nan took out 500 per day.
On the evening of the great iiscoy-
Try "Old Pan Cake" II. TIP. Com
stock, who had been out on the
hunting his pony and
him, came home by the mines.
His long legs were sweeping over
he tops Of the sage brush as he rode
Up to where the miners were at work.
When he saw the gold his eyes
out with establishment and
1e at once began negotiating for a
'hare. He said the ground where the
miners were working was his, and
he water they were using was also
lis. He had located the land-16O
lcres for a ranch and the spring
rom which the water came he had
aiken up for mining purposes.
Whether this was so or not, the min
RS believed him, and, not wishing
my trouble, put down Comstock and
lis friend Emanuel Penrod for an
equal interest with themselves. This
icing arranged, Comstock declared
hey should give him 100 feet sepa-
ate for the use OF water. He said
le not only owned the land, but the
water also, and as they had acknow-
his right to the land, they
,Ould not work it without water and
must give him another 100 feet thus
segregated was the Spanish mine
hat afterward sold for 81, 900. 900.
The fate of the discoveries of the
mine on earth was rearly
he same. "OId Virginia" James
7ennimore, but nearly always called
was thrown from a bucking
mustang he was trying to ride and
killed at Dayton, July, 1861. He was
native of Virginia State and left
3. 900. Nobody knows who his rela-
ives were. Inasmnch as his deeds {
we're signed Finney, while his real
lame was Fennimore. / have often
wondered if he really ever parted le-
.ally with his property. He was
much addicted to drink and not res
)onsible often when he signed his
,ame. AS an evidence of this the
who bought his claim to the
)phir could never get from him his
notice of location. It was a
of speculation where his claim
,egan and where it ended. One day
hey took Old Virginia and locked
lin up in a big tunnel with an iron
rate and wore they would never let
him out until he told where his orig
nal certificate of location was. Next
morning Old Virginia was dry, cross
md sober. He said if they would let
lin cut and give him a drink he