East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-09-23

/ ty, He was spurred on by tina. realb
cation that the claim Of which he had
/ cNtorted goodly portion from Nc
I Laughlin aud O'Rney was Eich in
/ precious metals. So it was decided
I 20 call a meeting VI all the miners
and formulate rules and regulations
/ for the new district. Incidentally,
Comstock and his partners covered
II ny all evidence of their discovery lest
I ii arouse jealousy smong the miners,
a; the meeting "a mining code was
I framed and adopted. although it was
T Sc connicting and ambiguous that it
could not possibly be administered; /;
Z but it soon appeared that the miners
I had no intention Of observing the
covenants Of their convention. They
appointed the blacksmith of the
camp 10 be the recorder. stipulating
that he should keep the records in a
securely bound book, but none paid
! the slightest attention to this ruiz,
much less the recorder himself, who
Kept the book on a shelf behind the
bar of saloon and person who
wished to alter the course of his
/ boundary lines or make insertions in
his original location did so without
objection or interference. James A.
Corey, a friend of Comstock, was in
formed of the discovery and he pro-
ceeded to claim section four hun
dred and fifty feet long on the ledge.
which was one hundred and fifty feet
more than the regulations allowed,
While he was at work John Bishop
and Horatio B. Camp hove in sight
and declared that the located ground
was theirs by prior right. Corey,
himself non-ohserver of the code.
willingly compromised with them,
and thereby laid the foundation for
one of the greatest legal fights in the
history of the Comstock, which en-
tailed an expense approximating a
million dollars. And then came a
lerltahle flood of locations, overlap
Ping the Corey ground, and it was
discovered that, while there were only
seven hundred and ten feet between
the Corey claim and another we'll
recognized location, prospectors had
actually filed claims upon 1850 feet,
and were willing to swear that their
stages had been set properly after
/ correct measurement The easiest
way out was to compromise the
claims, which was done, and all of
the claims, save one, were recorded,
Joseph Webb neglected TO record his
claim. and this failure resulted years
after in another costly law suit,
Meanwhile. Mclaughlin and O'Riley
working industriously encountered
rt ok which could not be worked in
their rockers, so they purchased an
arrastra and two mules paying two
sixth undivided interest in their claim
for them During their work they dis
carded some black rock which was
picked up by a curious visitor, and,
through B. A. Harrison, it reached
Melville Atwood, an assayer who
found it contained $4,000 in silver and
1876 in gold to the ton. Then came
the real founders of the Comstock-
James Walsh and Joseph Woodwork
OF Grass Valley, California, who
reached Gold Hill July /. 1859.
| Comstock. the herald OF the dist
rict, boastful of his discovery, deed
e6 his interest to Herman CamI
without any consideration, and wher
the transaction was heard OF by tht
other miners they ridiculed him 81
| numerically that he resolved to ge
/ back his deed. His method was 4;
simple one. Camp was induced to al
low jury of miners to sit in judg
rent upon the validity of his deeC
from Comstock. This jury was com
posed of COmstocks friends and com
panions, who had a clearly defined
dislike Of the newcomers from Call
fornia, who were fast assuming con
troll of the district. After a short de
liberation they decided to tear up tn
deed which was done in all gravity
Comstock soon sold his interest t
Walsh, who paid $40 in cash ant
agreed to pay &1O,99O at subsequen
date. BY the following spring Walsl
had acquired the holdings of all tn
original locators, paying a total o
| $70,601, or about $50 a foot. TIL
/ purchaser organized the Ophir com
pany. The prospectors rejoiced Il
their good luck, having gained wha
to them were large fortunes, and on
Of them went shouting down the can
yon, 1--WE fooled the Californians!"
And now let us see what became 0
those prospectors whose initial eff
forts made the desert yield up tn
richest treasure the world has eve
Known. Minney, the human divin
rod had a precarious existence, 70
the price Of feet" on various claim
was insufficient to appease his inordi
rate appetite for liquor. He fell fror
his horse June 20, 1861, and died q
. q fractured skull. Comstock distin
euished himself by Turing away tn
wife Of Mormon, paying for her
horse, a revolver and $50 in golC
but could not keep her from runnin
away at the first opportunity II
offered reward for the capture an
return Of the woman, regained he
. hut she got away forever a short tim
later. Then he OPENED stores at Cal
/, son City and Silver City, but faiiet
Eventually his mind gave way and h
wandered about again as a prospeC
ter. though believing that he owne
/. the great cities that grew Up alon