Comstock was a free-handed, generous fellow, having very little regard for his own money, or that of anybody else. It was the custom, in those days, when a lady visited the mines, to offer her a pan of dust, and to take it from the richest part of the lode. On one occasion, several ladies visited the mine, and the usual courtesy was offered. It was so arranged that they obtained one hundred and fifty dollars or more for each pan. The last of the ladies was young and pretty; Comstock wished to be polite, and so, while her pan was being passed out, he slyly dropped a handful of gold in it. The result was that her prize amounted to more than five hundred dollars. Many tons of the black sulphuret of silver were washed away, until, in the month of July, 1859, a man named Harrison visited the new diggings, and took a piece of the ore away with him, as a curiosity. Being in California, shortly afterwards, he gave this curiosity to a gentleman in Grass Valley, Nevada County. This gentleman carried it to be assayed, and it was found to yield at the rate of several thousand dollars per ton.

Harrison said that there were tons and tons of the stuff lying around in the mine where this was taken out, and so it was determined to keep the matter a secret, to go as speedily as possible and obtain possession of the place. Everybody was sworn to secrecy, and of course everybody told his intimate friend. The result of the assay was known late one night, and by the next morning, everybody in Grass Valley knew all about it. Two of the men were off before daylight, and in a few days hundreds of people were en route for Washoe.

EXCITEMENT IN WASHOE.

The discovery created great excitement. The news spread rapidly throughout California, and all sorts of people, who could get away, and many who could not, proceeded immediately to Washoe. Washoe was the sensation of the day. The population increased with magical rapidity. The whole country around was visited by prospectors, who laid out claim after claim, staking out the whole region, and the most extravagant stories were told concerning its wealth. The mining recorder had a busy time of it, and took in a great many fees for his work. The book of records was kept at a drinking saloon, and lay upon the shelf behind the bar. Anybody could consult it who wished to, and if a man made a location, and was not satisfied with it, he would proceed to alter the record to suit himself. The result was that dates and places in the book were very much altered, and it is difficult to understand many of the claims.

Curious stories are told of the sharp practices of the miners and the lawyers they engaged. It is said that during a mining suit in those times, there was a controversy about a stump which was understood to mark the boundary of a certain claim. The lawyer on one side one afternoon produced several witnesses, who said they could swear to the stump and its location. Next morning, the jury proceeded to the spot. It was found that the stump had been removed during the night, and the whole ground around was so carefully leveled and covered with loose rock, that its former position could not be ascertained.

Gold mining was carried on as before, after the value of this blue stuff had become known. It was no longer thrown away, but was carefully gathered up and put in sacks and barrels for transport to San Francisco. Comstock never made a fortune out of the discovery. He sold out his interest for ten thousand dollars, most of which he never received, and wandered off in another direction. He had numerous infelicities of varied character, and finally died, in 1870, in Montana.

SCARCITY OF FOOD.

Prices were high, for some time, at Washoe, owing to the immense immigration, and scanty supply of provisions. It is said that in the early part of 1860, hay was worth fifty cents a pound, and barley forty cents. As it was too expensive to keep horses, many of the miners shot them, or let them wander off in the hills and die of their own accord. Flour was worth seventy-five cents a pound, coffee fifty cents, and bacon forty cents. Lumber was worth two hundred dollars a thousand, and other things were held at proportionate prices.

The community was not the most orderly in the world, and fights were of frequent occurrence, so frequent that they became monotonous. The weather was not altogether tropical in its character. There were frequent sand and rain storms, in the spring, and settlers became acquainted with what is known as the Washoe “Zephyr.”

This “Zephyr” is a wind that blows down from the mountains, at irregular and unexpected intervals, and, as one of the residents expressed it, “has no nonsense about it.” A man from that region once described it to me as follows: “You may think you have seen wind some times, but you haven’t until you go to Washoe. It takes the roof off of houses; it will blow a donkey five miles over a mountain; and it will shave the hair off the back of a bull-dog, if it happens to take him tail-ways. That ‘zephyr’ is the reason so many men in Nevada have lost their hair. A bald man has a good chance with it. A fellow with a good thick crop has no show at all. When the ‘zephyr’ comes, the air is full of sand, tin roofs, cats, old boxes, furniture, wagons, anything and everything. It makes no difference. The only way to save yourself from being blown off is to lie down on the ground and take hold of something, and hold on there until the ‘zephyr’ is gone.”