There was a very nice presentation by Hans Muessig to the Mining History Association on the Comstock in November that is now available on YouTube. It has the rather long title of ‘Re-examining the legacy of the Comstock: Miners, Mills, Saloons and Assessments’. Hans did quite a bit of basic research on the social fabric of Virginia City during the Bonanza Era and it is going to be the subject of a book to be published by University of Nevada Press.
The presentation makes a number of very key points most notably that Virginia City was a typical industrial city of the era and the fourth biggest city in the west in 1870 (San Francisco, Sacramento and Salt lake City were 1-3). As such it was much more stable in social structure than typical mining camps and despite having a reputation for wild and reckless behaviour, the number of saloons per 1,000 population was very similar to that of typical eastern cities like Pittsburg. Drinking and gambling were probably less than that of the present era, but many did speculate (and lose) in mining stocks.
He emphasizes the ‘increasingly Irish character’ of the city in the 1870s and cites the statistic that 73% of the Irish in Virginia City were married, as opposed to 43% of Americans and 48% of the Cornish. This is something I have emphasized in the book and it reflects the more family oriented and settled nature of the Irish population as well as the availability of more elegible Irish women.
He also notes the strength of the unions and their key role in taking care of injured and dead miners and their families, a role that was supported by St Marys Parish and Irish Fraternal organizations like the AOH, the Irish Confederation and the Hibernian Benevolent Society. I would even argue that the union’s insurance role was in fact borrowed from the that role in the Irish organizations. But there were other frateral groups like the Old Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Templars, Scottish Rite, Band of Hope, Bnai Brith and Turnverein.
There are two areas where I think there are some misinterpretations. The Bonanza firm of Mackay and Co never owned the railroad serving Virginia City from Carson City and Reno. They did own the mills, lumber supply and water company. He also stated that the Bonanza firm made frequent assessments on (marginally productive) properties like the Gould and Curry that are probably higher than were actually made. Refgardless, the assessments that were made came out of the Bonanza four own pockets since they owned most of the stock!
But overall, a wonderful mining history story and Hans is to be commended for sticking to the project all these years.
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