jan 10, 1859 - Comstock Lode found (1859)

Description:

"Fifty-niners" go to Nevada (1859) after this found (gold & silver worth >$340 mill); Mined by "Kings of the Comstock" (60-90); Nevada prematurely built RR (1864) to provide 3 electoral votes for Lincoln;

after this found, ppl mine & make Lots of saloons where tired miners drank w/ accommodating women; Order preserved by lynch law & vigilante justice in early Cali; When "diggings" petered out → left behind "ghost towns" like Virginia City, Nevada;

Mining → help finance Civ War, build RR, intensified conflict btwn whites/natives; Also helped treasury resume specie payments (1879), injected silver issue into Amer politics; "Silver Senators" rep "acreage states" of W (not many ppl live there)

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