The party consisted of four men, one of whom was H. T. P. Comstock, an adventurer who had wandered about the Pacific coast for years, and had never accomplished anything of importance. There was some dispute as to the title to the location, but it was finally agreed that there should be an equal division of the land in the lode. Very soon it became noised about that the miners had “struck it rich,” and there was great excitement in regard to the new digging. A notice was recorded, claiming the ground on the lode, and the land around it. The names which were recorded in this notice were Peter O’Reilly, H. T. P. Comstock, Patrick McLaughlin, J. H. Osborne, and E. Penrod. This location was the famous Comstock lode, which has since yielded so many millions. [Sidenote: SILVER AS A NUISANCE.] Gold mining was carried on there for some weeks after the location of this claim. A gentleman familiar with the history of the discovery, says that as soon as Comstock obtained a position in the party, he elected himself superintendent, and did all the heavy talking. He was conspicuous on all occasions, and very soon was considered not only the discoverer, but the originator of the lode. Work was diligently pushed, and for weeks the miners dug the rich decomposed silver ore, washed the gold out of it, and let it go to waste, throwing it anywhere to get it out of the way. It was an intolerable nuisance, and it is safe to say that those miners swore about it to an extent greater than is recorded of “our army in Flanders.” It gave a certain unpopularity to the diggings, on account of the inconvenience it caused. It was worse than the black sand that everywhere abounds in gold mines, because that does not interfere with the amalgamation. 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.