Savage Mining Co.

Claimed on July 4, 1859 by R. Crale, C. Chase, H. Carmack, W. Surtevant, A.O. Savage, and L.C. Savage, the original Savage claim consisted of 1,800 feet along the Comstock Lode. In 1865, the company built a mill in Washoe Valley to process ore. Captain Sam Curtis and Charles Bonner became superintendents in the mine's early years. The operation declined at the end of 1865, but became a major producer over the following three years when rich ore was struck at the 600-foot level. In 1876, it hit water at the 2,200-foot level and remained flooded for three years, and assessments of nearly $500,00 a year for pumping proved costly and ended its great production years. Total production from 1863 to 1909 was just over $18 million. On July 8, 1878, it became the first mine on the Comstock to connect to the Sutro Tunnel. The Savage mansion, built about 1861 in French Second Empire style, served as both the superintendent's residence and the mine office, and Ulysses S. Grant visited there and spoke from its second-floor balcony to townspeople in Virginia City on October 27, 1879, after a parade in his honor.

Virginia City, Nevada · United States