Portrait of George Hearst

People/magnate, politician

George Hearst

George Hearst (1820–1891), magnate, politician, from United States. Linked to silver, gold.

The lucky break

Agreed in 1859 to pay 3000 dollars to Patrick McLaughlin for a one-sixth share of a Comstock mine, then raised the money and the investment paid off quickly.1,2

Legacy

Held interests in important mines in Utah, South Dakota and Montana, became US Senator from California in 1886 and helped launch the publishing career of his son William Randolph Hearst.1,2

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1874 (expedition), rush from 1875Black Hills gold rush3
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Where next

People

Partner ofMarcus DalyHearst and two Californians bankrolled the Irish foreman who built Anaconda.4

Mines

FinancedHomestake MineThe Homestake claim was sold in 1877 to George Hearst and partners.5FinancedComstock LodeHe paid 3,000 dollars for a sixth of a mine and began an empire.1

Events

LedBlack Hills gold rushGeorge Hearst is part of this story: Black Hills gold rush.3

Sources

  1. George Hearst Online Nevada Encyclopedia
  2. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  3. Mining in South Dakota: Education Kit (PDF) South Dakota State Historical Society
  4. Marcus Daly family papers, 1883-1996 (Mss 619), Historical Note Archives West (Orbis Cascade Alliance); University of Montana Archives and Special Collections
  5. Homestake history Sanford Underground Research Facility

Pictures on this page: George Hearst.jpg, Edouart & Cobb (Public domain); MarcusDaly.jpg, not recorded on the file page (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: South Africa: a crowd of people gathered outside The Goldfields offices in Johannesburg. 1896., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Falu gruva, Lundberg, Bengt A / Europeana (CC0 1.0); Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).