People/prospector

Henry 'Pancake' Comstock

Henry 'Pancake' Comstock (1820–1870), prospector, from Canada. Linked to silver, gold.

The lucky break

Claimed ownership of the outcrop found by Patrick McLaughlin and Peter O'Riley on 8 June 1859, then shared it, giving his name to the Comstock Lode.1

The downfall

He never shared in the millions the mines produced. His mind gave way and he shot himself in Montana in 1870.1

Legacy

The Comstock Lode is named after him although others found the ore.1

Story cards

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Where next

Mines

DiscoveredComstock LodeThe lode carries his name but he never shared in its millions.1

Sources

  1. Henry Comstock Online Nevada Encyclopedia

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).