Comstock Kings
Four Irishmen, John William Mackay, James Graham Fair, James C. Flood and William S. O'Brien formed a business partnership, the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company, in Virginia City which dealt in silver stocks and operation of mines on the Comstock Lode. These four men became known as the "Bonanza Kings" or "Silver Kings" of the Comstock.
George Hearst, a highly successful California prospector, became a partner in Hearst, Haggin, Tevis and Co., the largest private mining firm in the United States, which owned and operated the Ophir mine on the Comstock Lode, and other gold and silver mining interests in California, Nevada, Utah, South Dakota and Peru. Hearst was a member of the California State Assembly and became a United States Senator from California. George Hearst was the father of the famed newspaperman, William Randolph Hearst.
William Chapman Ralston, founder of the Bank of California, financed a number of mining operations, repossessed some of those mines as their owners defaulted, and ultimately made enormous profits from the Comstock Lode.
William Sharon, a business partner of Ralston, was the Nevada agent for the Bank of California, and acquired Ralston's assets when his financial empire collapsed. William Sharon became the second United States Senator from Nevada.
William M. Stewart, who abandoned mining to become an attorney in Virginia City, Nevada, participated in mining litigation and the development of mining on the Comstock Lode. As Nevada became a state in 1864, Stewart assisted in developing its constitution, and became the first United States Senator from Nevada.
Silver baron Alvinza Hayward, known in his lifetime as "California's first millionaire", held a significant interest in the Comstock lode after 1864.
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