The Roar and the Silence: A History of Virginia City and the Comstock Lode

Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Certain fundamental assumptions warrant underscoring, and many people deserve acknowledgment for this volume. The works of two humanists partly inspired this project. In his eloquent study of method, Christopher Lloyd points out that all the humanities examine the past, since none of them can study the future and the present is but the razor-thin line that separates what has been from what will be.[Lloyd proposes merging all the methods of the humanities to form one discipline. Clearly this is not likely to happen, but it is possible to employ diverse tools to understand the past. This book proposes the use of a methodology that crosses academic barriers. It asserts that these divisions are meaningless when the objective is to understand humanity. Historians study the past using the written record, archaeologists examine it with material culture, folklorists peer through the crystal oforal tradition, geographers consider human behavior in the context ofspace, and so on-but what we all really care about is understanding what happened and why. We may specialize in our methods , but the common goal we share is ultimately more important. The work of Eric Hobsbawm has also been particularly useful here. The approach he employs in his impressive multiple-volume treatment of European history seems fitting for the Comstock. Hobsbawm demonstrates that almost any aspect of society has its antithesis.2 In a place as full of contradictions as Virginia City, his study of opposites finds a natural home. The many people who assisted me with information and ideas are acknowledged in the notes, at the points at which their specific help was particularly useful. A few of those people deserve additional mention here. Andria Daley-Taylor, chair of the Comstock Historic District Commis- sion, encouraged me in 1991 to begin applying myself seriously to the writing of this work, and she has never stopped in her support of this project or me. Bernadette Smith Francke, former inspector/clerk of the commission, tirelessly provided information from the primary record as she conducted her own research on the Comstock. Her support of me personally has also been extremely important. Bernadette's successor, Kelly J. Dixon, continues this tradition, and I appreciate her willingness to read the manuscript and offer suggestions. Other colleagues who have read part or all of the manuscript and have never faltered in their support are Jean and Robert E. Diamond, Nevada State Archives and Records administrator Guy Louis Rocha, Chris Platt, Terry Springer Farley, David and Anne Harvey, William Chrystal, William Kersten, and Sue Fawn Chung of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas . At the University of Nevada, Reno, former chair of the Department of History Jerome Edwards, current chair C. Elizabeth Raymond, and Donald L. Hardesty and Kenneth Fliess of the Department of Anthropology , have consistently been helpful. In addition, my coworkers at the Nevada Historic Preservation Office and at the Department of Museums , Library, and Arts have always encouraged me, and I appreciate their friendship. The same can be said for the staff of the Nevada Historical Society; the staffof Special Collections, University ofNevada, Reno; and the staff of the University of Nevada Press. It is appropriate to note here that chapter I appeared in a different form as an article in the Nevada Historical Society Quarterly. Margaret Lowther and her staff in the Storey County Recorder's Office are a joy to work with, or simply to visit. They have always been extremely helpful. I would match their enthusiasm and knowledge of the past against those ofany historian I know. This is true as well ofhundreds of Comstock residents, many of whom offered suggestions and insights for this project and have never ceased in their encouragement of my work. My deepest thanks goes to my many friends who live in the mining district. I also wish to express my deep appreciation and respect for John and Kathy McCarthy of Virginia City, who have always been supportive of my work and who granted permission to use several of the images in this book. My mother, my brother and his family, my wife, Susan, and my son, Reed, have continued their support for my projects, and Susan was kind enough to read this material and make numerous suggestions. She has always been there when I needed her. Of particular importance on the domestic front is Chloe, who joined our household in November 1994. XVI Acknowledlfl11ents While I had previously...