Comstock Lode

American  

noun

1. the most valuable deposit of silver ore ever recorded, discovered in 1859 by Henry T. P. Comstock near Virginia City, Nevada.

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Comstock Lode British  

/ ˈkɒm-, ˈkʌmˌstɒk /

noun

1. an extensive gold and silver vein in W Nevada, near Virginia City

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Etymology

Origin of Comstock Lode

C19: named after T. P. Comstock (1820–70), American prospector

Example Sentences

Europeans colonized the area in the mid-1800s and began clear-cutting trees to supply nearby towns and the Comstock Lode mines with lumber.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 30, 2021

The Comstock Lode boom began in the 1850s and, for several decades, brought a rush of prospectors to places including Virginia City, Gold Hill and Silver City.

From Washington Times • Oct. 11, 2019

Eight years of placer mining in that state produced little, so he went over the Sierras to Virginia City, Nevada, and worked in the silver deposits known as the Comstock Lode.

From The New Yorker • Feb. 16, 2015

Within twenty years, the Comstock Lode, as it was called, yielded more than $300 million in shafts that reached hundreds of feet into the mountain.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

Like unto hosts of others, for him too the Comstock Lode had proved a magnet, and in 1904 he hit the trail for Virginia City, Nevada.

From Reno — a Book of Short Stories and Information by Stratton, Lilyan