Collection: Directories and Documents > Historical Clippings

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Title: Historical Clippings Book (HC-04) Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Historical Clippings Catalog #: HC-04 Author: Lyle White Related Items: Historical Clippings > Historical Clippings Index for Volume 1-4 Notes: pp701-887 # of Pages: 198 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Printed or handwritten: All printed text Date Scanned: 2024-10-22 16:05:41 Scanned By: Jim Moore, Erik Caruso Scanning Equipment: CZUR Book Scanner OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: JPGs First Created: 2024-11-07 19:13:58 Last Updated: 2024-11-08 17:13:27

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 198  

GRASS VALLEY, NEVADA CITY, CALIF. WESTERN LIVING FRIDAY, AUG. 9, 1968, PAGE 7 me ra TWO OF THE MOST HISTORICAL buildings in California and the west. Ott's Assay Office that started the silver rush in Nevada -, made George Hearst a multi-multi millionaire, and the South Yuba Water Company Building adjoining Ott's Assay and still standing. The South Yuba Water Company was the mother of Nevada County's fantastic water distribution system, that fathered the hydraulic mining industry, captured the melting snowflakes in the High Sierras and through a system of high storage and cliff hanging flumes brought the water to Nevada City and Grass Valley. Pre freeway photo also pictures Union Hotel. PHOTO OF THE PLAQUE placed on Ott's Assay Office on the 100th Anniversary of the assay of the silver from the Comstock Lode an event that was to change the history of the west. This plaque was pried off and stolen from the building about two years ago, All pictures and engravings used in this Aug. 9, 1968 column on George Hearst from the Bob Paine collection.almost black, They knew there was gold, but in the rocker, was a quantity of "heavy black stuff", They threw it away. At first Hearst ignored the rumors, Two other Nevada Cityans did not ignore the wild tales in Wasseau. John Stone and W.P, Morrison went to Washoe Country and returned to Nevada City with samples of the strange ore, They hired the chemist James J. Ott to make an assay. The assaying, all agreed, was to be done behind locked doors in total secrecy inthe still standing Ott assay Office. Somehow Hearst learned of the assay to take place. Most historians believe that Hearst extracted the story of the secret assay to be made by Ott from the editor of the Nevada Journal, E, G, Waite. Through some leak or some other method Hearst was the first to know the results of the Ott "black stuff" assay, The memorable day was June 27, 1859! The official assay showed $1,595.00 in gold and $3,195.00 per ton in silver, True Midas wealth that was to become the foundation of the Hearst fortune. Hearst himself now acted in complete secrecy. He ‘umped on a mule, told no one and went over Donner Pass to what became Virginia City and bought the Ophir Mine from the unsuspecting owuers for a paltry $450.00. Hearst hurried back to Nevada City, He immediately went to editor Waite of the Nevada Journal and played down the story of the Washoe potential. Hearst at this moment was flat broke. He went to the National . Hotel Bar, and with the strange luck that Hearst possessed, found a friend with $3,500 in goldnuggets in a chmois bag. Hearst whose reputation for repaying loans was unquestioned borrowed the entire $3,500, He didnot tell the lender the purpose of the loan. He then bought every avallable mule, ore and saddle bag in Nevada county. He himself headed the pack train to Utah territory. The saddle bags were loaded with the black stuff and returned footsore and weary man and mule alike to Nevada City. This time, the wise Hearst, used another assayer, friend Melville Atwood to make a comparative assay. Atwood's assay was exactly the same as the careful chemist J.J, Ott nearly $5,800 combined silver and gold per ton, Go'd and silver were extracted from this one packload of the strange ore; $70,000, was netted to Hearst, Hos.rst gathered three of his most trusted friends, the assayer Atwood, Judge Walsh of Grass Valley and H,E, Head, They set out for Washoe, There were threats of Indian warfare, Even after they set out on the steep climb over Donner Summit, Hearstrode alone, thinking. He fell behind his companions He got off his mule, sat on a log and ran the dust through his fingers, He remained there for twenty minutes or more playing with the dust, Even with all the authoritative informa‘ion he had, Hearst kept thinking was this “black stuff" a ‘1oax Soddeaty the earth seemed to speak to the Nevada City prospector, That lucky feellng that he alone knew so well came over him, The earth, the heavy black stulfof the ledges of Washoe and Virginia City seemed to speak up and summon him He jumped on his mute and rode on to history,.