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Volume 058-1 - January 2004 (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
NCHS Bulletin January 2004
North San Juan as it looked ivabont 1857 or 1858.
blacksmith shop at the mouth of their tunnel, and rigged up
a Car.
By the end of 1856, however, the mine was not productive, credit was denied and bankruptcy was imminent.
Cousin Mahlon, who had been quite successful in El
Dorado County, “rescued” his relatives, probably in early
1857, settling all debts and assuming ownership of the
mine. Mahlon later regretted his involvement, complaining
of problems with other miners’ ethics and encroachments.
He also lamented his financial involvement, which had deprived him of the means “to have made me one of the foremost owners—and first mill owner—upon the great
Comstock Lode.”
Mining at North San Juan by the principals continued
until the winter of 1858-1859, when Theodore Fairchild
left North San Juan to help his brothers, Oscar and Joseph,
establish the Placerville Semi-Weekly Observer. Myron
joined his cousins as editor of the paper in February 1859
and remained there until February 1860, when he returned
to the mine at North San Juan.
Eugene Angel, meanwhile, left North San Juan in 1859
and relocated to Carson City, Nevada, where he engaged in
surveying and real estate. Eugene joined Major Ormsby’s
Carson City Rangers and was killed during the Pyramid
Lake massacre at Big Bend on the Truckee River on May
12, 1860.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Myron Angel offered
his services to California Governor Downey and was appointed captain of infantry. The San Juan Press, in its October 5, 1861, edition, reported:
We are pleased to learn that our friend and fellowtownsman, Mr. Myron Angel, is raising a company of
infantry in obedience to the call of the General Government, having received official authority from Governor
Downey to do so. This furnishes the additional opportunity to all who are willing to serve their country in the
hour of her need. ... He is a gentleman, too, in whom
recruits can repose implicit confidence. Their necessities, under his care, will be promptly attended to and
their rights strictly guarded.
No funds were to be forthcoming for maintenance of the
recruits, and Angel personally supplied funds until he could
no longer afford to do so. Soon thereafter, succumbing to
the needs of the failing mining venture, he resigned from
the military and returning to North San Juan. During this
same period, the cost of mining supplies became prohibitive because of the War. Mahlon paid the outstanding debts
of the mine and left North San Juan in 1862.
Angel left also, reportedly writing for various newspapers until joining the Reese River Reveille in Austin,
Nevada, as assistant editor in December 1863. W. C. Phillips, assisted by Oscar Fairchild, founded the paper; Phillips left in 1863 and leased the office to Angel’s cousins,
Oscar and Joseph Fairchild. Angel became editor of the
paper in February 1864 and remained in that capacity until
January 1868. During this time, Angel is reported to have
written a small book on the resources of eastern Nevada, a
book that was translated into both French and German. (No
present-day sources could provide the title of the book or
whether copies presently exist.)
While editor of the Reveille Myron wrote several reports
on the mines of eastern Nevada and assisted J. Ross
Browne in the latter’s Report on the Mineral Sources west
of the Rocky Mountain.”
In 1868 and 1869 Angel edited the Oakland, California
Daily News and the Sacramento State Capitol Reporter. In
March 1869 he went to work for the White Pine News at
Treasure City, Nevada, where he was editor until the paper ™,
was moved to Hamilton and sold in 1871. Angel was retained as San Francisco correspondent for the White Pine
News until 1875, when he again became editor of the Oakland Daily News. During this time he also wrote for other
publications, most notably the Pacific Coast Business
Directory and Gazeteer.
During this time period, Angel was also involved in a
large hydraulic mining project in El Dorado County with
partners Mahlon Fairchild and the Hon. John Daggett, a
project that was ultimately abandoned for lack of funds.
Angel married Charlotte Paddock Livingston in September 1879; the two had known one another since their youth
in New York. Shortly thereafter, in 1880, Angel was hired
by the state Mining Bureau to write a history of mining in
California; however, the bureau’s financing was erratic and
Myron Angel