The classic book of the discovery and mining of silver and gold on the Comstock Lode by the editor of the Territorial Enterprise.

One easily gets a surface-knowledge of any remote country, through the writings of travelers. The inner life of such a country is not very often presented to the reader. The outside of a strange house is interesting, but the people, the life, and the furniture inside, are far more so. Nevada is peculiarly a surface-known country, for no one has written of that land who had lived long there and made himself competent to furnish an inside view to the public. I think the present volume supplies this defect in an eminently satisfactory way. The writer of it has spent sixteen years in the heart of the silver-mining region, as one of the editors of the principal daily newspaper of Nevada; he is thoroughly acquainted with his subject, and wields a practiced pen. He is a gentleman of character and reliability.

Dan De Quille was a prominent American journalist and author in the late 19th century. De Quille is now best remembered for writing books on some of the historical events surrounding the silver mining operations including History of the Big Bonanza, which was published in 1876.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Peruse Press is proud to present this entirely new edition of the "History of the Big Bonanza" by Dan De Quille (William Wright), with an introduction by Mark Twain, and many historic photos by Carleton E. Watkins, Charles L. Weed, Timothy H. O'Sullivan, James H. Crockwell, Lawrence & Houseworth, and others. Added to this edition is a new prologue of select droll barbs between Dan De Quille and Mark Twain extracted from 1864 editions of the Territorial Enterprise newspaper, where the two worked together as reporters in the rambunctious boomtown of Virginia City, Nevada, located directly on top of the enormous Comstock Lode silver vein. Also included in this edition is a new compilation of 114 historic photographs, illustrations and maps selected to complement the text, and give readers a firsthand look at the historic people, mines and region delineated in this classic tome of the "Sagebrush School" of western literature. Photographers, illustrators, and cartographers in this edition include Mathew Brady, Grafton Tyler Brown, Elmer Chickering, James H. Crockwell, W. H. Davenport, T. L. Dawes, Mark Diederichsen, Andrew A. Forbes, Charles F. Hoffmann, Robert Kerrigan, Augustus Koch, Lawrence & Houseworth, Walter Neale, John S. Noe, Timothy H. O'Sullivan, Roswell Morse Shurtleff, Louis Thors, Carleton E. Watkins, Charles L. Weed, and True Williams. This is also the only edition with a complete index.