“Silver King” And Future Senator James Fair Ordered To Testify In Lawsuit Against Him And His Mining Company In 1878

JAMES FAIR (1831-1894). An Irish Roman Catholic immigrant, Fair became a highly successful mining engineer and businessman in Nevada when the Comstock Lode was discovered in Virginia City, Nevada. He later helped build the South Pacific Coast Railroad and served one term in the Senate between 1881 to 1887. DS. 1 pg. 6” x 12”. April 24, 1878. Ormsby County, Nevada. A document signed “Jas G. Fair” on the verso. It is a summons to appear before the District Court of the Second Judicial District in Ormsby County, Nevada in the suit of “J.M. Baldwin vs. The Consolidated Virginia Mining Company and James G. Fair”. According to the hand-written description of the case, the suit “…plaintiff alleges you ousted him and his possession in interest from on or about the 1st day of May 1876 and that you still wrongfully and unlawfully withhold the same from him to his damage in the sum of $3,000.00. Therefore plaintiff now…ayes judgement” on winning back the title to his land and the resulting mining profits. As a result, Fair and his company must appear on April 24th 1878. In 1873, the company discovered the "Big Bonanza", the largest ore streak ever discovered in the Comstock, and subsequently bought or utilized more and more land around the Comstock Lode. This lawsuit, claiming that land was not bought, but stolen, was par of a challenging legal year for The Consolidated Virginia Mining Company. According to a New York Times article from the next month, they were also sued for over $35 million by their stockholders for misappropriating funds. Despite being sued at least these two times. Fair’s reputation remained strong enough for his appointment to the Senate a few years later. In the end, it was simply the exhausting of the ore by 1881 that brought the downfall of the company, which was forced into a merger in 1884. Yet the legacy of this and other mining operations would remain. The economies of Nevada and neighboring regions would explode, prompting an exponential population increase and statehood shortly after in the last remaining continental territories. However, many of these mining communities like Virgina City are ghost towns today. The papers of this case and the defendant’s company are held by the University of Nevada, Reno. On the back of the summons is Fair’s signature in the middle of the page, which, along with the rest of the document, is in very good condition with filing folds and light staining.