[From the Daily Alta California, July 22, 1861:1]

 

Finney, the Discoverer of the Silver Mines of Washoe.

            The Territorial Enterprise gives the following biography of James Finney, who died lately in Virginia City :

            The deceased was born near Parkersburg, in Virginia, and hence was known in the Territory and in California by the soubriquet of " Old Virginny," the town of Virginia City being named in honor of his having been the original discoverer of the mines in this vicinity. He settled in this Territory in the fall of 1857; commenced work in what is known as Gold Cañon, and following the course of the cañon, crossed the divide between the Virginia and Gold Hill mining districts and found gold in the ravine running east from Virginia City, where he wintered in the year 1858. Following up the discovery, he encountered the quartz ledges which have since made Virginia City celebrated as the North American " Potosi," being universally recognized as the man to whose agency the people of the United States are principally indebted for the discovery and development of the wealth of Nevada. He leaves a family near Paris, Indiana, to mourn his loss.

            In addition to the above, which has been furnished us, we deem it not inappropriate, in noticing the death of this old pioneer to give a brief sketch from our own knowledge of his career. As stated, be came from California to this Territory in October, 1857.  Like most of the adventurous spirits of this Territory he varied his pursuits by mining occasionally, to keep money enough on hand for current expenses, prospecting and hunting. The principal mining done at that time was about Chinatown, Johntown, and Gold Cañon. The site of the present City of Virginia was then known as Six-Mile Cañon.   " Old Virginny," as he was familiarly termed—in June, 1859, finding some good prospects on the surface, immediately over the Ophir mine, took up the water in Spanish Ravine, and by a small ditch conveyed it to the ground, for the purpose of working a rocker. For a few days it he realised very good wages, but supposing the ground he was working to be only a slide from the ledges above, he took up what is called the Virginia Ledge, and located several hundred feet above the Ophir, recording it at Chinatown—that district being then known, we believe, as the Colombia Mining District, and embracing all the mining region known in the Territory. After making a raise off his claim, and informing his friends that he had a good thing, he gave his friend Comstock and others the privilege of working in his claim to replenish their pockets while he took some recreation. The parties he let work, probably placing more value on the claim then be did, on his return proposed to buy him out, and his interest in the celebrated Comstock Ledge was purchased by Comstock for an old horse, worth about $40, and few dollars in cash. Since that he has been interested in several good claims, but his too social disposition has made him the dupe of sharpers, and we judge he had but little property at the time of his death. During his residence in this Territory, though at times dissipated, he always bore the reputation of being an unusually kind-hearted and honest man. Peace to his ashes. All good men should respect the memory of the hardy and generous old pioneer.