By Robert G. Elston, Silver City Resident
In a recent “letter” published in CarsonNow.org Pamela Abercrombie decried the negative reaction of Silver City and Gold Hill residents to the Comstock Foundation’s fund-raising gambit offering prints of the “Nine Cheers for the Silver State” painting to subscribers. In characterizing critics of the painting as “this handful of local residents,” she echoes a favorite tactic of Corrado de Gasperis, Comstock Mining’s CEO who frequently diminishes the legitimate concerns of residents by portraying CMI critics as “a few disgruntled residents” or the like.
This is simply untrue. Many people are concerned about CMI’s plans to mine the Comstock. It is not easy to get people to sign petitions, but in July 2011, about 400 people did so as residents and business owners of Storey County, Nevada expressing strong opposition to surface mining and open pit mining within the Virginia City National Historic Landmark District and the Comstock Historic District. In September 2012, 110 Silver City residents (out of about 170, including children) signed a petition against a change in land use that would open Silver City to pit mining by CMI because of concerns about quality of life, health, and historic integrity of the town site of Silver City and its vicinity. By the way, nine residents of Silver City (including myself) are or have been working professionals (6 with graduate degrees) in historic preservation and cultural resource management, variously employed by the University of Nevada, Bureau of Land Management, Nevada State Museum, and private cultural resource consulting firms; one served as the Chair of the Virginia City Historic District Commission. I believe they all signed the petition.
A foundation dedicated to preserving the Virginia City National Landmark, the historic structures in it and the integrity of the historic landscape would be a good thing. But the list of current Comstock Foundation projects all involve prominent historical structures such as the Yellow Jacket head frame, Piper’s Opera House, Forth Ward School, and Saint Marys Art Center. These largely cosmetic efforts are laudable, but missing are projects to protect the endangered historic landscape which forms the context for these and other historic structures. I suspect they are absent because protecting the landscape would entail curtailing surface mining or making major changes in how it is conducted.
The Landmark was listed as endangered by the National Park Service in 1985 in large part because of the cumulative effects of open pit mining. While serving as State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), Ron James acknowledged this in a 1988 letter to then Secretary of the Interior, Donald Hodel; I quote:
“The Virginia City National Landmark District is endangered because of previous open pit mining which has limited the visual integrity of the District an which destroyed and continues to threaten contributing cultural resources within the district. The proposed mining activity has the potential of destroying additional portions of the district.”
The proposed mining activity James mentions was located at the Keystone Mine in Gold Canyon in about the location of CMI’s freeway off-ramp-like “restoration” just north of their Lucerne pit.
James’ letter to Hodel resulted in a National Park Service (NPS) survey and inventory of the Landmark, reported in 1988 by NPS historical archaeologist Leo R. Barker. Barker confirmed the continuing deterioration of the Landmark and made numerous recommendations for avoiding and mitigating impacts of surface mining on it. Through the next 24 years of Mr. James tenure as SHPO, none of these recommendations were implemented. The Virginia City National Landmark District remained endangered through James’ tenure as SHPO and is endangered today. Upon his retirement as Nevada SHPO, James stepped directly to the directorship of the Comstock Foundation, controlled and funded by Comstock mining, Inc.
That is his legacy and that is why I doubt that the Comstock Foundation under his leadership and CMI’s control will do much to protect the integrity of the Virginia City National Historic District. However, if by serving on the Comstock Foundation Board Ms. Abercrombie can influence it to starting taking on projects resulting in real protection to the Landmark, more power to her.
