Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, West Point. These locations are currently named in part to their host of United States Minting facilities. The production of United States coins has occurred for well over 200 years and much like anything that occurs over such a long period of time, changes happen and locations move. Before these well-established mint locations that we know so well today, minting facilities like Dahlonega, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Carson City took part in the production of US coinage. But as popular as those mentioned before are and have come to be over time because they no longer exist, none have stepped into the limelight quite like Carson City.
The Comstock Lode
By 1852, the country had seen the highest annual gold production in history reaching $81 million. Although this was the case, the California Gold Rush had taken its bow and was no longer servicing those miners and fortune-seeking individuals that had rushed to California. The gold was essentially gone and people were following its traces to Australia, New Zealand, Colorado, and the Northwest Territories of Canada. Little did they know that just in the Carson Valley was an unlocked treasure that would prove to be the richest silver deposit within the United States called The Comstock Lode.
Named after H.T.P. “Old Pancake” Comstock due to the nature of the ore being found on his property, the mining of silver began in 1859. Between the period of 1859-1865, miners were said to have removed an approximate amount of $50 million from below the surface. It was also found that the official value of the Comstock Lode mined from 1859-1882 was $305,779,612.48 with it’s richest mine quoted at $4,000 per foot in its quarter mile length.
The Rise and Fall of the Carson City Mint
As the Comstock Lode continued to be mined in high volume, the ore transported from the very beginning was making its way to the San Francisco Mint. This was not feasible for a number of reasons which included but not limited to the risk involved, the expense involved, and the little to no benefit brought to Nevada. The lobby for a branch mint took hold led by the owners of the Comstock and the introduction of the new facility would occur on March 3, 1863, to better aide the ore mined.
Although approved in 1863, the actual breaking of ground would not occur until 1866 and finally be completed in December of 1869. Founder of Carson City and named the first superintendent of the newly constructed Mint, Abraham Curry oversaw the production of the first coins struck at the Carson City Mint in January of 1870. The first coins struck were those of Christian Gobrecht’s Liberty Seated silver dollars design from 1836. The famous “CC” mintmark was chosen and placed below the heraldic eagle, not to be confused with the Charlotte Mint’s mintmark, “C”.
It was not soon after the first striking of coins when gold eagles, half gold eagles, and double gold eagles took place and snowballed into a plethora of coins over its course of production. Overall, the Carson City branch issued 57 different types of gold coins. It also minted eight different coin denominations that included, in addition to the gold denominations mentioned above, Morgan dollars, dimes, halves, quarters, Trade dollars, and twenty-cent pieces. It was not until 1875 that the Mint really started striking coins in large quantities as they, in addition to the other mints, were tasked at producing coins to replace fractional currency.
The Mint Act of February 12, 1873, changed everything for the Carson City branch as the nation’s monetary system was forever changed. It demonetized silver, eliminated the standard silver dollar, half dime, three-cent piece, and two-cent piece, and tried to tie the United States’ monetary system to the gold standard to name a few changes which in the end, reduced the amount of silver the US minting facilities needed to make coins.
In addition to a shut down in 1885 for political reasons, a slowing of silver mine production, and a number of scandals surrounding the Carson City establishment that involved smuggled gold, the branch ceased its operations for good in 1893. The minting facility continued to operate as a gold and silver refinery until 1933 until its walls and structure were given new life in 1941 as it was now the home of the Nevada State Museum.
Source: Carson City Morgan Dollars, An Official Whitman Guidebook by Adam Crum, Selby Ungar, and Jeff Oxman; United States Mint