The name Johntown came from the fact that Chinese placer miners were sometimes called “John Chinaman.' Of all the early towns of the Comstock era, none was more important or less talked about today than Johntown. The settlement was founded in 1853 by Walter Cosser. Johntown was the rough-and-tumble wannabe town that grew up along Gold Canyon during the 10-year period when miners and prospectors made their way up the canyon on their way to the Big Bonanza.īetween the first discovery of gold nuggets near Dayton in 1849 and the discovery of the fabulous Comstock Lode in 1859, most of the major players made their homes in ramshackle miners’ cabins, tents and rooming houses in the mining camp of Johntown along Gold Canyon about halfway between what later became Dayton and Silver City. Como was a rival mining district in the mountains to the south. Mound House was a station on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad and the terminus point for the Carson and Colorado Railroad. These include Dayton, which was the “Gateway to the Comstock.” Sutro was the entrance to the Sutro Tunnel. What many people do not know is that the Comstock mining district included many other nearby towns that contributed greatly to the history of the fabulous Comstock Lode.

We locals and most tourists know about Virginia City, Gold Hill and Silver City. Most Nevadans know where the principal towns and cities of the Comstock are located.

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