The name George Hearst echoes through the annals of American history, not just as a self-made millionaire but as the visionary patriarch who laid the foundation for one of the nation’s most influential families. Born into modest circumstances, George Hearst possessed an unparalleled knack for geology and business, transforming a simple farmer’s life into an empire built on lead, gold, silver, and copper across the vast American West.
His journey, marked by rugged determination and shrewd investments, cemented his reputation as a mining magnate whose influence stretched from the dusty claims of California to the halls of the U.S. Senate. This article delves into the remarkable life of the man often described as crude yet brilliant, whose instincts carved out a fortune and whose son, William Randolph Hearst, would further amplify the family’s legacy.
Early Life and Midwestern Roots
Born on September 3, 1820, near Sullivan, Missouri, George Hearst was the eldest of three children to William and Elizabeth Collins Hearst. His formative years were spent working on the family farm, providing him with a foundational understanding of hard labor and resilience. Despite a lifelong passion for reading, his formal education was minimal, leading to rudimentary reading abilities. Yet, this lack of conventional schooling did not hinder his sharp intellect or his burgeoning interest in the natural world.
At 26, tragedy struck when his father, William Hearst, passed away, leaving behind a significant debt. George immediately shouldered the responsibility of his mother, younger sister Martha, and his crippled brother Philip. Demonstrating early entrepreneurial spirit, he significantly improved the farm’s profitability, opened a small general store, and ventured into leasing lead mines. Missouri had a rich history of lead mining dating back to 1715, and Hearst, with his innate curiosity, began to deeply study the business. His efforts quickly bore fruit, with his mines producing both lead and copper, allowing him to repay his father’s debts within two years.
The Call of the California Gold Rush
By 1850, having secured his family’s financial stability and with his brother Philip having passed, Hearst set his sights on the burgeoning opportunities of the California Gold Rush. Despite his mother and sister’s opposition, his determination was unyielding. In May 1850, he organized a wagon train, including his cousins Jacob and Joseph Clark, and embarked on the arduous journey west.
Arriving in Placerville, California, in October, they established a winter camp in Jackass Gulch. Initial placer mining yielded modest results, prompting them to move to Grass Valley the following spring, where a promising lode of gold-bearing quartz had been discovered at Gold Hill. It was here that George Hearst truly found his stride. He soon located a rich gold-bearing quartz ledge between Grass Valley and Nevada City, which he named Merrimac Hill after a Missouri river. Leveraging his extensive lead mining experience, Hearst developed innovative methods to extract the gold, and the claim proved exceptionally rich. When water issues temporarily halted work at Merrimac, his luck held, as he swiftly discovered another valuable claim, the Potosi.
Hearst’s growing wealth allowed him to diversify, becoming a part-owner in Nevada City’s first theater and later establishing a general store in Sacramento. However, the store proved unsuccessful and was ravaged by floods, leading Hearst to sell it in 1852 and return to the mountains. He profitably sold both the Merrimac and Potosi Mines. For the next five years, he and the Clarks continued their successful strategy of prospecting, finding ore-bearing claims, and quickly selling them for considerable profit. In 1857, he located the extremely rich LeCompton Mine near Nevada City, further solidifying his reputation.
Conquering the Comstock Lode
Always attuned to the whispers of new finds, Hearst traveled to Nevada in 1859 to investigate reports of rich silver discoveries. Impressed by the potential, he sold his share of the LeCompton Mine and purchased a one-sixth interest in the Ophir Mine in Washoe County. The mining camp that sprang up around the Ophir was first known as Ophir, then Silver City, and eventually Virginia City. Hearst immersed himself in the complex process of separating silver and gold from the ore. In March of the following year, the first silver smelted from the Ophir ignited the
