Adolph Sutro’s speech to the miners on September 20, 1869, at the Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City, Nevada:

“Fellow citizens, it must now be evident to you that the arch enemy of this great work is that hydra-headed monster you have reared in your midst and allowed to grow into gigantic proportions, that enemy of the whole Pacific coast, that incubus upon your prosperity, that craft concern which resorts to every means to carry out its ends….they make you work in foul atmosphere, which sends half of you to your graves in the prime of manhood. Let me show you why they have allowed forty-five of your miners to be foully murdered at the fire of the Gold Hill mines, for the want of an exit through the tunnel…and then hold them up to the shame, contempt, and ignominy they so richly deserve…. They, like the devil-fish, have reached out their long slimy arms and taken hold of everything within reach, and nothing can escape their deadly grip…Will you see me crushed out now? Will you allow that monstrous combination to trample me under foot?…Laboring men of Nevada, crush out that hydra headed Monster: that serpent in your midst—the Bank of California. Rouse up , then fellow-citizens. You have no Andrew Jackson among you to crush out the bank which has taken your liberties, but you have the power within yourselves…Miners and laboring men, what is the price of your health, your liberty, your independence? Are they not worth more than all the filthy lucre you could possess?…Make powerless your oppressors and break up your arch enemy the California Bank…let all trifling objections fall to the ground, let one joint, grand, unanimous effort, and victory will be ours.”

More about the Yellow Jacket Fire.

Read a period newspaper article reporting the devastating fire.