Jack Flanagan, 1984
Jack Flanagan was born in Virginia City in 1905. His family had been on the Comstock for years, helping to build Virginia City, and he worked as a hard-rock miner in the Hale and Norcross tunnel during the 1930s. He left mining and Storey County during the World War II, but came home to eventually become the county’s tax assessor. After initially retiring in 1978, he returned to the mining industry by working for United Mining Corporation. Flanagan was interviewed by Ann Harvey in 1984. During World War II, miners went into various other occupations. Some went into copper mines or lead mines—strategic materials. I went to work for Uncle Sam in the navy. I worked in the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot. During the war, they closed down the gold and silver mines, and Virginia City became a ghost town. There was a shortage of gasoline, and no tourists were coming into town like there is today. |