The largest silver strike in US history could have been the Grosh Lode. In 1857, the Grosh brothers discovered silver in the Virginia Range of modern-day Nevada. Soon after, Hosea injured his foot and died of septimia.
Brother Allan then set off for California with samples—but he died in the winter storms of the Sierra Nevadas. He had left the claim and a cabin in the hands of a friend. And when the silver vein was identified, that friend, Henry Comstock, gave his name to the strike: the Comstock Lode.