Silver City, part of the Comstock Lode, was replete with innovative ideas which were put into action and practice in this new mining community. The Comstock Lode made a worldwide impact in the mid 1800's. The mines produced thousands of tons of ore each day keeping over 263 mills quite busy with the process of milling and crushing the ore, recovering gold and silver. Known as the richest place on earth, the Comstock produced over $700,000,000.000, which would be valued at over $19 billion in today's market. Functioning from 1860 to 1959, the Donovan Mill in Silver City, is the longest operating plant on the Comstock, is only one of four mills remaining today, and is the largest historic stamp mill in the nation.