author
Dan De Quille
1829–1898
A lively chronicler of the American West, this journalist and humorist turned the boomtown world of Nevada’s Comstock Lode into vivid, often funny history. His writing captures mining camps, frontier characters, and everyday life with an insider’s eye.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born William Wright in Ohio in 1829, he became best known by the pen name Dan De Quille. He worked as an American journalist, author, and humorist, and built his reputation in Virginia City, Nevada, where he wrote about the people and silver-mining culture of the Comstock Lode.
He is especially remembered for History of the Big Bonanza (1876), a detailed account of the Comstock mining boom. His journalism mixed observation, local history, and wit, which helped make him one of the best-known Nevada writers of the 19th century.
De Quille was also associated with the Territorial Enterprise, the famous Virginia City newspaper linked with Mark Twain. That connection, along with his own long record as a reporter and storyteller, places him among the notable literary voices of the early American West.