When his father died in 1846, Hearst at the age of 26 took over the support of his family: his mother, brother, and sister.
In addition, he did some mining and ran a general store.
 He first heard of the discovery of gold in California in 1849.
Before deciding to depart, he read further news on the subject to make sure it was true.
In 1850, as a member of a party of 16, he left for California.

He and his party first tried placer mining in the vicinity of Sutter's Mill on the American River.
After spending a cold winter and making meager findings, they moved to Grass Valley in 1851 on the news of a new lode.
Hearst switched to prospecting and dealing in quartz mines.
After almost 10 years, Hearst was making a decent living as a prospector, and otherwise engaged in running a general store, mining, raising livestock and farming in Nevada County.

In the summer of 1859, Hearst learned of promising silver assays of the "blue stuff" someone had picked up in Utah Territory (near what was to become the Comstock Lode), and had assayed in Nevada County, California.
Hearst hurried to the Washoe district of western Utah Territory, where he arranged to buy a one-sixth interest in the Ophir Mine there, near present-day Virginia City.
That winter, Hearst and his partners mined 38 tons of high-grade silver ore, packed it across the Sierra on muleback, had it smelted in San Francisco, and made $91,000 profit (or roughly $2,500,000 in 2016 dollars).
People who saw the bars of Ophir silver in San Francisco rushed to Washoe.

Hearst knew Marcus Daly from their Comstock Lode work.
In the summer of 1872 Daly suggested the potential of the Ontario silver mine in Park City, Utah.
 The Ontario carried Hearst through the Panic of 1873 and produced $17 million dollars in 10 years.
 Hearst later financed Marcus Daly to operate his Anaconda mine in Butte, Montana and acquired an interest in that mine as well.
When his father died in 1846, Hearst at the age of 26 took over the support of his family: his mother, brother, and sister. In addition, he did some mining and ran a general store.  He first heard of the discovery of gold in California in 1849. Before deciding to depart, he read further news on the subject to make sure it was true. In 1850, as a member of a party of 16, he left for California. 
He and his party first tried placer mining in the vicinity of Sutter's Mill on the American River. After spending a cold winter and making meager findings, they moved to Grass Valley in 1851 on the news of a new lode. Hearst switched to prospecting and dealing in quartz mines. After almost 10 years, Hearst was making a decent living as a prospector, and otherwise engaged in running a general store, mining, raising livestock and farming in Nevada County.
In the summer of 1859, Hearst learned of promising silver assays of the "blue stuff" someone had picked up in Utah Territory (near what was to become the Comstock Lode), and had assayed in Nevada County, California. Hearst hurried to the Washoe district of western Utah Territory, where he arranged to buy a one-sixth interest in the Ophir Mine there, near present-day Virginia City. That winter, Hearst and his partners mined 38 tons of high-grade silver ore, packed it across the Sierra on muleback, had it smelted in San Francisco, and made $91,000 profit (or roughly $2,500,000 in 2016 dollars). People who saw the bars of Ophir silver in San Francisco rushed to Washoe. 
Hearst knew Marcus Daly from their Comstock Lode work. In the summer of 1872 Daly suggested the potential of the Ontario silver mine in Park City, Utah.  The Ontario carried Hearst through the Panic of 1873 and produced $17 million dollars in 10 years.  Hearst later financed Marcus Daly to operate his Anaconda mine in Butte, Montana and acquired an interest in that mine as well.
George Hearst