Curtis Justin Hillyer: Silver King Lawyer and Real Estate Speculator

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Curtis Justin Hillyer was born in Granville, Ohio, in 1828. After graduating from Yale University, he studied law and then taught in a high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. Due to his health, he left the Midwest for California where he ended up buying a mining claim. After working the claim for only four months, he set up a law office in the mining district in Placer County, California. While there, he was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of California.  Although he never served on the bench himself, he acquired the nickname “Judge" Hillyer.  Hillyer resigned his position with the court when the Comstock Lode was struck in 1859 and moved to Virginia City, Nevada, where he worked at a law firm under its senior partner, William Stewart. There, he served as legal counsel to the Silver Kings’ Consolidated Virginia Mining Company and, as a result, amassed a considerable fortune. Hillyer first visited Washington in 1871 on business and was so impressed by its developmental prospects that he …