Charles was born on August 15, 1826 at Stockbridge, Vermont, United States. He was the eldest child of David Ellsworth and Harriet (Fay) Strong and a descendant of Elder John Strong, who came from England in 1630, was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut, and in 1659 removed to Northampton, Massachussets David Strong was a merchant and farmer.
Charles attended public schools in Stockbridge and Williston Academy, but his father's death defeated his plans for a college education.
In 1842 Strong went to New York City, where he obtained employment as a book-keeper and remained some eight years. About 1850 he went to San Francisco, as confidential clerk of Wells & Company of New York, to establish a bank for that firm.
Most of his records were destroyed in the great fire of 1851, and he himself suffered severe injuries in attempting to save them; but after his recovery he settled all the institution's accounts from memory, and his settlements were subsequently upheld by the courts.
To house the enterprise Strong built the first four-story brick building on the Pacific Coast, and for its use manufactured the first gas. He subsequently spent a small fortune in hunting for codfish as well as salmon in Puget Sound, but in 1860 abandoned the fisheries.
This mill was used for a few years, but was then superseded by one more economical and efficient to maintain and operate. Little thought was given to economy in those early prosperous days on the Comstock, because the stockholders' demands for large dividends could be met by increasing ore production, despite the high cost and excessive waste of over-rapid and careless reduction.
While superintendent of the Gould & Curry mine, Strong had seven or eight mills at times and as many as 1, 000 men under him. He made daily visits to the widely scattered company works, on horseback or driving a rapid four-in-hand, and at night attended to his records and correspondence.
Foremen said that they received more help from the few instructions he gave without alighting from his carriage than from other superintendents in half a day. Instead of bringing suit against those who attempted to secure part of the great wealth of the company's property by working spurs on their lode, he advocated pushing the mining work from the main ore-body out to the opponents' ground, thus proving the company's property rights. This policy often prevented litigation, or if not, facilitated successful defense. Strong's strenuous program was too much for him, and early in 1864, his health broken from overwork, he retired, to spend several years in travel.
About 1867 he purchased a ranch in the San Gabriel Valley, near the present Whittier, California, where he gave some attention to orange growing. About 1874, however, he returned to mining, developing mines and erecting mills in California, Arizona, and Nevada, but the strain of work and worry, in futile efforts to save a gold-mining venture at Auburn, California, in which he and his friends were interested, proved too great for him to stand, and in 1883 he committed suicide. It is said that when Nevada was first admitted as a state he was offered but declined a nomination as governor and that he later declined to become a candidate for the United States Senate.
He died in 1883.
Charles Lyman Strong became the first superintendent of the Gould & Curry mine at Virginia City, Nevada, one of the great bonanzas of the Comstock Lode. Giving free reign to his ideas, Strong built and equipped a magnificent structure, surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds, at a cost of nearly a million dollars. Namely, Strong built the first four-story brick building on the Pacific Coast, and for its use manufactured the first gas. He has sometimes been credited with a share in the development of the cyanide process for extracting the precious metals from low-grade ores.
Possessed of strong will and a keen sense of justice, he was an able director of men.
He had a wife, Harriett Williams (Russell) Strong, whom he married February 26, 1863. They had four daughters.
