Nonfiction: In the early days of the comstock boom, Virginia City was no place for children. But by the 1870s, law and order had a firm hold on the town and hundreds of youngsters, most of them children of miners, swarmed over the sides of Mount Davidson. Living in this boy's paradise was Johnny Waldorf-cocksure, reckless, and a "menace to parental peace of mind." Johnny, the son of a miner and a schoolteacher, arrived in camp in 1873 at the age of three and lived there for twelve turbulent years, until he ran away to make his fortune on the high seas. A Kid on the Comstock is a captivating recounting of the thrills, wounds, and scars in the life of a young boy growing up in Virginia City.