The Finney Hole... A Corporate commissined art piece for Keene Engineering by the artist John Agrella. James A Finney /"Old Virginny" Finney. The man was born in virginia in 1817, he was the miner who discoverd what we now know as the Comstock Lode: In 1850 when finney finally arived at Gold Canyon he was among one to two hundred other placer miners. In the spring of 1859 Finney and three other men hiked up the canyon and discoverd an outcrop they called Gold Hill, the outcrop was at the southern end of the great Comstock Lode. Months later Finney sold his claims for next to nothing,then the story so said that James A Finney was drunk and early in evening near dark he tripped and fell to the ground and broke his bottle of whiskey and then with no shame he got to his feet and who was watching and said I name this town after me,Virginny Finney. (or his home state virginia) the people laughed and went about their way. The miner James A Finney was a good man, Irish at heart and mind. He drank alot maybe too much at times, he was a miner who was smart when it came to finding gold but could not read nor write his own name. Mr Finney was a honest and generous man who followed his fate to history, James A Finney died June 20th 1861 from a horse riding accident.Today, the Finney Hole is a private claim.This is a very interesting place on the river, there is a mine shaft that extends from the Finney claim under the river adjacent to the Melones fault and the contact zone. Large gold has been found here, a 414lb or 5009 troy ounce nugget was found in the Finney Hole. The local people enjoy the fishing and swimming here, look at the bedrock and find James Finneys face, he is looking over the claim.