Well-known Storey surveyor dies

(Staff reports) - A well-known Comstock miner was found dead in his Silver City home Monday morning.

William Michael Donovan Jr., 66, known to most as "Mike," was found in his Main Street home by an employee of his surveying company about 7:50 a.m.

Lt. Jim Cupp, with the Lyon County Sheriff's Department, said a coroner will determine cause of death, but it was likely natural causes.

"We had people coming up to us saying he had chest pains and then we had people saying he was healthy as a horse," Cupp said.

Donovan's family owns several parcels of land and patented and unpatented mines in both Lyon and Storey counties. He has been licensed as a Nevada surveyor since 1968.

"He's known around the area because he knows the area so well," Cupp said.