Utah Territory had been abandoned by Mormon settlers returning to Salt Lake City because of the Utah War. Curry's $1000 offer to buy a corner lot on which to build a store in Genoa was refused for being insufficient. After finding real estate in Genoa to be expensive, Curry moved on to the more sparsely inhabited Eagle Valley. Curry partnered with Musser and Proctor to purchase the Eagle Ranch trading post and 865 acres of the surrounding valley for a down payment of $300 in coins out of a total sale price of $1,000. Musser and Proctor, who were both attorneys, worked to carve a separate territory from Utah, while Curry promoted the newly founded Carson City. Curry set aside and donated of land for the site of the Nevada State Capitol. In July 1859, Musser became president and Proctor became vice-president of the constitutional convention to establish the Territory of Nevada. Curry served as the delegate from Eagle Valley. In 1859, the discovery of the Comstock Lode east of Carson City was made public, bringing tens of thousands of miners into the area. In 1861, Curry built a 100-foot stone hotel on top of warm springs about two miles east of the city center. A large wooden eagle was placed on the top of the hotel. In 1862, the Nevada Territorial Legislature leased the Warm Springs Hotel from Curry to hold meetings and detain prisoners. The legislature had been using the prison quarry to provide stone material for the Nevada State Capitol while keeping costs down. In 1864, the territorial legislature paid $80,000 to acquire the hotel along with 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land from Curry, who was appointed the first warden of the facility that would become known as Nevada State Prison. In October of that year, Nevada became a state and the newly written constitution established the Lieutenant Governor of Nevada as the ex officio warden of the prison. In 1865, the United States Congress approved the establishment of a branch of the United States Mint in Carson City. Curry was named one of the planning commissioners and became the first superintendent when the Carson City Mint began operating in 1870. Later that year, Curry left the Mint to accept a commission to supervise the building of an engine house and machine shop for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. Construction began in 1872 with stone provided