Resort Outlook - December 2001

Virginia City

Still a Boom Town After All These Years

Virginia City became the first industrial city in the West in 1859, when Peter O'Reilly and Patrick McLaughlin discovered gold in Six-Mile Canyon. Prospectors soon rushed to the area and set up several mining camps. Miner James Finney is said to have christened one tent-and-dugout town on the slopes of Mt. Davidson "Old Virginny Town," in honor of himself and his birthplace. One of the biggest problems in this new tent town was the sticky, blue-gray mud that clung to picks and shovels. But when the pesky mud was assayed, it proved to be silver ore worth over $2,000 a ton in 1859 dollars.

The rich deposits of gold and high-quality silver ore soon turned Virginny Town into Virginia City, which became the most important settlement between Denver and San Francisco. With the mining boom came the building of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, which ran from Reno to Carson City to Virginia City, and later to Minden. Investments made in mining on the Comstock from the 1860s through the 1880s financed the building of San Francisco, 200 miles west. William Ralston and William Sharon, founders of the Bank of California, made their first fortunes in Virginia City, as did the likes of George Hearst, John Mackay and William Flood.

At the peak of its glory, Virginia City was a raucous town with something going on 24 hours a day for its nearly 30,000 residents. There were visiting celebrities, Shakespearean theater, opium dens, two newspapers, competing fire companies, fraternal organizations, at least five police precincts, a thriving red light district, and the first miner’s union in the U.S. The International Hotel was six stories high and boasted the West’s first elevator, called the "rising room." Among the notable residents were Mark Twain and Dan DeQuille, who both wrote for the Territorial Enterprise, Nevada's first newspaper. A devastating fire nearly obliterated Virginia City in 1875, destroying over 2,000 structures, but the town rebuilt itself in just a year. Many of the buildings standing today date back to that time.

The Comstock Lode yielded more than $400 million in gold and silver and remains the richest known U.S. silver deposit. After 1878 the mines gradually played out, and the last of the great Cornish pumps ceased to operate in October of 1886. The mines quickly flooded and most operations ceased.

But Virginia City, unlike many other mining towns, refused to dry up and turn into a ghost town. Visitors today will find a lively, bustling little town with plenty of entertainment. Strolling down the boardwalks takes you back in time. Ride the Virginia & Truckee Steam Train and take the narrated trolley ride, both offering glimpses of the glorious past at every turn. See underground mine tours, lively saloons, stately mansions, old cemeteries, charming hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast inns. Virginia City is for families with a passion for history, imagination and truly unforgettable fun. See the past presented, preserved and reflected in these Virginia City attractions:

Bullette Red Light Museum

Castle Mansion

Chollar Mine Tour

Fourth Ward School Cultural Center
Grant's General Store & Free Museum
Liberty Engine Company #1 State Fireman Museum
Mackay Mansion Museum

Marshall Mint & Museum
Nevada Gambling Museum
Piper's Opera House
Ponderosa Saloon Mine Tour

Silver Terrace Cemeteries

Storey County Courthouse
Territorial Enterprise Museum 
Virginia & Truckee Railroad  
Virginia City Trolley 
Way It Was Museum

The Virginia City Convention and Tourism Authority invites you to see the past come alive. Visit their official Web site for further information at virginiacity-nv.org.