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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	VIRGINIA CITY Nevada
Location: Storey County. Virginia City Convention & Tourism Authority

Ownership and Administration. Various.

Significance. In its feverish heyday Virginia City was the prototype of all boomtowns on the mining frontier, and for a time seemed likely to achieve its boast that it would become the most cosmopolitan city on the Pacific coast. The major city in the Comstock Lode area, it was laid out in 1859, and by early the next year some 20,000 miners had arrived. Life in the city reflected the dazzling wealth of the mines and the frenzied search for still another big bonanza. The first boom ended just after 1865, when the surface deposits played out. The mines, which had yielded $45 million in gold and silver, closed down one by one, and the population of 15,000 dwindled.

Virginia City, Nevada, in the heart of the Comstock Lode country, as it appeared in the 1860's. The "Bonanza Kings" made their fortunes from the Comstock Lode. Courtesy, National Archives.

But the main vein was yet to be discovered. In 1873 John W. Mackay and James G. Fair struck the "Heart of the Comstock," an underground vein about 400 feet deep and 150 to 320 feet wide. A second and much larger boom occurred. It reached its peak in 1877, when production was netting the mining companies more than $1 million a month and 750 miles of mine tunnels were burrowed under the city.

The theaters, restaurants, and saloons of Virginia City, a desert metropolis, rivaled those of San Francisco. While other mining camps have become ghost towns or neon, aluminum, and glass cities of the 20th century, Virginia City has retained much of its original flavor.

Present Appearance. Interest in Virginia City in preserving the past is high. Many saloons and business establishments of boom-town days are clustered on C Street; other historic structures are scattered throughout the city. Piper's Opera House, in which appeared Lawrence Barrett, Edwin Booth, Joseph Jefferson, and the Red Stocking Blondes, still stands. Other surviving structures are the Miners Union Hall, St. Mary's in the Mountains Catholic Church, the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, the Territorial Enterprise building, and the Storey County courthouse. Nearby are yellowing mine dumps and the ruins of mineworks. [22]

NHL Designation: 07/04/61