Virginia City and the Comstock Lode

Do you remember the TV series, Bonanza?  Pa, Little Joe, Hoss, Adam?  The beginning credits show an old map of Virginia City, Nevada and then a flame starts at the bulls eye of Virginia City and burns up the map and next a picture of Lorne Greene as Pa rides into view with the background of sage brush, cactus, mesquite trees, and then Pernell Roberts is introduced, and so on.  My expectations of Virginia City was thus:   a dusty cowboy town, wide streets enough to hold a teem of horses to be able to turn around in, lots of store fronts, flat.  Virginia City is not like this at all.  We drove up into Virginia City which was a huge surprise - I did not know it was built on a side of a mountain.  A twisty, switch-back road that climbed higher and higher, the further up we climbed the windier it got, killed some tumbleweeds with the truck while doing it.  Then rounded a curve of the mountain and bam - there it was.  Pretty impressive from a distance.  And crowded for a Tuesday.  People everywhere.

Narrow street, old - old buildings!!!

Church founded 1850's - still active 

Virginia City is the site of the largest discovery of silver and gold in 1859 and now lays claim to the largest, richest mine in the US.  Like any boom town, people poured in, business establishments sprang up, banks, brothels, saloons, hotels and eateries abounded, the Virginia & Truckee railroad started up, bottom line was Virginia City was the largest settlement between Denver and San Francisco by 1863 with over 30,000 people.  Abraham Lincoln liked the silver mines because it financed the Civil War's Northern efforts.  As a matter of fact, he made Nevada a state in 1864 even though it did not have enough residents to do this.  This Comstock Lode also financed the building of San Francisco before the Great Fire and after.  The Lode was at full production until 1878 and finally ceased all mining by1920. Huge fortunes were made in this town and financed some of the expansion of California.

Stopped at the Bucket of Blood Saloon, a famous saloon from the 1870s, and looked out the window in the back - they say on a clear day you could see 100 miles.

Looking east - is that 100 miles?

Today the town boasts only 2,800 residents, probably most are running the touristy things there - the hotels, gift stores, casinos, saloons, restaurants, churches, V & T railroad ride, mine tours. Some of the old mansions are still going strong, some made into B & B inns, and many homes look like they would fall over any minute.  Are you old enough to remember Janis Joplin and her Big Brother and the Holding Company band?  She got her start at the Red Dog Saloon which is still in business and having big name concerts every month.  The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane are some other big 1960s/1970s rock bands that got their start at the Red Dog also. (I am giving away my age!)

Samuel Clemens place of employment - love the brick brack

And Mark Twain.  Samuel Clemens was a reporter and then a fill-in editor of the Territorial Enterprise of Virginia City and started using his pen name of Mark Twain in 1864 while in VC then left to go to San Francisco and world-wide fame.  He used many of his experiences of Virginia City for his writings in later years.

Pretty homes/mansions

On our way back DOWN the mountain into Reno our tonneau cover of the truck ripped apart, the winds were so high that there were banning RVs and trucks from the highway, made a quick stop at a truck accessory place and set up tomorrow morning appointment to get a new cover put on.  Wasn't impressed with Reno and now I guess Reno isn't such a bad place after all.

Looking down into Reno - about 6200 feet up