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Virginia City
When the California Gold Rush hit in 1848, central Nevada's Truckee Meadows and River, which evolved into the city of Reno, became a rest stop for prospectors. An estimated 22,500 settlers passed through Truckee Meadows in 1849, and up to 52,000 in 1852. Seven years later, the Comstock Lode, a rich outcropping of gold and silver, was discovered 40 miles from the Meadows in a town newly named Gold Hill.
Thousands of prospectors flocked to Virginia City after the Comstock Lode was discovered.
The boisterous mining town that sprouted up around Gold Hill was called Virginia City and became the most important settlement between Denver and San Francisco. As prospectors became millionaires, they built mansions in Virginia City, filling them with European furniture and fashions. All told, Virginia City's mines contributed more than $400,000,000 in silver and gold to the U.S. economy, and although the local mines were in decline by the 20th century, the town has changed little from its boom days. The 1950s brought about an increase in tourism, accelerated in the 1960s with the popularity of television's "Bonanza" series.
Virginia City's history is depicted in its many museums, including the restored Mackay Mansion, built as the headquarters for John Mackay, who made a fortune from the Comstock Lode. The town's past is also unveiled at the Nevada Gambling Museum, where cheating devices, gamblers' weapons and 100 antique slot machines are on display.
Piper's Opera House, built in 1885, still serves as a theater and remains one of the most significant vintage theaters in the American West. Equally impressive is the Fourth Ward School museum, housed in a Victorian schoolhouse that was one of the first buildings in town to have running water, flush toilets and central heat. The museum, with the signatures of the last graduating class (1936) still on its blackboard, sponsors the town's annual Comstock Preservation Weekend.
As in its heyday, Virginia City's C-Street is lined with saloons, including the Delta, opened in 1863; the Bucket of Blood, featuring a collection of antique hanging lamps; the Union Brewery, where beer is made on-site; and the Mark Twain, named for the famous author who was once a reporter for the local newspaper. Also on C-Street is Red's Old Fashioned Candies, the oldest operating candy store in Nevada, where candies are still cooked in the original copper kettles.
In 1875 a disastrous fire destroyed much of Virginia City, but the 1864 home of C.J. Prescott, owner of a lumber company on the Comstock Lode, survived. Although Joe Page bought the modest, wood-frame Victorian in the 1960s, he didn't begin to restore the home until he met his wife in the 1980s. Together, they rebuilt the porch, enlarged the kitchen and peeled off six layers of wallpaper from various rooms. In keeping with the home's original design, Joe refastened the marble on the fireplace, Carol re-grained the wood in the dining room and elsewhere, and historical wallpaper expert Deborah Thomas restored the wallpaper on the dados, walls, friezes and ceilings.
As their restoration continued into the 1990s, Joe and Carol Page deeded their house to the State of Nevada. The home will eventually become a museum, open to the public for a glimpse of life during Virginia City's colorful boomtown years.
Virginia City Resources
Complete Nevada Traveler Guide to Virginia City
PO Drawer F, Virginia City, NV 89440
775-847-0222, Fax: 775-847-0327
cnt@nevadaweb.com
http://www.nevadaweb.com/cnt/r-t/vc.html
Comstock Historic District
372 South C Street, Virginia City, NV 89440, 775 847-0281
Nevada Ghost Towns
news@ghosttowns.com,
http://members.xoom.com/ghosttowner/
The Territorial Enterprise Newspaper
news@territorial-enterprise.com,
http://www.territorial-enterprise.com
Virginia City Chamber of Commerce
V&T Railroad Car, 131 South C. Street, PO Box 464, Virginia City, NV 89440
775-847-0311
info@chamber/comstocklode.com
Virginia City Convention and Tourism Authority
110 Toll Road, Virginia City, NV 89440-0920
702-847-7500, Fax: 702-847-0935
vccta@reno.quik.com,
http://www.virginiacity-nv.org
Virginia City Web Site
http://go-reno.com/vcity
Reno
 
Washoe and Paiute Indians originally settled the portion of Nevada that would eventually become the city of Reno. Of essence to the survival of these tribes was a river that would later be named Truckee, and a desert oasis that white explorers would call Pyramid Lake.
The Truckee River was vital to indigenous tribes and early explorers.
Seeking passage to California, the first white explorers, led by Captain John Freemont, came upon the river and lake in 1844. Freemont named the Truckee River for an Indian who befriended his party, and coined Pyramid Lake's name from a pyramid-shaped rock overhang. As the explorers continued southward, they traveled across Truckee Meadows. Here, in 1859, settler Charles Fuller would establish a town named Fuller's Crossing by building a hotel and the first bridge across the Truckee River. When Fuller sold the bridge in 1861 to Myron Lake, the place became known as Lake's Crossing.
When the Central Pacific reached Reno, the town became known as the "End of the Track."
The completion of the Central Pacific Railroad over the Sierra Nevadas and the mining boom of the Comstock Lode in nearby Virginia City prompted the growth of Lake's Crossing in the mid-1800s. Along with the railroad came thousands of settlers to the town they nicknamed "End of the Track." When the railroad auctioned off lots in Lake's Crossing, the city was established and its name was changed to Reno in honor of a Union officer killed in the Civil War.
Reno's population dwindled by 35 percent between 1880 and 1900 due to the decline of the nearby Comstock mine. The local economy suffered even more when gambling became illegal in 1910. As gambling operations went underground, organized crime moved in. The "sport" was again legalized in 1931.
Major companies like John Deere and Amazon.com are headquartered in Reno.
Today, the Reno/Sparks/Lake Tahoe area is one of the fastest growing in the country, in part because there are few taxes. Reno is home to Ralston Foods, Michelin North America, John Deere Company, Kal-Kan and Amazon.com. Among the city's attractions are 18 world-class ski resorts, 30 golf courses and the National Bowling Stadium. The city's National Automobile Museum showcases 200 vintage, restored cars, and the Municipal Rose Garden at Idlewild Park displays 2,400 rose plants, with 560 varieties.
Of course there's still plenty of gambling and gambling history in this town. Fitzgerald's Lucky Forest features a Liberty Belle slot machine collection and an assortment of "luck" objects from around the world, including the only Blarney Stone to leave Ireland. Another "must see" attraction is Reno's Silver Legacy Resort Casino, which houses a full-scale replica of an 1890 mining rig, rising 120 feet above the casino floor.
One of the travelers from California to the Comstock Lode was a young visionary named Francis Newlands. In the 1880s, Newlands moved to Reno from San Francisco and bought 200 acres along the bluff of the Truckee River. He developed Reno's most elegant residential area, and built himself a roomy suburban-like estate in 1887. Newlands eventually became a senator, and sponsored an irrigation project that opened the Reno area for agriculture and settlement. By 1910, Reno was known as the "biggest little city" in Nevada.
Although it was a National Landmark, the Newlands property began to deteriorate in the 1970s. Melinda and Dan Gustin bought the home in 1984 and began its restoration. The couple obtained radiators from a fraternity house that was being demolished, bought antique rugs from a local family, and refurbished the mahogany floors. The restoration became a family project when Melinda's parents moved into the home. Her father opened up a stairway into the second floor, and fixed 82 of the home's windows. Other craftsmen were hired to create a high-quality, shingle-style roof after the original was damaged by a severe storm. Today, the Queen Anne home that once belonged to a visionary statesman is a shining example of latter 19th-century architecture.
Reno Resources
Greater Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce
405 Marsh Avenue, PO Box 3499, Reno, NV 89509
Phone: 775-686-3030, Fax: 775-686-3038
info@reno-sparkschamber.org
http://www.reno-sparkschamber.org
Reno.net
2700 Mill Street, Suite 400, Reno, NV 89502
Phone: 775-348-2772, Toll-free: 800-748-6867, Fax: 775-348-7294
info@reno.net,
http://www.reno.net/home.shtml
Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority
300 North Center Street, PO Box 837, Reno, NV 89504
775-827-RENO (-7366), Toll-free: 888-HIT-RENO (448-7366), Fax: 775-827-7713
http://www.playreno.com
Reno-Tahoe Territory
http://www.renotahoe.com
RenoWorld
goodcleanfun@renoworld.comor renoworld@infoera.com
http://www.renoworld.com |
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