Traveled up to Virginia City today. Virginia City was the mining town where the Comstock Lode silver strike was made in the late 1850's. At one time there were over 30,000 miners and their families living in the town. Now the population is nearer 1000, and the town looks more like Gatlinburg than a mining ghost town.
Shops selling a little bit of everything. Just not as many tee shirt shops as Gatlinburg.
One of the things there wasn't a shortage of were old saloons. There were two or three per block. I suppose that if you spent your day down in a hole digging out silver ore all day, then you probably had quite a thirst when the day was done.
There were a few relics of times gone bye on display. Apparently there were thousands of dollars won and lost every month while the boon was going on. At one time Virginia City was called the richest city in America. Over 400 million dollars worth of silver were recovered from the mines over 20 years.
To compensate for all the saloons, there were some outstanding examples of church architecture scattered around town. These are a couple of examples. There were also others.
One of Virginia City's most famous citizen's was Samuel Clements. Supposedly this is where he first used the name Mark Twain.
Some examples of the old buildings whose upper floors haven't been changed much in 150 years. That was about it for today. Tomorrow, Lake Tahoe, if the weather cooperates............jc
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for looking, and comments are welcome.