[Located in the center of town is a monument on which there is mounted six markers commemorating historical events and people of Virginia City]

West Side - Front of Monument:

In June of 1859 in Gold Canyon, a second group of Prospectors found the outcropping of what would become one of the richest gold and silver deposits ever found. Soon to be known as “the Richest Place on Earth” the Washoe Diggings, as it was called, became the towns of Silver City and Gold Hill with populations approaching 28,000 people and was a major factor for the admission of Nevada as the 36th state in the Union. This sesquicentennial year is the 150th anniversary of the gold and silver find.

Dedicated June 27, 2009

Julia C. Bulette chapter 1864 E Clampus Vitus

Second Marker on Front of Monument:

The Comstock Lode

Discovered 8 June 1859

At head of Six Mile Canyon

Washoe Mining Disrict

Virginia City, Nevada

This monument of ore from

every Nevada County

commemorates the one-hundredth

anniversary of

the discovery of silver

Marker on South Side of Monument (See Photo #4):

Destroyed by fire in 1875, Virginia City was quickly rebuilt and became a metropolis of 25,000 people. Served by stage lines and the Wells Fargo Bank and Express Company. It was later the terminal of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. Richest short line in the world.

The Territorial Enterprise, with a staff of Joseph Goodman, Mark Twain, Rollin Daggett, Dan DeQuille, and C.C. Goodwin, became the most celebrated and powerful newspaper in the West.

All of the famous theatrical stars of the era appeared in John Piper’s Opera House.

Upper Marker on North Side of Monument (See Photo #8):

“Brunswick Ledge”

Monte Cristo Lode / Occidental Lode

Silver Star Mining District

A separate but similar parallel ore body, 1 ¼ miles east of the Comstock Lode and 2 ¼ miles long, located 1863 by crew of the Occidental Mine at the south end and later by the Monte Cristo Mine on north. In 1872 Sutro Tunnel crews cut a 100 ft. wide ledge 1361 feet under the St. John property and named the rich vein “Brunswick”, possibly to honor the exquisite saloon back bars and billiard tables of that era.

Several major Comstock mines extended to the ledge in 1895. Peak production years were 1896-1914 with two million dollars of ore removed.

Dedicated June 23, 1986

Julia C. Bulette Chapter No.1864

E Clampus Vitus

Lower Marker on North Side of Monument (See Photo #9):

The Comstock Lode was discovered by Ethan Allen Grosh and Hosea Ballou Grosh, followed by the discovery of silver ore in the Lode by Patrick McLaughlin and Peter O’Reilly, on ground claimed by Henry T.P. Comstock and James Fennimore.

Square-set timbering invented by Phillip Deidesheimer in 1860, made possible mining large bonanza ore bodies at great depths in the Mexican, Ophir, California, Virginia, Consolidated, Best and Belcher, Savage, Gould and Curry, Hale and Norcross, Cholar and Potosi, Imperial, Yellow Jacket, Kentuck, Crown Point and Belcher Mines.

Adolph Sutro drove a 4 mile adit and over 4 miles of laterals into Mt. Davidson to drain the mines. More than one-half billion dollars were extracted.

Water was brought 30 miles from the Sierra Nevada to Virginia City.

Upper Marker on East Side (Back) of Monument (See Photo #11):

Philip Deidesheimer

1832 – 1916

Inventor of the Square Set Timbering method used in the Comstock Lode. This major breakthrough in mining technology permitted large ore bodies to be safely mined at any height, width, length or depth. Never was there any loss of life or property through any defect in this system of timbering.

Deidesheimer chose not to patent his invention, but encouraged its free use throughout the Comstock Lode.

He died poor in San Francisco at the age of 84.

Julia C. Bulette Chapter 1864

E Clampus Vitus

June 27, 1987

Lower Marker on Back (East Side) of Monument (See Photo #12):

Comstock production altered world monetary standards, kept the United States solvent during the Civil War, created the State of Nevada and made possible the two Senate votes necessary to pass the Thirteenth Amendement, built San Francisco, both before and after the great fire of 1906, and founded numerous industries.

William Ralston and William Sharon were the first financial geniuses of Virginia City. The Big Bonaza made John W. Mackey, James G. Fair, James G. Flood, and William O’Brien the “Silver Kings”.

George Hearst, founder of a newspaper dynasty, made a fortune in Virginia City.

William M. Stewart, eminent lawyer, drafted the first federal mining laws.

Marker is on C Street (Nevada Route 341), on the right when traveling north.

Credits and Sources:

Courtesy hmdb.org

Images: Source, Source, Public Domain, Public Domain, Public Domain, Public Domain.