Virginia City
| Virginia City | |
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 Shopping mall in the city |
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| Location of Virginia City in Nevada | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1859 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Nevada |
| County : | Storey County |
| Coordinates : | 39 ° 19 ′ N , 119 ° 39 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Pacific ( UTC − 8 / −7 ) |
| Residents : | 855 (as of 2010) |
| Height : | 1889 m |
| FIPS : | 32-80000 |
| GNIS ID : | 856420 |
 Bird's Eye View of Virginia City, lithograph by Augustus Koch (1875) |
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Virginia City is a census-designated place- type dependent settlement in Storey County , Nevada , United States . It is located in the Reno-Tahoe region at an altitude of 1896 m on the slope of the 2398 m high Mount Davidson and had 855 inhabitants in 2010.
history
Virginia City is one of the oldest settlements in Nevada and west of the Mississippi . Virginia City owes its importance and rapid population growth to the Comstock ore vein and later silver discoveries here and near Carson City in 1859 , which also triggered a gold rush for Virginia City. Within a short period of time, at the height of the gold rush, the population rose to almost 30,000, only to shrink again sharply since the end of the 1880s, when the finds ceased. Abraham Lincoln raised Nevada to a state not least in order to be able to use the proceeds from the gold and silver discoveries in Virginia City for the civil war .
As the Comstock gold vein got wider inside the mountain, Philip Deidesheimer developed a support system here that was later used throughout the mining industry. Comstock paid four dollars for an eight-hour day worker. The work was very difficult because of the great heat inside the tunnels. The Comstock mine was one of the first in the world to experiment with dynamite ; previously the explosions had been carried out with black powder . In 1869, 35 miners were killed in a fire in the Yellow Jacket tunnel at a depth of 250 meters. Adolph Sutro then planned a tunnel project from Virginia City into the Carson Plains east of the mountains in order to better ventilate the tunnels and create better escape routes. When the tunnel was completed in 1878, most of the gold veins had dried up.
In 1863, Samuel Clemens, who worked briefly in the mines but later as a reporter for the Territorial Enterprise newspaper , is said to have used his pseudonym as Mark Twain for the first time . He describes this time in his book Through thick and thin .
Virginia City had an opera house (Pipers Opera House) and around 100 saloons , one of the most famous being the Boston Saloon , founded by African American William Brown in 1864, at a time when slavery was still prevalent in many states . Julias Palace was at times the most famous brothel in the city, the operator Julia Bulette (1832-1867) among other things honorary member of the city fire brigade. In 1875 a devastating fire devastated large parts of the city.
The opening concert of a series of performances by the band The Charlatans held on July 29, 1965 in the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City is considered to be the first psychedelic rock concert with appropriately designed posters, free dancing and a psychedelic light show .
economy
In Virginia City, the ghost town image is fervently cultivated. Practically the whole city is since July 1961 as Historic District under monument protection and since then has the status of a National Historic Landmark . Many houses have been restored in the Victorian era style. There are occasionally wooden sidewalks that lead from saloon to saloon and from souvenir shop to souvenir shop. In the travel season, the city is now home to around 800 residents and is frequented by around 2 million visitors every year. Every year there is a big biker meeting with around 30,000 active motorcyclist participants. The meeting is scheduled for the last weekend in September each year.
climate
The area is very dry, snow or rain rarely falls. The supply of drinking water was therefore difficult. Carbon filters were used for water treatment. During archaeological excavations of the "Piper's Old Corner Bar", mineral water bottles from Germany from the 2nd half of the 19th century were also found.
Virginia City celebrities
- Julia Bulette (1832–1867), Virginia City prostitute
- Hobart Cavanaugh (1886–1950), actor, born there
- Richard Kirman (1877–1959), Governor of Nevada (1935–1939), born there
- Albert A. Michelson (1852–1931), physicist (Nobel Prize 1907), grew up there
- Mark Twain (1835-1910), writer, worked there
Virginia City in television and film
- In 1940 the civil war western Virginia City starred here with Errol Flynn and directed by Michael Curtiz .
- The TV series Bonanza takes place in the Virginia City area, the opening credits show the location of the Cartwright Ranch on Lake Tahoe .
- Virginia City: The True Story of the Wild West : Documentation about the rise of the city and the archaeological investigations (directed by Elmar Bartlmae; first broadcast in Germany 2007)
- In the radio play Die Drei ??? Ghost town , Justus, Peter and Bob meet up with Mandy Taylor in Virginia City, as she wants the three of them to look for their partner Michael Oames. Virginia City is described here as a completely deserted, deserted place.
Web links
- Visit Virginia City - Virginia City Tourism Commission
- Virginia City Chamber of Commerce
Individual evidence
- ^ US Census Bureau: American Fact Finder Virginia City CDP, Nevada , Census 2010
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Nevada. National Park Service , accessed August 17, 2019.