Owing to the steep slope of the mountain, the site of the town was by no
means favorable, but, at great cost for grading, many fine, level
streets were constructed. The principal streets were then filled in to
the depth of a yard with waste quartz and other hard, flinty rock from
the mines. This work was so well done that to this day the streets are
hard, smooth, and dry. The Virginia Gas Company was early organized, and
the streets and business houses lighted with gas. As early as 1862 a
water company organized and brought a supply of water from several
tunnels run into the Virginia Range west of the city. This water was
conveyed to the town by means of wooden flumes and iron pipes, and
distributed to customers throughout the place. The supply of water,
however, at that time was not adequate to the requirements of the town,
and the quality was poor, being much impaired by the deleterious
minerals it held in solution. Mention of the present system of water
works will be made in another place.
Meantime, while the town was building up, good wagon roads had been
constructed in various directions at great cost. A number of fire
companies had been organized (provided at first with hand engines, but
afterwards with steamers), and Virginia City began to take on the
appearance of a real “city,” not only in the number and substantial
character of the buildings, and swarms of people it contained, but also
in the number of conveniences it afforded, its many societies, churches,
schools, theaters, clubs, orders, and organizations, usually considered
the necessary adjuncts and requirements of civilized and intelligent
communities. There were also several daily and weekly newspapers,
telegraph, express, and all other similar offices required by business
and mining men, and by the people at large. Indeed, in 1875 the area of
the city was as great as at present, and much more populous, as at that
time it was estimated to contain 20,000 people. Hundreds and thousands
of these, however, were mere birds of passage, being neither business
men nor owners of property. At and about Gold Hill at that time it was
estimated that there were about 10,000 souls. The two towns, originally
a mile apart, were connected by buildings—had grown together. Both towns
were filled with mills and mining works, that gave employment to many
thousands of miners, mechanics, and workingmen of all grades and
classes.
The Great Fire.
Everything was thus flourishing and prosperous—the “Big Bonanza” was
yielding its millions, and several other mines were working great and
rich bodies of ore—when Virginia City was overwhelmed by a great
calamity.
On the morning of October 26, 1875, a fire broke out in a frame
lodging-house on A Street, in the western part of the town, just above
all the great business blocks, and in a few hours all in an area of half
a mile square was laid in ashes. Before the fire was subdued no fewer
than 2,000 buildings—including mills, hoisting works, churches, business
houses, and structures of all kinds—were swept away. Hundreds of
families were left homeless and destitute. Owing to the early hour at
which the fire started (six o’clock), and the fearful rapidity with
which it spread in all directions, few persons were able to save any of
their goods or valuables. In all, property to the value of over
$10,000,000 was destroyed. Many great and destructive fires had before
swept through and devastated the city, but this was the greatest ever
experienced in the place. Scores of buildings that had always been rated
as fire-proof melted away in the fervent heat like frost in the rays of
the morning sun.
Almost in the start the court-house, the building of the Washoe Club,
the International Hotel, and several other large buildings, were ignited
and began vomiting pillars of flame that scattered sparks and cinders
far and wide. As the fire progressed the millions of feet of lumber and
timbers and the thousands of cords of wood about the mining works made
fires that could not be successfully combated, and which nothing could
withstand. At the Consolidated Virginia Hoisting Works and Mill alone
there were on fire at the same moment, and in one mass, 1,250,000 feet
of lumber and timbers, and 800 cords of pine wood, not to speak of the
two great buildings, and all the stores they contained; also the
adjoining assay office, and contents. Across the street the freight and
passenger depots of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad Company were
sending up immense pillars of flame, while just south Piper’s Opera
House, an immense frame structure filled with all manner of very
inflammable material, was a volcano, vomiting destruction on all sides.
Between and about these large structures a score or more of smaller
buildings were belching flames. This was the scene at but one spot. A
few rods to the southward three tall churches (Catholic, Methodist, and
Episcopal) were sending tongues of flame into the very clouds, amid
whole acres of smaller buildings that formed a tumultuous sea of fire.
At the same time to the northward the Ophir works, with fifty smaller
structures, were wrapped in flame. In the same fierce way the fire was
raging over half a mile square of the very heart of the town. Although
there were scores of narrow escapes, only two persons lost their lives
in the fire, and two or three were afterwards killed by falling walls.
To rebuild the town at once was the universal determination. The
insurance on the property destroyed amounted to $2,500,000 (the loss at
the Bonanza Mines alone was $1,461,000), which was something to begin
with; besides many persons whose property was destroyed had plenty of
money left with which to rebuild. There was not a moment’s delay. The
next morning the work of clearing away ruins preparatory to putting up
new buildings was begun in all parts of the city, water being thrown
upon the red-hot bricks to so cool them that they could be handled.
Rebuilding began the morning after the fire, and hardly ceased day or
night until all the ground of the burnt district had been again covered.
The big mining companies were especially active. Although engaged in
rebuilding the mills and works destroyed, the Consolidated Virginia
Mining Company paid its regular dividends of $10 a share in November and
December, the two amounting to $2,160,000. In less than thirty days from
the time of the fire new works replaced those destroyed by fire, and the
machinery was in place and ore hoisted on Thanksgiving-day. In sixty
days after the fire the business streets of the city were rebuilt, and
with larger and finer structures than those that had been destroyed. The
whole burnt district was so soon covered with new buildings that
strangers arriving in the city looked about them in surprise and asked,
“Where was your big fire?” That was a busy time on the Virginia and
Truckee Railroad, no fewer than forty-five trains a day passing over the
road during the great building rush. But for the railroad the city and
mining works could not have been rebuilt that year.
Virginia City at Present.
Although Virginia City covers as much ground and contains larger and
finer buildings than before the great fire, it is not so populous as in
the old flush times of the “Big Bonanza.” In those days every hotel and
lodging-house was filled to overflowing; now most of those in the city
are permanent inhabitants and property owners—those who formerly
composed the grand army of “sports,” adventurers, and idlers have gone
to other fields. At present the city contains a population of only about
9,000 persons, but nearly all those now in the place have permanent
homes and some legitimate and remunerative employment. As about
one-fourth of the male population is constantly at work under-ground in
the lower levels of the various mines, the streets do not present so
thronged an appearance as those of a non-mining town containing the same
number of inhabitants. The place, however, presents a very different
appearance on a holiday when all the mining works are shut down and the
miners are on the surface.
The first care of the people of the city after rebuilding the place was
to guard against the recurrence of such a sweeping conflagration. A
number of huge water tanks were constructed high above the town on the
side of the mountain, with a proper system of mains and hydrants
extending through all parts of the city. The pressure is so great at
these hydrants that the firemen are able to throw a stream over the
flag-staff of the tallest building in the city through a nozzle of the
largest size. A few paid firemen now fight all the fires that occur in
the city. As the hydrants are always ready the firemen have only to get
to them, attach their hose, and at once they have powerful streams
steadily playing on the fire. “Promptness of action” is their motto.
They seldom allow a fire to get out of the building in which it
originates. Usually they have a fire out before a steam fire-engine
could get up steam.
The fire mains are distinct from those which supply water for domestic
purposes, and those again from such as furnish water for use at the
mills and hoisting works of the mines. There is a system of gates
whereby the water may be shut off from the hydrants of any block in the
city and turned to any other block or blocks of buildings. This system
is so perfect that employes of the water company working in conjunction
with the firemen are able to at once turn the water to any part of the
city in which it may be required, at the same time shutting it off from
all other parts.
All the churches, halls, district court-house, theater, and other public
buildings are finer than those destroyed in the big fire, and again are
seen trees and grounds of handsome appearance in various parts of the
city. In the city are several school-houses that cost from $20,000 to
$60,000, besides which there are a number of private schools, and the
fine school of the Sisters of Charity. There is also a hospital—St.
Mary’s, a commodious brick structure—under the charge of the Sisters, as
well as a large and well-conducted county hospital. Both are located
beyond the eastern suburbs in quiet and pleasant places. The halls
belonging to the many societies and secret orders are elegant and
costly. The city now has electric lights, two daily newspapers, and one
weekly.
The mills and hoisting works are a striking and characteristic feature
of the place. The immense waste dumps, high trestle-work car tracks,
trains of ore cars on the railroad, clouds of black smoke belched from
many tall stacks, trains loaded with wood and timber, all tell that
mining is the great industry of the city; then much of the street talk
heard is of mines and mining stocks.
The International Hotel is the oldest in the city. It was founded in
1860, when it was a mere frame shanty fronting on B Street. The hotel
destroyed by the big fire was a commodious brick structure, but the
present building is far finer. It now extends from B to C Street, is
constructed of brick, stone, and iron, and is six stories in height. It
is capable of accommodating in excellent style a large number of guests.
Views from the City and Vicinity.
Though the landscape visible from the city cannot be called beautiful,
yet it is grand and picturesque. On all sides except the east, the town
is shut in by near ranges of high, rocky, and barren mountains. To the
eastward the eye reaches over a vast area composed of tracts of sandy
desert, valley lands, dark and rocky hills, and rugged and towering
mountain ranges. The chief of these is the Humboldt Range, seen blue or
purple in the distance, from 150 to 190 miles away. These mountains and
their snow-clad peaks stand out against the dark-blue of the sky far
beyond the green cottonwood groves that follow the meanderings of the
Carson River, far beyond the Forty-mile Desert and the lake and sink of
the Carson, and beyond Humboldt Lake and Sink.
To the northeast are seen several sharp and splintered peaks, while to
the southeast, from twenty to fifty miles away, rise the huge and grand
peaks of the Como Mountains. From the Divide (the dividing ridge between
Virginia and Gold Hill) may be obtained a magnificent view of the main
Sierra Nevada Range and its many mighty snow-capped peaks as they trail
and circle away from west to south till they are lost to view behind
lower interior ranges at a point over 150 miles away.
The View from the Summit of Mt. Davidson.
From the peak of Mount Davidson may be obtained a grand and extensive
view of the country in all directions. To the westward is seen Washoe
Lake and the green meadows and fields by which it is surrounded.
Although Washoe Valley and its lake seem to be just at the foot of the
mountain they are from eight to ten miles distant. Beyond and high above
the valley tower the pine-clad Sierras, with, along their line, several
giant granite peaks, snow-capped the greater part of the year. Prominent
among these stands out Bald Mountain, just north of Lake Tahoe, and
within plain view Mount Lincoln, Job’s Peak, Silver Mountain, and many
other peaks that have names. Twenty miles to the northward are to be
seen the green pastures and alfalfa fields of the Truckee Meadows, while
to the southward we have the Sierra Range and Eagle and Carson Valleys.
Carson City is hid by intervening low hills. To the eastward are the
same deserts and mountains that compose the landscape viewed from the
city, but from the top of the mountain the eye ranges over a vastly
wider field.
The Virginia and Truckee Railroad.
From our elevated position on the peak of Mount Davidson we may trace
nearly the whole course of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. This road
runs from Reno to Virginia City _via_ Carson City, and is fifty-two
miles in length. Besides being in one part the most crooked railroad in
the world, its whole course is a great curve. The distance from Virginia
City to Reno as the crow flies is only about seventeen miles, and but
twenty-two by wagon road, yet to connect the two points by rail required
a road fifty-two miles in length.
From Reno, where the road connects with the Central Pacific, its course
is southward through Truckee, Meadows, and Steamboat, Washoe and Eagle
Valleys, to Carson City, a distance of thirty-one miles. From Carson
City the road runs east down the Carson River about nine miles, when it
leaves the river and, turning to the north, begins to climb the
mountains to Virginia. From the river to Virginia the distance is
thirteen miles and the maximum grade is 116 feet. In climbing the
mountain there are many very short curves. The maximum radius of curves
is 300 feet. By adding together all these curves it is found that a
passenger on the road actually travels seventeen times round a circle
between Virginia and Carson City. On the road are six tunnels, whose
united length is 2,400 feet, and there are numerous deep cuts in very
hard rock. The only high bridge is the trestlework on which the road
crosses Crown Point Ravine, at Gold Hill. This bridge is eighty feet in
height.
Ground was broken on the road February 19, 1869, and eight months
thereafter the most difficult part of it was finished and trains were
running to Carson—twenty-one miles. The construction of this twenty-one
miles of road cost $1,750,000, the greater part of which sum was
expended on the first thirteen miles. In round numbers the whole
fifty-two miles cost $3,000,000. The road does an immense business in
the transportation of Comstock ores to quartz mills on the Carson River,
and in carrying back from the valley wood, lumber, and timbers for the
mines; it also carries from Reno to Virginia great quantities of all
kinds of goods and merchandise—coal, ice, provisions, fruit, and
machinery—with mails, express, and many passengers daily. The road
connects with the Carson and Colorado Road at Mound House, eleven miles
below Virginia City. The road and its many side-tracks and switches
constitute a lasting monument to the engineering skill of the late I. E.
James.
The Days of “Bull Teams.”
Before the Virginia and Truckee Railroad was built all freight was
transported by teams. Ore was hauled to the mills by teams, and teams
brought to the mines all the wood, lumber, and timber required. Teams
also hauled over the Sierras all the mining machinery and supplies
required by the mines and mills, and all the goods and merchandise
needed by various kinds of stores, shops, and business houses. When the
Central Pacific was completed this hauling of merchandise was from Reno,
_via_ the Geiger grade wagon-road. Hundreds of teams of all kinds were
required to handle the goods and merchandise, other hundreds the ore,
wood, lumber, and timbers, and still others to do the miscellaneous
hauling of the country. When the big reduction works of the Ophir Mining
Company were in operation near Franktown, in Washoe Valley, lines of
teams from one to three miles in length were to be seen moving along the
Ophir grade. On all other roads it was much the same. Teams of from ten
to sixteen horses or mules hauled trains of from two to four loaded
wagons. At times so many teams thronged Virginia City that blockades
occurred which could not be broken for hours. Stages, omnibuses,
delivery wagons, drays, carts, buggies, carriages, and all kinds of
vehicles were inextricably mingled in a jam that filled the principal
streets for blocks. With all the cursing of “mule-punchers,” “swampers,”
and “bull-teamsters,” it would often be two or three hours before the
wheels of traffic again began to revolve. When these blockades occurred
about noon, teamsters would often get out their dinner pails, spread
their meal on their load of wood, brick, or lumber, bring out from the
nearest saloon a measure of beer, and in a leisurely way partake of the
midday repast. Then all passengers and all mail and express matter were
carried by stages, and so great was the rush of travel and business that
the coaches went out and returned in droves, five and six in a string.
In 1859, 1860, and 1861, great quantities of goods were transported
across the Sierras from California on the backs of mules. Some of the
pack-trains were composed of fifty, eighty, and even as many as one
hundred mules. They brought over all kinds of freight, even huge casks
of liquor and large pieces of mill machinery. On the return trip they
often carried passengers. In those days the “hurricane deck” of a mule
was not to be despised.