Virginia City

Prospectors found placer gold along a streambed choked with alder trees in May, 1863. Thousands came from every corner of the world to try their luck in the placer mines and, perhaps, to garner a piece of the far-famed treasure. A brief but turbulent period of lawlessness and vigilante justice ended with the creation of Montana Territory in 1864. Virginia City quickly rose to territorial capital (1865-1875), but the glory faded when placer gold played out. People moved on. Bypassed on the railroad route, Virginia City struggled. Gold dredging operations from the 1890s to the 1940s saved the town from abandonment. Then, Charles and Sue Bovey began buying the dilapidated gold-rush era buildings in the 1940s. Virginia City became one of the first preservation efforts in the West and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. The gold rush-era false-fronts and territorial-period landmarks reflect the optimism of Virginia City’s early residents, providing unique window to the past.