Rack and Ruin Virginia City NV

Virginia City used to be the richest gold producing area in the United States. Gold was first found in Gold Canyon south of Virginia City by the Grosh brothers. Soon more gold deposits were found at the top of Gold Canyon in January 1859 by James Finney, known as “Old Virginny” and Henry Comstock. The early mining was done by the placer mining method of washing the dirt from around the small pieces of gold found in creeks. Later the gold veins were follwed underground by digging shafts and tunnels to follow the veins of gold. The discovery of gold and silver here brought many people to the area which became known as the “Comstock”, named after Henry Comstock. “Old Virginny” sold his original gold claim for about $50.00 and later died in 1861 a poor man. The town of Virginia City was named after him. At one time there were as many as 20,000 different claims on this mountain known as Mt. Davidson, or Sun Mountain. Between 1870 and 1880, the “Bonanza” years, there were as many as 30,000 people living in the Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City area. Early mining claims were very crude and a lot of gold was lost due to inefficient refining techniques. The miners were continuously bothered by a blue-gray clay that clogged their equipment. It was later found to be silver ore and almost as valuable as the gold.