Virginia City

Virginia City, township, seat of Storey County, western Nevada, on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe. At one time a famous mining community, it is now chiefly a ghost town attraction for tourists. In 1859 the Comstock Lode, a rich deposit of silver and gold, was discovered near here, and the community was settled, developing rapidly into a booming mining center. In 1875, when Virginia City had some 20,000 inhabitants, a great fire destroyed most of it; it was soon rebuilt. After mineral production declined in the 1880s, the population dwindled quickly. Several buildings, including Piper's Opera House (1885) and the Mackay Mansion (1860), have been restored. Mark Twain was on the staff of the Territorial Enterprise, a newspaper published here in the 1860s. Population 1,503 (1980); 788 (1990); 900 (1990).