The New International Encyclopædia/Virginia City

VIRGINIA CITY. The county-seat of Storey County, Nev., 52 miles southeast of Reno; on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. It is situated at an elevation of over 6000 feet in a region noted for its extensive mineral deposits (Map: Nevada, D 2). The most important of the mines here is the Comstock Lode (q.v.). It was discovered in 1859, and the value of the output from 1860 to 1890 was $340,000,000. Since 1890, however, the production has materially decreased. The court-house and the Miners' Union Library are noteworthy features of the town. Under the charter of 1881 the government is vested in a board of three county commissioners. Virginia City grew up around the Comstock Lode, and was called successively Ophir and Silver City. It received its present name from James Fenimore, an early settler who was familiarly known as ‘Old Virginia.’ It was incorporated in 1864. Population, in 1890, 8511; in 1900, 2695.