The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-05-24
TiFgf,ita Cftu, Necada.
IHnrrnrin Mnnniua

Virginia City now has population of !!
about twenty-five thousand, including
one-half the whole number of voters in
the State of Nevada. Few pictures of it
give correct idea of its position. In
photographs it appears to be at the foot
of the mountain, while it is in fact built
across the mountains face, and the peak
that rises two thousand feet above it also
extends two thousand feet below it. 1t
is so environed and confined by noun
tains that the railway which connects it
with the Central Pacific at Reno has
curves enough to describe a circle of
three hundred and sixty degrees seven
teen times; the distance to Reno in bee
line is sixteen miles, and the distance by
the railway, which cost two million dol
lars, is fifty. two miles.
The pitch of the ground is such that
what is the first story of house in front
becomes the second or third story in the
rear, and looking eastward, northward,
or southwark, the eye meets an UNMARRIED
prospect of chain after chain of inter
locked peaks.
The people are ultra, Californian in
their nature and habits, excessively fond
of display, lavishly hospitable, i'm
petuous in business, and irrepressible in
speculativeness. On October 26, 1875,
fire swept the city from end to end, and
ten million dollars worth of property,
including all the mining works on the
surface, went up in the flames. Within
sixty days the most important mines
had renewed their buildings and ma
chinery, and within six months the whole
city had been rebuilt.
10 guard against recurrence of the
disaster, system of reservoirs and
hydrants was established, and it would
be easier now to food the city than to
burn it. The Virginians are proud of
the quality and abundance of their water
supply. The works cost over two million
dollars, and the water is brought a dis
tance of thirtv-one and half miles from
Marlette's Lake, in the Sierras.
What is most surprising to the stranger
is the proportions of the constant rush
ing crowd on G Street, the principal
thoroughfare, and the cosmopolitan
character of its elements. Piute and
Washoe Indians in picturesque rags,
Cinnamon in blue and black blouses,
brawny Cornishmen, vehement Mexicans,
and many other people from far apart
countries mingle and surge along in the
stream. There is nothing provincial or
shabby. The stores are we'll stocked, and
the show-windows glitter with the attrac-
tiveness of their wares. The men around
you are men of the world, who have
travelled, and in many instances made
money.
The restaurants are not the least
among the marvels of Virginia City.
While every thing else is frightfully
, dear, and the storekeepers seem to con
slider all purchasers the happy possessor'
of Fortunatus purse, food is uncom
| monty cheap. and an excellent dinner o.
, four courses can be had for fifty cents
or a more elaborate dinner, with game
7 poultry, and half bottle of fair wine
! for a dollar. Every delicacy in season
i finds its way from San Francisco ano
+ New York, and two oceans contribute
0 their produce to the marbled and mir
e rored lunch counters.
b Another development of the luxuriou
E character of the citizens is club afte
r the metropolitan pattern, with richl.
# furnished billiard-rooms and reading
n rooms, where the bachelor may smok
the pipe of celibacy in peace.
e They are nearly all bachelors in Vii
Il ginia; the atmosphere of the place is b
n no means favorable to wives and chi
dren; the feminine element is yer
,r decolLetee in manners as we'll as in dres
D. and yet there are good and affectionat
1t women in the town, especially anon
8, the miners wives, and we see them
IF advantage in times of trouble, whe
" some wounded creatures is brought to th
it surface from below. There are fe
r boarding houses; the upper parts of til
a. stores and other buildings are let out {
ID lodgings, and the meals are supplied b
as the many excellent restaurants.
N While night has fallen on the visib
NJ town, the invisible town under ground
id glimmering with thousand lights, ju
,e as it has been glimmering through a
,s. the summer days that have shone and a
the winter nights that have lowered ev
since the Comstock lode was first pen
10 trated by shaft There is no repose
10 that mysterious region; none of the en-
~ less changes and renewals of season tn
n sweeten existence on the earth; no I
70 lapse of day into night, or night in
- day; no summer, no winter, and no Su
N day. The farthest journey possible {
the surface could not take the travel
Lo to a country half so miraculous as tn
~ which lies less than mile below Il
- parallels of familiar stores on G Stree
D -. it is as with a physiognomist, who trav,
:" @ ing in the interior of Africa, and sea
- ming the strangest human faces amol
~ the natives, would not see any thing hs
" so strange as the heart of his neare
% neighbor, had he the power to probe t
30 little depth of flesh that seals it and
" innermost secrets. Nearly one-fourth
I I the whole population is hidden in t
1 n' mines, and when we see how Ovt
IL crowded the superficial area is, al
y, realize how many more streets and pe
~ ~: ple are out of sight, how the crest of t
Ia 4. mountain is the roof of seventeen-sto
~ ~ building which is constantly sinki
" deeper into the earth, we gre prepared
y, ~ agree with the proud citizen who assul
r of us that Virginia is "pretty consider
~ - BILE place."
IN GAS is made in San Francisco frC
it sawdust, tar, and rubbish, such as ra
Eat old leather, bones-in fact, everythi
of. that is usually thrown away-in I
ms, proportions OF twenty-five per cent.