The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-05-24
Tirgfnta City, Necada.

lHarpers magazine
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 a 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 a bee
line is sixteen miles, aud 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, ard looking eastward, northward,
or southwark, the eye meets an unvaried
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 a recurrence of the
disaster, a 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 broug bit a dis
tance of thirty-one and a 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 well stocked, and
the show-windowsg 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 possessors
of Fortunatus purse, food is uncom
monty cheap, and an excellent dinner OF
} four courses can be had for fifty cents
or a more elaborate dinner, with game
poultry, and half bottle of fair wine
for a dollar Every delicacy in season
finds its way from San Francisco and
New York, and two oceans contribute
} their produce to the marbled and mir
: rored lunch counters.
/ Another development of the luxuriou
, character of the citizens is club aftel
r the metropolitan pattern, with richl!
f furnished billiard rooms and reading
4 rooms, where the bachelor may smok
the pipe of celibacy in peace.
e They are nearly all bachelors in Vii
| ginia; the atmosphere of the place is b.
1 no means favorable to wives and chill
dren; the feminine element is yer,
r decoUetee in manners as well as in dress
= and yet there are good and affectienat
t women in the town, especially anon
!. the miners wives, and we see them /
f advantage in times of trouble, whe
v some wounded creature is brought to tn
t surface from below. There are fey
: boarding houses; the upper parts of tn
l. stores and other buildings are let out q
4 lodgings, and the meals are supplied b
s the many excellent restaurants.
n While night has fallen on the visibl
d town, the invisible town under ground
glimmering with thousand lights, jus
e as it has been glimmering through a
:. the summer days that have shone and a
the winter nights that have lowered eve
since the Comstock lode was first pen,
o trated by shaft. There is no repose
q that mysterious region; none of the enc
+ less changes and renewals of season ths
l. sweeten existence on the earth no r
- lapse of day into night, or night int
l. day; no summer. no winter, and no SUI
- day. The farthest journey possible O
- the surface could not take the travelt
- to country half so miraculous as tn:
which lies less than mile below tt
= parallels of familiar stores on G Stree
- it is as with physiognomist, who trave
. ing in the interior of Africa, and seal
- ming the strangest human faces amor
=. the natives, would not see any thing ha
= so strange as the heart of his neare
. neighbor, had he the power to probe tt
little depth of flesh that seals it and i
~ innermost secrets. Nearly one-fourth
=. Ls the whole population is hidden in tt
- - mines, and when we see how owe
- - crowded the superficial area is, al
- realize how many more streets and pc
~ ~ pie are out of sight, how the crest of Il
=: mountain is the roof of seventeen. .stol
= building which is constantly sinkil
~ deeper into the earth, we gre prepared
~ =, agree with the proud citizen who assur
of ~ us that Virginia is "pretty consider
of BILE place."
n GAS is made in San Francisco fro
it sawdust, tar, and rubbish, such as rag
at old leather, bones-in fact, everythi
of that is usually thrown away-in t
1,s .-..-.