The New Student's Reference Work/Virginia City, Nev.

Virginia City, Nev., county-seat of Storey County, about 180 miles northeast of San Francisco. It is on the steep slope of Mt. Davidson, about 6,300 feet above the sea. It is built over the great Comstock lode (q. v.), the largest mineral vein in the world. The city was founded in 1859, and grew rapidly with the influx of gold-seekers, until in 1875 it had 15,000 inhabitants. Since the decline in the price of silver the town has steadily decreased in size, and the present population is only 2,224. The Comstock lode was discovered by a Virginian and this fact has given the name to the city. The town has a library, churches, schools and newspapers, and has electric and gas plants and, for domestic and mining purposes, a daily supply of 10,000,000 gallons of water.