Colorful Past

DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer: Montana

No more colorful pioneer mining camp ever existed than Virginia City, Montana.

Dramatic tales can be told of the early days.  Rich placer diggings were discovered in Alder Gulch in 1863.

When word got out a stampede of gold seekers came running.

Virginia City, the best of the cities to crop up,  became the Capital of the Territory.

The ghost town of Virginia City is still very much alive as it once was.

It is frozen in time and remarkably well preserved for an old west town.

A gem held within an incredibly rich area of natural beauty and history.

in the early days of 1864 when  the smell of gold was fresh Virginia Cities population grew to 7000.  Then the gold dried up and the miners moved on.  Today it is home to only 136 residents.

One and a half miles down the road is a smaller version called Nevada City. Between the two cities they house the largest collection of old-west artifacts outside the Smithsonian.

You can easily spend a day here. Or for that matter a night or a week. They have a lot of accommodations from bed and breakfast to restored hotels, deluxe cabins and even an RV park.

Complete with Opera House, The Brewery Follies, bars and saloons.

Steam Engine no. 12 takes you for a ride every weekend.

Ice cream shops, clothing, and trinkets are ready for you to enjoy.

The only one of these old-west towns that has it all.

Even if you can believe a two-story out house. Now that had to be classy in its day.

Don't miss this if you like the old west and want to see it as it was.

Near Bozeman and Butte, Montana on hwy 287.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Powered By Qumana