Western Mining History

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From a National Register of Historic Places sign in town:

The spectacular gold deposit discovered in Alder Gulch on May 26, 1863, led to the rapid growth of this colorful and legendary gold camp town. Thousands of fortune-seekers rushed to the area, and by 1864 the Virginia City area boasted 30,000 residents. Rough characters attracted by the gold rush gave Virginia City an unsavory reputation, but these were tempered by pioneers and their families who settled here and helped to shape a new frontier. After the creation of the Territory of Montana, Virginia City became the territorial capital, 1865-1875, and the Madison County Seat. As the gold played out, Virginia City's population dwindled. False-fronted commercial structures, simple log cabins and frame Victorian residences remained as testimony to the transitory gold rush. Among the first to recognize the historical and architectural significance of Virginia City were Charlie and Sue Bovey of Great Falls. They began to purchase and stabilize some of the fragile buildings in the early 1940s. The Bovey's personal efforts and those of their sone, Ford, resulted in the town's designation as a National Historic Landmark and its remarkable preservation as one of the most intacet gold rush towns in the West.