Virginia City

The 1925 bronze here gets one of its firsts wrong. Bannack City had a post office by November 1863, and Virginia City's followed in January 1864, so the claim cast in the stone belongs to Bannack. The newspaper is right: Thomas Dimsdale's Montana Post began publishing here on August 27, 1864. The town nearly carried a different name. Its founders registered it in June 1863 as Verina, after Varina Davis, wife of the Confederate president, until a judge named Bissell objected and recorded it as Virginia City.

What the plaque says

1863--Virginia City--1925 Fairweather and Party Discovered World's Richest Placer Ground May 26, 1863 Most Important Center of Notorious Road Agent Activities 1863--1864 Center of Montana's Famous Vigilante Organization 1863--1864 Home of Montana's First Newspaper, The Montana Post 1864 Montana's First Postoffice Established Here 1864 Second Territorial Capital of Montana 1865--1875 Montana's First Supreme Court Session Held Here 1865 Seal of Montana Adopted Here 1866 Marked by Madison County Federated Woman's Clubs Virginia City Prospectors found placer gold along a streambed choked with alder trees in May, 1863. Thousands came from every corner of the world to try their luck in the placer mines and, perhaps, to garner a piece of the far-famed treasure. A brief but turbulent period of lawlessness and vigilante justice ended with the creation of Montana Territory in 1864. Virginia City quickly rose to be territorial capital (1865-1875), but the glory faded when placer gold played out and the people moved on. Bypassed on the railroad route, Virginia City struggled. Gold dredging operations from the 1890's to the 1940's saved the town from abandonment. Then, Charles and Sue Bovey began buying the dilapidated gold-rush era buildings in the 1940's. Virginia City became one of the first preservation efforts in the West and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. The gold rush-era false-fronts and territorial-period landmarks reflect the optimism of Virginia City's early residents, providing a unique window to the past.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Virginia City — steps away
  A gold camp one couple began buying in 1944, and the state bought from their family in 1997.

More markers nearby

• Nevada City — 1.6 mi
• Gold in Alder Gulch — 2.3 mi
• Adobetown — 2.3 mi
• Garnets, Vigilantes and Gold Dredges — 6.8 mi