Virginia City, Nevada (pop. 787), is one of the most celebrated and best-preserved old mining towns in the western United States. The American author Mark Twain, an early resident, wrote about its turbulent first years in his book Roughing It (1872). The town lies in the Virginia Range, 23 miles (37 kilometers) southeast of Reno.
Virginia City was founded in 1859, after the discovery of rich gold and silver deposits in nearby canyons. The town’s population may have reached 25,000 in 1876, at the peak of the Comstock Lode’s producing power. Today, tens of thousands of tourists visit the town each week during the summer. Virginia City serves as the seat of Storey County.
