Editing Virginia City, Montana (section)

==History==
===Founding===
[[File:Thomas Francis Meagher House Virginia City Montana.jpg|thumb|left|190px|Thomas Francis Meagher House, Virginia City]]
In May 1863, a group of prospectors were headed toward the [[Yellowstone River]] and instead came upon a party of the [[Crow people]] and were forced to return to [[Bannack, Montana|Bannack]]. On May 26, 1863, Bill Fairweather and Henry Edgar discovered [[gold]] near Alder Creek.<ref>{{cite book|last=Malone |first=Michael P. |title=Montana-A History of Two Centuries |author2=Roeder, Richard B. |author3=Lang, William L.  |publisher=University of Washington Press |location=Seattle, WA |isbn=0-295-97129-0 |year=1991 |pages=65–66}}</ref> The prospectors could not keep the site a secret and were followed on their return to the gold-bearing site. A mining district was set up in order to formulate rules about individual gold claims. On June 16, 1863, the township was formed under the name of "Verina" a mile south of the gold fields. The name was intended to honor [[Varina Howell|Varina Howell Davis]], the first and only [[First Lady]] of the [[Confederate States of America]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Verina, although in [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] territory, was founded by men whose loyalties were thoroughly Confederate. Upon registration of the name, a [[Connecticut]] judge, G. G. Bissell, objected to their choice and recorded it as Virginia City.<ref name=Dillion2>{{cite book |author=Dillion, Mark C. |title=Montana Vigilantes 1863-1870 Gold, Guns and Gallows |chapter=The Rise and Dominance of the "Fourteen-Mile City" at Alder Gulch |pages=8–20 |publisher=Utah State University Press |location=Logan, UT |year=2013 |isbn=9780874219197}}</ref>

Within weeks Virginia City was a [[boomtown]] of thousands of prospectors and fortune seekers in the midst of a [[gold rush]]. The remote region of the Idaho Territory was without [[law enforcement]] or [[justice system]], with the exception of [[miners' court]]s. In late 1863, the great wealth in the region, lack of a justice system and the insecure means of travel gave rise to serious criminal activity, especially robbery and murder along the trails and roads of the region. "Road agents", as they became known, were ultimately responsible for up to 100 deaths in the region in 1863 and 1864. This resulted in the formation of the [[Vigilance Committee]] of Alder Gulch and the infamous [[Montana Vigilantes]]. Up to 15 road agents were hanged by the [[vigilante]]s in December 1863 and January 1864, including the sheriff of [[Bannack, Montana|Bannack]] and alleged leader of the road agent gang, [[Henry Plummer]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Dillon, Mark C. |title=Montana Vigilantes 1863-1870 Gold, Guns and Gallows  |publisher=Utah State University Press |location=Logan, UT |year=2013 |isbn=9780874219197}}</ref>
[[File:Virginia City, Montana from Alder Gulch in the late 1890s by Charles Roscoe Savage (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|Virginia City, Montana, from Alder Gulch in the late 1890s, by Charles Roscoe Savage]]
The [[Montana Territory]] was organized out of the existing [[Idaho Territory]] by Act of [[United States Congress|Congress]] and signed into law by [[President Abraham Lincoln]] on May 26, 1864.<ref name="Montana Territory">{{cite web | url = http://courts.mt.gov/library/organic.pdf | title = An Act to provide a temporary Government for the Territory of Montana | publisher = [[Thirty-sixth United States Congress]] | date = May 26, 1864 | access-date = January 20, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070112223516/http://courts.mt.gov/library/organic.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = January 12, 2007}}</ref> Although Bannack was the first territorial capital, the territorial legislature moved the capital to Virginia City on February 7, 1865.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Jeffrey J. |title=Montana Book of Days |publisher=Historic Montana Publishing |location=Missoula, MT |year=2003 |page=40 |isbn=0966335562}}</ref> It remained the capital until April 19, 1875, when it moved to [[Helena, Montana|Helena]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Parry |first=Ellis Roberts |title=Montana Dateline |publisher=Globe Pequot Press |location=Guilford, CT |year=2001 |isbn=156044956X |page=81}}</ref> Thomas Dimsdale began publication of Montana's first newspaper, the ''Montana Post'', in Virginia City on August 27, 1864.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parry |first=Ellis Roberts |title=Montana Dateline |publisher=Globe Pequot Press |location=Guilford, CT |year=2001 |isbn=156044956X |page=186}}</ref>  Montana's first public school was established in Virginia City in March 1866.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parry |first=Ellis Roberts |title=Montana Dateline |publisher=Globe Pequot Press |location=Guilford, CT |year=2001 |isbn=156044956X |page=51}}</ref>

[[File:Gilbert Brewery Virginia City Montana.jpg|thumb|right|190px|Gilbert Brewery, Wallace Street, Virginia City, founded in 1866 by Henry S. Gilbert (1833–1902)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv41728|title=Gilbert Brewing Company records - Archives West|website=archiveswest.orbiscascade.org}}</ref>]]

===Preservation===
Virginia City's population dwindled starting in the 1880s as the easily-extracted [[placer deposit|placer]] gold played out and miners moved away. Federal monetary policy in the 1930s reduced the gold content of the U.S. dollar, making gold relatively more valuable, which led to some gold mining revival across the west. However, in 1942, the National War Labor Board's Limitation Order 209 made nearly all gold mining in the United States illegal, practically shuttering the gold mining industry in the United States. By the mid- to late-1940s, the town's gold rush-era buildings were being abandoned or dismantled for their lumber.<ref name="Gruen">{{cite journal |last1=Gruen |first1=J. Philip |title=Staging the Past in Montana's Alder Gulch: Ruminations on History, Tourism, and Preservation |journal=Montana: The Magazine of Western History |date=Winter 2011 |volume=61 |issue=4 |page=22 |jstor=23127901 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23127901 |access-date=January 3, 2024}}</ref> Charles and Sue Bovey began buying the town, putting much needed maintenance into failing structures. The [[ghost town]] of Virginia City began to be restored for [[tourism]] in the 1950s. The Boveys operated the town as an [[open-air museum]] complete with artifacts and [[living history]] enactments. Of the nearly 300 structures in town, almost half were built before 1900. Buildings in their original condition with [[American Old West|Old West]] period displays and information plaques stand next to presently active restaurants, gift shops, and other businesses. The town received [[National Historic Landmark]] status in 1962, and many of its buildings have been added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="Dilsaver">{{cite journal |last1=Dilsaver |first1=Lary M. |last2=Wickoff |first2=William |title=Failed National Parks in the Last Best Place |journal=Montana The Magazine of Western History |date=Autumn 2009 |volume=59 |issue=3 |page=22 |jstor=40543651 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40543651 |access-date=February 10, 2021}}</ref>

The [[National Park Service]] (NPS) considered adding the town to its system, conducting studies in 1937, 1980 and 1995. In the end, the state of Montana bought most of the historic buildings after the legislature authorized the purchase of the Bovey properties. Today, the Historic District of Virginia City and Nevada City is operated by the Montana Heritage Commission, with financial and technical assistance from the NPS.<ref name="Dilsaver" /> The commission operates [[gold panning]], the Nevada City Music Hall and Museum, and the Alder Gulch Railroad.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stay and Play in History - Explore Legendary Virginia City and Nevada City Montana |url=https://www.virginiacitymt.com/ |access-date=March 18, 2023 |website=www.virginiacitymt.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.virginiacityplayers.com/ |title = The Virginia City Players}}</ref>

Virginia City also has a [[Boot Hill]] cemetery, where the graves of Jack Gallagher, Boone Helm, "Clubfoot" George Lane, Hayes Lyons, and Frank Parrish—all road agents killed during Virginia City's vigilante era—are placed in a location neighboring Virginia City's main graveyard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.interment.net/data/us/mt/madison/boothill/index.htm|title=Boothill Cemetery - Madison County, Montana|website=Interment.net|last=Rail|first=Maggie|date=July 5, 2004|accessdate=December 23, 2022}}</ref> The {{RailGauge|2ft6in|lk=on}} [[Narrow-gauge railway|narrow-gauge]] Alder Gulch Short Line Railroad transports passengers by rail to the nearby ghost town of [[Nevada City, Montana|Nevada City]] and back.

The backdrop as well as the staged bar photos used in fine art pieces by [[David Yarrow]] are located in Virginia City at the Pioneer bar.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://davidyarrow.photography/collections/the-last-chance-saloon/|title = THE LAST CHANCE SALOON - David Yarrow Photography|newspaper = David Yarrow Photography|last1 = Photography|first1 = David Yarrow}}</ref>

===Filmography===
* The film ''[[The Missouri Breaks]]'' (1976) was partly filmed in Virginia City.<ref>Maddrey, Joseph (2016). ''The Quick, the Dead and the Revived: The Many Lives of the Western Film''. McFarland. Page 184. {{ISBN|9781476625492}}.</ref>
* The bar scenes in [[Little Big Man (film)|''Little Big Man'']] (1970) were filmed in the Bale of Hay Saloon, a landmark and watering hole in Virginia City.
* [[Steven Seagal]]'s film ''[[The Patriot (1998 film)|The Patriot]]'' (1998) was partly filmed in Virginia City.