Virginia City, Nevada
Posted by: 
hykesj
N 39° 18.560 W 119° 39.225
11S E 271194 N 4354463
Panoramic view of Virginia City from Mount Davidson.
Waymark Code: WMEPXM
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 06/24/2012
Views: 27
Virginia City sprang up practically overnight when gold was discovered in the foothills of Mount Davidson by a couple of miners in 1859. What they had actually stumbled upon was the massive Comstock lode which produced around $400 million worth of gold, silver and other precious metals during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The Comstock lode was named after Henry Tompkins Paige Comstock, another miner who claimed he owned the land where the gold was discovered.
According to folklore, Virginia City was named after yet another early miner, James Fennimore who hailed from the state of Virginia and went by the nickname 'Old Virginny.' After dropping a bottle of whiskey in a drunken stupor, he christened the place "Old Virginny Town" in honor of himself.
It's said that Virginia City wealth built San Francisco as well as made rich men out of Leland Stanford, George Hearst and others. It also caught the attention of Abraham Lincoln who supposedly bent a few rules in order to allow Nevada to become a state in 1864 so that some of that silver could help finance the Civil War. The stamp commemorates the 100th anniversary of Nevada's statehood.
In its heyday, Virginia City had a population of over 10,000 but by the turn of the century, the ore was exhausted and the mines began to close. Today it's mainly a tourist attraction.
Stamp Issuing Country: United States
Date of Issue: July 22, 1964
Denomination: 5c
Color: multicolored
Stamp Type: Single Stamp
Relevant Web Site: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for this category, you must visit the actual site of the waymark. Post at least one photo that you personally took of the site if at all possible. If you cannot provide a photo for some reason, your visit will still be welcome.
You do NOT need to be a stamp collector to visit the waymark site, nor do you have to provide a photo of the stamp. Just having a copy of the stamp in question, however, is not sufficient; you must personally visit the site.