A once bustling mining town in the late 1800s, Virginia City was heralded as the most important settlement between Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, California in the time of its heydays. One of the oldest settlements in Nevada, it got its start when two miners by the names of Pat McLaughlin and Peter O'Reilly discovered gold at the head of Six-Mile Canyon in 1859. Soon, another miner named Henry Comstock, stumbled upon their find and claimed it was on his property. The gullible McLaughlin and O'Reilly believed him and that assured Henry a place in history when the giant Comstock Lode was named.

However, the Comstock Lode would not be known for gold, but rather, for its immensely rich silver deposits. Though silver had initially been discovered in 1857 in Nevada by brothers, Evan and Hosea Grosh, they died before they could record their claims. Though the miners rushed in after the discovery of gold, they were unable to get to it because of the heavy blue-gray clay that clung to picks and shovels. However, when someone had the good sense to assay the sticky mud, it was found to be worth $2,000 a ton – a very nice amount in those days.

Word of the discovery spread like wildfire and lured California gold miners in a reverse migration back over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and within no time, a ramshackle town of tents and shacks was born. When a miner named James Finney, who was more often called "Old Virginny" from his birthplace, dropped a bottle of whiskey on the ground, he christened the newly founded tent-and-dugout town "Old Virginny Town" in honor of himself. It was later changed to Virginia City. By 1862, the population had soared to some 4,000 and would continue to increase over the next decade and a half.

Grubby prospectors became instant millionaires. Famous men like William Ralston and George  Crocker, who would found the Bank of California; Leland Stanford, George Hearst, John Mackay, and William Flood made their fortunes in Comstock mining. Soon mansions, imported furniture and fashions from Europe, and the finest in food, drink and entertainment were commonplace. Virginia City quickly rivaled San Francisco in size and excess.