Virginia City: The Road To Yellowstone

Well!

This is one blog entry that I seem to be unable to write. Either the photos I had ready for posting disappear from my storage drives or I hit a writer's block or some other events prevent me from trying .... I would gladly call this situation "one of those" except .... I know exactly why this is happening.  

The ghosts! I will tell you more about them in just a few minutes - I certainly dare to hope not to lose more stuff by then.

I wrote the following a long, long time ago - just before all of my photos disappeared from all my storage drives - and I have 3 (fortunately I kept my SD cards and they are still intact) :







Yes, welcome to the past.
It seems that nothing much changed in Virginia City, Montana, since the 1860's when the city buzzed with life. Just like the neighboring Nevada City this town also sprung to life when the gold miners invaded Alder Gulch. The valley had been renamed to Fourteen Mile City then because of the number of settlements established there in a very short span of time.


Virginia City was the largest one.


And just like the rest of those settlements, it did not live very long. After a decade of placer gold mining the claims seemed to be depleted and most miners moved on. The city froze in time.

Now here we are, some 150 years later, exploring the ghost town so lovingly preserved and restored by dedicated people (Charles and Sue Bovey for starts) and organizations.

We are walking the boardwalks that once echoed the footsteps of the first inhabitants; the every-day folks and their families, the miners, the shopkeepers, the schoolchildren ....bankers, hookers, vigilantes...





Only over a hundred locals but nearly ten times as many tourists make these walk boards sing again.
The boards are original (we have been told).

Henry Ford was born in July 1863 and it would take the additional 32 years for the world to see his first experimental automobile.
But what an appropriate place to display one of his later models  with him and Virgina City sharing the B-day year - 1863.





A word of caution for all the photographers:

Yes, you may stand in the middle of the road (just kidding, uhhhh .... maybe).
...BUT make sure that you get there early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The 1 p.m. sun in Virginia City is merciless when it comes to shadows and highlights.
...AND make sure that you do not buy a cheap-cheap polarizing filter - like I did.
My skies turned out to be anything but blue.

Speaking of Photographers - this gentleman will take you back to
the bygone times.We loved his shop with hundreds of hats and other props, Be who or what you want: even Calamity Jane who roamed this country a century and a half ago.

 

Hungry/ Thirsty? There are several Cafes offering excellent food. Or just grab a sandwich and continue exploring - there is more than just the main street - just make sure to have enough time. Boy, do I sound like a marketing agent (which I am not) ?















There is an interesting sign next to a deep, narrow building.  It looks and reads like a story of a strong woman. I learn, for the first time, about Sarah Bickford and her dealings with life.

 

A deep narrow building lures us in with its open door.

The story has it that in those initial lawless years there was lot of mischief and little law.
The citizens had no other choice but to take the justice into their own hands thus forming groups of "law-serving" citizens, chasing the robbers and the murderers and .... who knows what else was going on.  These people were known as  vigilantes; some were for real, some apparently played both sides ....
Their trials were swift and the results predictable.


And though they usually got it right, sometimes they hanged an innocent man.

I get goose bumps just thinking about all this.  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/montana-vigilantes-hang-jack-slade 

One day 5 criminals were tried and hanged in this building and that's where my ghosts come in. We had been told that the building is haunted and once in a while .....................

This is what happened:
After visiting the Hangman's Building we tiptoed out to check the venue next door.A master hat-maker was just skillfully steaming a really nice felt hat into an old-time shape. We watched him work, clicking the shutters and pressing the video buttons. The hatter finished his work, got up and said:
  "Have you seen the house next door?"
"Oh, yes, we have indeed."
"And, did you see the ghost?"

U-hhhhh. Okay, lets play along....

"No we have not seen any .... guess they got scared just looking at us."

 "Seriously. Come with me now."

He gave us no chance to reply. Before we exchanged our glances, he stood inside the Hangman's Building.
"There" He turned to Judy, his arm extending towards the rafters.















"See?"
"See what?"
"The shadow."
"None."
 It was an interesting game; he told us about a girl who, just like us,  took the pictures and when she got home there was a ghost there, peeking at her from her computer screen.

"Nothing here".

"Well, maybe look into that corner over there."

We did and we clicked away fully expecting not to find anything.
But the feeling was there - just being in the place and guided by a powerful story teller amounted to an experience of its own.


One more thing got my attention:stuck down in the corner of a vitrine was a copy of the famous recruitment poster.
It is an extremely strong picture.
Looking at it I started to think of the Mothers of all these young men who never returned home.

I shook my head and walked out, thinking about everything this building represents. Confusing stuff, the human life.

I began to write all about this in July!
And then .... I LOST THE FILES! That's when I started to think about the ghosts....

There you have it. I hope to have broken the spell, so we can FINALLY get to Yellowstone National Park. It is not very far away.

Nevada City: The Road To Yellowstone V

Nevada City

Nevada City and Virginia City (our next stop) are located in an area called Alder Gulch. This is a valley created by Alder Creek that shaped the area into a deep V. It is some 25km long and it was a home to several mining cities of the past. The creek must have been overgrown by alder trees - hence the name.

 

Since creeks and alders serve as prime habitat for beavers (along, of course with many other animals) the first non-native parties inhabiting the area were the hunters and trappers who made their living by supplying Old World with all the furs they could get. Minding their solitary business they had no desire to build settlements and cities.

Later on, came the miners - all aglow with gold fever - as significant amounts of placer gold were discovered in the area. The year was 1863 and it did not take long for towns to sprout along the valley. Nevada and Virginia City were amongst them.

 

History of that era reads exactly like any Script for an Old-West Movie; hard work of miners, friendships, treachery ... robberies and vigilantes, struggle for order and justice that did not have time to set roots. Evidence of that is now preserved in those two towns, making one ponder about the human kind and its nature. I am afraid that nothing much has changed in those 150 years and nothing much ever will.

Bonanza did not last long. Gold and money-fever both gone, the towns declined and today only some remain: semi-ghosts educating and entertaining  thousands of tourists year after year.

Just before our arrival to Nevada City we were treated to an unusual cloud formation. A UFO! 
It followed us all the way to Nevada City and we managed to work ourselves into an alien-mode. This was June 6th in Montana with its wide open spaces and endless sky. Two months later, I came across the following post - aliens explained.

Nevada City:

Perhaps they should have named it Shooting Star for this city boomed for about ten or fifteen years before the people packed up and went elsewhere. Its saloons, dozens of stores, the brewery and other enterprises closed and by 1880 the town was reduced to a dozen, or so, homes. Just like a shooting star it lit up and died. 

Spire house, an intriguing building at the west entrance to Nevada City. Perhaps it belonged to Henry Bovey, who re-discovered Nevada city and commenced its restoration.

Miners' cabins. And yes, right behind is the UFO cloud that caught up with us. Impressive. It is actually and for real, called a lenticular cloud.

Today Nevada city is an "open-air- museum" that the Europeans might call a "skansen" or or "skanzen" or "a folk museum". It is a collection of buildings where people can walk about, see the presentations and learn about the past. 
This one too has a collection of old buildings, some of which have been transferred to Nevada City from other places. 14 out of displayed 108 are originals - native to Nevada City of the past.

Tickets to the museum can be bought here.

 

For those who wish to spend more time here, there is a hotel and other accommodations.There is also  Cafe and a Gift Shop etc. All one needs is a bit of money and a lot of time.

If you wish to see more click on this link:  

Nevada City is connected with Virginia city by rail - not a long distance to take - perhaps 3 or 4 km. Wanting to arrive to West Yellowstone this very same day, we passed the opportunity; much to our "geez should have done it". 

Great Northern Railway (U.S.) is another part of American history, there is something for railway enthusiasts as well.

 

 

 

 
 A lonely traffic light at the end of Nevada City marks our exit - not far ahead is another tourist destination (and yes, we could have gone by train!) - Virginia City - NEXT