Gold Hill is a community in Storey County, Nevada

Storey County, Nevada

Storey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 3,399, which was estimated to have risen to 4,110 in 2006...

, located just south and downhill of Virginia City

Virginia City, Nevada

Virginia City is a census-designated place that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada. It is part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 855 at the 2010 Census.- History :...

. Incorporated December 17, 1862, in order to prevent its annexation by its larger neighbor, the town at one point was home to at least 8,000 residents. Prosperity was sustained for a period of 20 years between 1868 and 1888 by mining the Comstock Lode

Comstock Lode

The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims...

, a major deposit of silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

 ore

Ore

An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....

. Mines such as the Yellow Jacket, Crown Point, and Belcher brought in over $10 million each in dividends. The Gold Hill post office remained in operation until 1943. Today Gold Hill exists as a shell of its former self; its population in 2005 was 191. It is part of the Reno

Reno, Nevada

Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

–Sparks

Sparks, Nevada

Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States, located east of Reno, Nevada. The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau population count was 90,264. Sparks is often referred to as half of a twin city .-Geography and Climate:...

 Metropolitan Statistical Area

Reno-Sparks metropolitan area

The Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in western Nevada, anchored by the cities of Reno and Sparks...

. Historical remnants of the town can still be seen, including the Gold Hill Hotel, promoted as Nevada's oldest hotel, in existence since some time prior to 1862; the former Bank of California

Bank of California

The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, the second-richest bank in the nation, and considered instrumental in developing the American Old West.-History:The ancestor of...

 building; the train depot; and remains of several of the mines.

The population of Gold Hill was largely Cornish

Cornish people

The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...

and was one of their main settlements in the Comstock area.

A later mining complex in the area operated from 1927 until 1942, though operations were sporadic after 1933, when the price of ore made continuous operations unprofitable. Just under a hundred million dollars' worth of ore was extracted after 1930. All that remain standing are the hoist and the mill's foundation. Current mining operations focus on rocks used for landscaping purposes.

In 1976, Bob Gray, a former Marine Corps photographer in World War II and admirer of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad since he was a teenager, bought a section of the abandoned railway line between Virginia City and a point about two miles south. He laid track on that right of way and began operating a steam-powered tourist railroad. The track was extended to Gold Hill in 1992, and in 1994 the Gold Hill Historical Society was established to preserve the Gold Hill depot, one of the few wooden structures in the region that survived the 1875 fire in Virginia City. After ten years of applying for grants, lobbying, and collecting steel rail donations by the Gold Hill Historical Society, the mayor of Carson City approved the letting out to bid of a contract to reconstruct the railroad between Gold Hill and the Carson River, fifteen miles away. Today Gold Hill is the southern terminus of this tourist railroad, which operates historic steam trains attracting thousands of tourists each year.

External links

• Picture of Gold Hill as a sprawling town circa 1875
• The Virginia and Truckee Railroad and its history