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Article: More than the glory: Preserving the Gold Rush and its outcome at Virginia City
- Article from:
- Montana; The Magazine of Western History
- Article date:
- October 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Montana Historical Society Autumn 1999. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Veteran prospector
James H. Morley followed the lure of gold to Montana in 1862, working placer claims at the rich strikes of Grasshopper, Alder Gulch, and Last Chance. When the last of these stampedes had ended, Morley vividly recalled the excitement. "Truth and the marvelous go hand in hand," he wrote, "when Young America finds a good gold gulch."1
Nearly a century and a half later, Montana's gold rush is remembered at all three of these places, but it is best preserved at Virginia City where first generation buildings from the far-removed 1860s are still central to the town's main street. Virginia City, however, is more than one of the best preserved gold rush towns in the American ...