Great Fire at Virginia City.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6309, 6 August 1888, Page 4

Great Fire at Virginia City.

« SEVENTY HOUSES BURNED. [Special to Peess Association.] NEW TOEK, August 3. A great fire lias occurred at Virginia City, Nevada. Seventy houses •were destroyed. [Virginia City, situated on the famous Comßtock silver lode, is at the East foot of Mount Davidson, and is the chief city of Nevada. It was founded soon after the discovery of the Comßtock, and is laid out on a precipitous site. li> ia fifty-two miles from Eeno, one of the stations on the Union Pacific Bail way, at the terminus of the Virginia and Truckee Eailway. In 1860, ■with a population of 2345, it contained an hotel and— a newspaper office. The latter building consisted of a shed and one room ; the former being used as a cooking, dining and sleeping place by editors, reporters and compositors, and the latter answering as an editorial, typographical and advertising department combined. With a population now numbering upwards of 25,000, the cosmopolitan city is yet unattractive in appearance; but when night falls on the visible town, the invisible town undergroundis glimmering withathousandlights, just as it has been glimmering through all the summer days and all the winter nights ever since the Comstock lode was first* penetrated by a shaft; for there ia no repoae in that mysterious region, no relapse of day into night, no summer, no winter, no Sunday. Approximately, one-fourth of the population is hidden in the mines. As for the superficial area, that is overcrowded with a strange medley ; Finte and Washoe Indians in picturesque rags, Chinamen in blue and black blouses, brawny Corhißhmen, vehement Mexicans, and many other people from far-apart countries mingle and Burge along in the stream that is constantly rushing through the principal thoroughfares.] _______________