Rich placer diggings were discovered in Alder Gulch in the spring of 1863 and the stampede of gold seekers was on! Sluices soon lined the gulch and various "cities" blossomed forth as trading and amusement centers for free handed miners. Virginia City is the best known of these and the sole survivor. Wood sidewalks and various shops, some stocked with goods, line both sides of the main street.

     Today we visited this gold mining town located 90 miles from West Yellowstone. The State of Montana paid $6.5 million to buy nearly 250 buildings and their contents in Virginia City and nearby Nevada City in 1998. Most buildings are now restored in "arrested decay", with new structural support and roofs, leaving the rest of the structure just as time has aged it. Virginia City was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

     The US was in the midst of the Civil War, and many miners flocked to this settlement to make a living. Though a few of the miners made their fortunes in the gold fields, and even more businessmen became wealthy, there was yet another group who planned on gaining riches another way.

     Time after time, miners, freight haulers, and stagecoaches lost anything of value to the bandits lurking about the trails to and from Virginia City. As a result, a secret society of vigilantes was formed to stop the outlaws. Lynchings became the common event of the day as the vigilantes hunted down the road agents stringing them up in the streets. Though history now questions whether the many crimes were committed by highwaymen or perhaps the vigilantes, themselves, their is no question that the settlement was extreme in its lawlessness and violence.