Tucked between the Tobacco Root Mountains and Mount Baldy in southwestern Montana, Virginia City began in May 1863, when gold was discovered in Alder Creek.  Some 10,000 fortune seekers arrived, and the days of whiskey, revolvers, road agents, and vigilantes began.  Boot Hill, overlooking the town, is a constant reminder of its rough, tough, and unruly past.  A great number of mining towns have become ghost towns, but not Virginia City, thanks to the men and women who gave of themselves to establish a permanent town where families, schools, churches, businesses, and organizations would thrive.

Compiled by the Thompson-Hickman Museum's Evalyn Batten Johnson and Joanne Erdall, this compendium of imagery provides a look into Virginia City's past, with photographs from the Dick Pace Archives, the Montana Historical Society, and the Thompson-Hickman Museum, as well as private collections.  Virginia City's wild and unruly past comes alive in these pages, as the glowing promise of gold still stirs the imagination in this small town in southwest Montana.

Author:  Evalyn Batten Johnson

               Joanne Erdall

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