Occupied Historic
TownStorey County
Circa 1859 to Present 

Gold was discovered in the washes here in 1859 by a small party in search of a better life. With little more than the clothes on their backs, and a few gold pans, they located gold fines throughout. They measured out their claims and began working them almost immediately. They named their prospect Gold Hill for the hill that comprised it. The combined population of Gold Hill and Virginia City in late 1860 was 40,000. The boom continued in to the 1870's before it slowly started to dwindle. In the 1930's only a few hundred called either town home. Without the mines producing, both cities economies were in utter ruins. Its citizens began abandoning and dismantling property. In the late 1950's the town turned to tourism for survival.  

A few businesses still operate out of the remaining buildings


Old tailings litter the hills 


Signs of a more recent mining operation at Gold Hill


Gold Hill in the 1870's