The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Virginia City (Montana)

VIRGINIA CITY, a city and the county seat of Madison co., Montana, on the N. bank of Alder creek, a tributary of Stinkingwater river, on the E. slope of the Rocky mountains, 5,826 ft. above the sea, 110 m. S. of Helena; pop. in 1870, 867, of whom 279 were Chinese; in 1875, about 1,200. The streets are regularly laid out. It is connected by regular lines of stages with the Utah Northern railroad, 350 m. S. It is supported by the placer and quartz mines in the vicinity, which have yielded $40,000,000. The city contains a court house and jail, costing $35,000; a public school house, costing $8,000; two banking houses, two weekly newspapers, a public library, and three churches (Episcopal, Methodist, and Roman Catholic).—Virginia City was settled in 1863, upon the discovery of gold in Alder gulch, and was incorporated in 1865. It was the capital of the territory from 1865 to January, 1875, when the seat of government was removed to Helena.