Virginia City and Nevada City lie along Alder Gulch, which is the site of some of the richest placer mining gold site in the Rocky Mountains, with an estimated total value of $100 million throughout the 18th and 19th century. Virginia City became the territorial capital of Montana in 1865.
This photograph of Virginia City was taken between 1870 and 1879 by A. C. Carter of Montana Picture Gallery. It shows teams of mules with wagons, looking northwest from the corner of Van Buren and Wallace streets. People are on the porches of the houses visible on the hillside. Several men and boys also can be seen, along with a dog and possibly a goat in foreground.
In 1934, Wiley Post reached the stratosphere in his Lockheed Vega "Winnie Mae." The aircraft didn't have a pressurized cabin, so he wore a pressure suit and helmet designed for him by the B.F. Goodrich Company, which was also a major sponsor of the flight.
Clarksville was one of northeast Oregon's oldest mining towns. While details of the town are scarce, a detailed diary kept by a resident miner in 1864 described life in a frontier gold town. One entry states:
"Wednesday January 20 - 7a.m. drink of rum for breakfast. Another drink. Got snow shoes fixed. Another drink. Far as store. Drink of brandy... finally made Juvels cabin. Dinner. Then for Clarkes Creek. Arrived 4p.m. all okay and sober as an Irish Judge."
