Virginia City's Historic Silver Terrace Cemetery

on this episode of history hunters Jeff and Sarah visit historic Virginia City and check out the famous silver Terrace Cemetery on this first of a three-part series on Virginia City and it's Comstock Lode the couple visits graves have noteworthy historical figures long forgotten from Nevada's past [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's Sara she can't wait to get into the cemetery how much a couple bucks yeah it's a donation and there's brochures so Sara and I decided to come to Virginia City and check out the silver Terrace cemetery and find that what notable graves so we could find here there's some remnants of mining that occurred here a long time ago this entire region produced millions of dollars with a silver starting in 1859 as to mount Davidson in the background and a number of ambitious people have climbed at the top of that to Irish immigrants searching for gold were the first to strike it rich at the future site of Virginia City instead of gold its silver they discover their 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode caused Virginia City to grow rapidly into a metropolis of 25,000 untold riches resulted from the 1873 discovery of the big Bonanza mine what fortunes were short-lived when the mines tapped out around 1878 Virginia city's importance and population rapidly dwindled the silver that was pulled out of this mining region the Comstock mining region actually helps support the US government during the Civil War and again I'm at high altitude and guess what I'm gonna be out of breath this entire trip 6,200 feet there's a mission of II killed by the fire of o18 75 in October of 1875 Virginia City was devastated by a great fire destroyed a lot of the buildings so a lot of the buildings that you see today were actually built a year later 1876 Mary Jane Simpson wasn't a woman but a mule which died in the fire of October 26 1875 the inferno destroyed about 2,000 buildings and left 8,000 residents homeless miraculously only four people were killed but flames claimed the beloved mule that worked the Mons in her 8 months of working the consolidated Virginia mine it said the mule hauled out eight million dollars in silver and gold Mary Jane also transported ten million dollars in silver during 18 months inside the Belcher mine an attempt to rescue the animal ended when the flames grew too intense and she perished the width in was only annual still she was nobody's fuel that's just weird [Music] sir I like to check out the old cemeteries because they are so different than the modern-day cemeteries the tombstones are very elaborate something you don't see every day over here we've got a grave of an eye a Pearson it said that about 1/3 of the population here at Virginia City was Irish what China dandy-lion what are you gonna do it you're not gonna be able to do that one probably not oh there's life okay so and flick rides one of those in flies off so where's some notable graves in there I think we should go up to the top of that hill because I think something must be up there kind of sad this one's been completely knocked off the base disease accidents and lawlessness often cut lives far short crime into Virginia City was tame compared to mining towns like Bodie California still like any community Virginia City had its share of robberies saloon fights and shootings even the time a brother tried to kill his sister in 1876 several notable murders in Virginia City included that of August beau haben whose tombstone bears the word murdered the French immigrant co-owned a Virginia City store which was holding money and Trust for an irresponsible drunkard who would have spent it all and deprived his wife and children when Jerry Barry came looking for more than his five-dollar daily allotment he was rebuffed by boja bonds business partner as will have been rushed to aid his partner Barry pulled a gun on him crying take that you damn foreigner Barry blamed his actions on alcohol and begged for mercy but he was hung on July 19th 1892 do you like going to cemeteries I don't know it's like the right word they're interesting I mean I don't dislike them but I don't go whoo cemeteries let me go check them out I like looking at the headstone seeing the ages of people the older ones have like super neat [Music] metalwork ironwork nowadays they just want to put you in a hole put your name on the top of it and move on yeah maintaining this stuff is but the world really can't afford to have everybody treated like this I mean think of all the marble it's milled out of the ground that goes on I mean just out of graves nowadays well this one here I mean that must weigh four or five hundred pounds William Oates he died in 1893 and they were very specific about 57 years old six months in seven days you know what that's about my age these are kind of interesting over here these kind of grades that are sculpted to look like cloth and that's been hanging there since 1889 again a lot of Irish people are buried here this city attracted a lot of Irish immigrants who work the mines back in the 1870s 1860s money I asked that question once like why are people leaving money at graves somebody said it's just to pay homage kind of a way to say I've been here and I thought of you this is kind of symbolic of this entire cemetery it's a dead tree Sarah discovered Captain Edward stories grave for whom storey County was named 1828 to 1860 wow that's cool this entire county was named after him he died in 1860 same year Abraham Lincoln was elected president he was a Mason there's a wooden block at the top I wonder what that had on it I noticed that this grave right here had an interesting piece of artwork attached to the face of it this is really a heart-wrenching tombstone it shows the hand of a husband reaching up to the arm of its wife as she departs for heaven this is the grave of Sarah Curie Halleck who was born in Virginia in 1847 and came out west with her family in the late 1850s settling in Virginia City where her father owned a saloon in 1869 she married James Halleck she died at the age of 24 and complications of childbirth On June 28 1871 and her baby boy James survived [Music] this is the grape of Selden m'q means he was a tennessee born doctor who was quite a rabble-rouser for the south during the War Between the States dr. mcmean 'he's treated most of the miners in town for drinking water contaminated with arsenic he also tended to every kind of medical emergency here in town ranging from crushed limbs and burns from exploding balloons Wow well they're like stacking rocks on it 1876 Sarah's got me going down this hill actually she's going down this hill and there's a few graves down here well here we go it's a J M leg Company A of the third Iowa Calvary apparently that's a civil war grave right here Virginia City J M leg was mentioned in a local newspaper as a competitor in a local shooting contest at a town event and judging by his score he was a fairly good marksman nothing like feeling a sense of history as when you go through a grave yard and see all the people who lived a long time ago and in many cases their tombstone have a lot of the information still intact on them Marion Davidson 1842 to 1896 might be related to Davidson up there for Davidson Mountain this is the Pioneer Cemetery again you're probably gonna find a lot of Irish names here those in McCabe the poor people had to resort to these wooden headstones because they couldn't afford the stone the more wealth you had the bigger your tombstone was the more you could afford the inscription on it is long gone a lot of Vermont natives here is that Dexter 1895 rabbit turns scared the snot out of me Oh jack rabbits big jack rabbit ears I wish I hadn't like camera on that rabbit scared the crap out of me what got my attention was this this grave here and somebody put this rock on it rabbit was right here I can't make out that name that's crazy did you see him yeah ears popped up because he didn't know I was over there until I yeah your way and head he shot up they'll you never know what you're gonna find in a cemetery including Jack ground let's scare you right over here evidence of mining operations off in the distance we hear the Virginia and Truckee railroad going all pieces of glass here that look weathered blue almost very old and shirts and bottles somebody been drinking up here at the cemetery imagine that I just found this broken neck of a glass bottle and believe it could be a medicine bottle maybe a lot of drinking around here Lovejoy Oh Jimmy Lovejoy died 1888 native of Maine he must have been poor cause he's got a wooden stone no wood in stone that looks like eight would you say eighteen okay yeah yeah Jayan carry company a and first Battalion Nevada infantry died in 1877 he was 24 years old looks like somebody tried to push this thing over I tell you what there's a lot of jerks in the world when they you try to desecrate a grave I think that's a most despicable thing [Music] a month old that was a baby so here's your evidence to the migrants who came flocked here to Virginia City to mine this individual died in 1876 36 years old a native of Cornwall England he's got this elaborate wooden enclosure that's falling apart I'm sure these were the square-headed nails they have four sides to him they're not round but look at this this was up here he's just fallen so it's pretty common back in the day to see a lot of headstones of young babies this one was two years old four months probably died of something that today could have easily been saved this had some of those Roger lavake who died nine years ago has a naked lady on it which I don't think I've ever seen that before and a cat I never worry about cats are many because the Lord will provide Roger labaki actually was a Jackson Hole news photographer in 1971 when he documented the first key descent the Grand Tetons he got an assessment he shot some aerial photos of the ski marks of the first gear to go down that mountain [Music] Irish names are all over the cemetery next to the cemetery over here is this low spot and I believe this is the exact location where they had the gallows for the hem John William he was a French Baker who was accused of murdering a very popular prostitute here in Virginia City by the name of julia bulette or boule she was murdered the night of January 20th 1867 in her house at the corner of C and believe a Union Street I could be wrong on that the entire community was kind of alpha raged while the guys were especially the fire department she supported the fire department with her benevolent fundraising and I'm sure something guys were friendly with her when it didn't like her too well about two years later after evidence was found in his apartment that he killed her and add her possessions that were stolen from her that night he actually met his fate here in this area and it was said that four thousand people came out and picnic and watch this guy hang which seems kind of morbid one of the people who was actually here back in town was Mark Twain he came back to visit and he happened to be here and he actually wrote about watching the hanging John William he like many people thought he would find some satisfaction in that but he later wrote that he never wanted to ever see a hanging end because it was so very sad let's see somebody died like that I understand the need for you know taking some of these life or taking somebody else's life but the actual process of watching that probably not very appealing to anybody way up the hill there far above the cemetery above the road entering Giger parade you see evidence of mining still we're entering a different part of the cemetery this headstone over here caught my like maybe his name was Milford at Clifford McHugh the 1881 native of Ireland 43 years old looks like his tombstone was busted up and repaired pieces of a gun didn't hold too good an Irish person here Mary Kellerman why 1833 done 1881 hi huh and over here is a monument that shows Christ carrying the cross so he must be at the Catholic part of the cemetery Robert Bennett he came out here from Connecticut by 1877 and also his little son hard life but what's creepy is the grave is kind of sunken in here [Music] there was a Reagan 1864 that would be Irish because of course President Reagan had just roots in Ireland 28 years old man ironically father Palma Nicky was born in Modesto California which is where we live and he was pastor of st. Mary's in the mountains here in Virginia City he was ordained in 1935 and died in 1974 there's Jesus praying in the garden here's the diamond family plot and I'll be here you see the Ellen what's the life of Thomas diamond who died in June 1770 for 22 years old I think it's interesting how this guy they mentioned his hometown of ma she asked me 22 years old 77 that's when he died in the grave of William Crowley native of Ireland that in 1888 he was a little older he was 53 after wife Hannah as you can see time has kind of tilted that tombstone a little bit here you go with evidence of people messing with graves this one completely knocked off like I said I don't think you can get any lower than desecrating some of these grave it's just despicable the one thing that fascinates me about graves is you look back at that town you see how everybody bolted up those Billings well the people that inhabited that street those streets back there are now populating this ground here this very hollowed ground there's acres and acres of graves most of them they don't have a history that's been recorded so we got a little pamphlet here trying to find some of the graves of the people who kind of met some unusual types of deaths and haven't been able to find any of them so it looks like I spoke too soon here this is one that's in the guidebook this poor unfortunate soul John Gilardi that on December 2nd 1889 at age 36 when he was run over by a train of the Virginia and Truckee railroad died somewhere over there this is an interesting headstone at the top it's an open book of the Bible it belongs to Katharine O'Connor wife of Eugene she died in 1889 at the age of 35 and looked at all the intricate chiseling that had to take place for this there's a big mound over there behind that house there of evidence of a major mining operation that occurred here it's just east of C Street it's the main street in town there's another veteran New York in infantry Boland sergeant Haley the 10th Massachusetts Infantry no doubt a lot of the veterans who served in the Civil War came out west when they heard about all the mining opportunities in Virginia City kind of sad they used this little area here I'm not sure if it's a great but it probably is somebody just used it for dumping this grapes completely collapse on top mr. Carney [Music] this must be the French section it's all in French 1878 this individual here 1873 was from Quebec died at the age of 26 look at this little cage all these things just falling in there's a 40 year old from Ireland over there I'm looking for Sara this cemetery just keeps going on and on and on it's crazy how many acres here so Thomas saw Sullivan here was also a native Ireland and he died at the age of 37 a lot of these people died from simple things like diseases that can easily be cured today so this is the firemen's cemetery as it's reserved for firefighters serving the Comstock Lode only this is the wood marker belonging to fire chief George Hanbridge who died May 26 1884 he died in an industrial accident while working at the gasworks here in Virginia City he fell and he broke his neck unfortunately he left a wife behind he was a member of the Knickerbocker Engine Company number five and he's buried right here only until you deeply ponder the mystery of death something all in this face can you fully realize and appreciate the incredible gift of life and its remedy so we're here in historic Virginia City wood just toward the st. Mary's of the mountains Catholic Church relaxing out here on the steps of it and Sarah is commenting about my feet being a little dry after walking through the cemetery no I said I look like what they were dry beforehand you lotion your legs before we left but you didn't lotion your feet and your feet look like though your toes look like pieces of chalk because they're so white nashi [Music] you

Channel: History Hunters

Views: 27,240

Rating: 4.9331846 out of 5

Keywords: Virginia City Nevada, Silver Terrace Cemetery, jbenziggy, History Hunters, Irish immigrants, Julia Bulette, John Milliam, Storey County history

Id: umeGr2_Rgl8

Length: 23min 25sec (1405 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 25 2019