Gold Rush Days-Virginia City, Mt.

As the story goes, in the spring of 1863, a group of prospectors were on their way to the Yellowstone River but were detained by Crow Indians. After being released, they returned via a different route and camped near what is now Virginia City, Mt. While camped in Alder Gulch, they decided to do a bit of panning—and struck gold almost immediately.

Recognizing the richness of the find, they tried to keep it secret. But word quickly spread, and within weeks, thousands of miners flooded the area.

By late 1863, a boomtown sprang up named Virginia City, and it soon became the territorial capital and a major hub in Montana’s early history.

The gold strike at Alder Gulch was one of the richest placer gold discoveries in U.S. history, yielding an estimated $30 million (in 1860s dollars) in just a few years.

It make's one think that Gold has a metaphysical quality, which is the ability to drive people crazy to get it!!