Permanent exhibits include the Fourth Ward School building, a historical overview of the Comstock, a Comstock mining overview including an interactive modern mining program funded by the Commission of Mineral Resources , abandoned mine issues (see our ghost), an original 1870′s classroom, Virginia City Alumni photographs and memorabilia, timeline of Mark Twain, letter press printing and Sagebrush journalists and typeslingers. A new exhibit is featured each season.
The Changing Galley Exhibit for 2011 :
QUEEN OF THE SHORT LINES- AN OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILROAD.
Photographs and brief history of the life of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. A dvd shows the reconstruction of the line to Carson City.
Modern Mining: An Interactive Exhibit
This exhibit tells the story of the various steps in modern mining. Click on the link to see it now. Come and visit the Historic Fourth Ward School Museum to get the full touchscreen experience.
PREVIOUS EXHIBITS:
More Precious Than Silver: 150 Years of Water on the Comstock
The exhibit features the Hobart Leonard collection of artifacts related to the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company. The importance of a water system as it relates to the social, economic, and political development of an industrial complex in the history of the American West is examined and displayed in the exhibit. In order to present the water system in a relevant national and global context, the exhibit will include a general overview of the affect of water on our lives. Parallels to the water famine on the Comstock in the 1860s can be found in the development of areas such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
On Silver Mountain: Chinese on the Comstock – Text and Pictures from the Exhibit
Virginia City was one of the largest communities west of the Mississippi. People settled there from all over the world, but we do not always give enough credit to each of the various groups as we form our image of the Old West. Among the people who helped build Virginia City were Chinese immigrants, arriving with the dream of improving their lives. Virginia City in its heyday had one of the largest concentrations of Chinese in Nevada, and their many crucial contributions continue to echo to this day. Without them, the Comstock would have been a very different place. This exhibit honors all of the Chinese who struggled to make a better life for themselves, leaving indelible footprints in the sands of Nevada history.
From Rags to Riches to Rags: The Exhibit and Related Activities
Susan James and Summer Kay
The following text is from the Rags to Riches to Rags exhibit on display at the Historic Fourth Ward School Museum in Virginia City, Nevada, during it’s 2004 open season. Click on the title above for the complete text. The gold and silver discoveries of the American West captivated those who dreamed of fabulous wealth. A timely mineral strike might turn a poor prospector into a millionaire. A twist of fate could replace affluence with poverty. Mining, with its opportunity for immense prosperity or complete ruin, was the nineteenth-century version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. In Nevada, the familiar rags to riches stories found a home on the Comstock Lode, where fortunes were made ~ and lost ~ overnight.
