Show VIRGINIA CITY BUT A MEMORY. The Gold Seekers Have Gone and the Town Is Dilapidated. Virginia City is Indeed a strango town a living skeleton. In the height i of Its opulence it boasted a population popula-tion of 30.000. To-day there aro less than one-tenth that many. Dilapidation Dilapida-tion and ruin are seen on every hand. The chief streets terrace along a great hillside. Further up the slope are wastes of sagebrush growing in stunted clumps that half hide the earth with their gray twigs and foliage. foli-age. Down below is a valley whero tho mines have dumped vast heaps of waste. The entire region s a wild upheaval of hills and around the horizon are seen ranges of snowy topped mountains. moun-tains. The only trees are an occasional occa-sional gnarled scrub pine or dwarf cedar a few. feet high. The town streets are rough and dirty and as I walked about I was constantly con-stantly encountering old tin cans and getting rtiy feet tangled up In wires from the baled hay. Buildings in good repair are rarities. There are tottering totter-ing fences and ragged walls and broken bro-ken roofs and smashed glass and many windows and doors are boarded up. The search for gold has resulted in '.earing the country all to pieces. Everywhere the hills are dotted with prospectors' holes. From any height you can see dozens perhaps hundreds. hun-dreds. They suggest tho burrowing of woodchucks or prairie dogs. The region along the Comstock lode abounds too In deserted shafts. Outing. |