Nevada City | a 7 Image Story Nevada City, settled June 6, 1863, is today a restored ghost town in Madison County, Montana. The Bovey family restored it between 1945 and 1978. It’s also a tourist attraction with fourteen original old buildings along with 94 additional authentic gold rush era buildings moved to Nevada City by the Bovey family. Essentially, the whole town is a living old ghost town museum. It also has a large collection of old-time music boxes, player pianos and calliopes. It keeps the memory of the original Old West alive.
During the summer months, a number of buildings house businesses including a small hotel, bed & breakfast, bakery, and coffee shop. In the winter, it returns to more a ghost town. The town is currently managed by the State of Montana.
The old mining camp of Nevada City started when gold was discovered nearby in 1863. Nevada City was comprised mostly of miners working several nearby mining districts. In the beginning, the mining district was part of the Idaho Territory. In fact, until neighboring Virginia City became the Montana territorial capitol in 1865, there was no law in Nevada City except for the miner’s court. In the 1860s, Nevada City and its sister city, Virginia City were part of the “Richest Gold Strikes in the Rocky Mountain West.” Virginia City and Nevada City are about one mile apart. They are located along Adler Gulch where one of the richest placer gold strikes in the Rocky Mountains was found. In the early 1860s, an estimated $30 million worth of gold was removed from the gulch over several mining seasons. Although it was a boom town in the early 1860s post-Civil War era, the town was virtually a ghost town by 1876.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Nevada City.
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