User:Thelovelyjade

Nevada City is a ghost town located just 1½ miles west of its more popular “sister city,” Virginia City. Both cities are located along highway 287, in Madison County Montana. The town consists of an open air museum that includes 108 buildings, 14 buildings are original to the town site. Other businesses in the town are Alder Gulch Accommodations, Nevada City Hotel and Cabins, Just an Experience Bed and Breakfast, The Star Bakery, and the Nevada City Hotel Coffee Shop. Some of the businesses are operational year round, others are operational during the summer season. Nevada City offers a vast array of sites for anyone looking for a brush with history.

History and Founding
Nevada City was founded shortly after gold was found in Alder Gulch in 1863. William Fairweather and a group of five other prospectors were headed for the Yellowstone River, when they got turned toward Bannack after an encounter with a party of Crow Indians. The group stopped along what is now Alder Gulch, and Fairweather took a chance and tried to pan for gold in a stream near the Tobacco Root Mountains. Fairweather ended up getting more than he expected, the party quickly realized what they had found. Upon returning to Bannack, it was impossible to avoid bringing attention to themselves when buying mining supplies. The party grew to several hundred and the rush began. The line of mining camps that grew along Alder Gulch including both Virginia and Nevada City, were also known as the 14 mile city. By fall of 1864 the population had grown to almost 10,000 people. By 1869, the gold was gone along with the people. The population dropped to 110, making it nearly a ghost town by 1876.

Ghost Town and Open Air Museum
In 1864 Frank Finney and his family moved to Nevada City, where they stayed until 1958, refusing to sell their home. By doing so Cora and Alfred Finney saved half the town from destruction by mining companies and the construction of Highway 287. In 1959 Charles and Sue Bovey bought and replaced most of the buildings in the city. The town is now an open air museum, with a music hall full of the largest public collection of automated music machines in North America. Charles and Sue Bovey owned many other buildings from all over Montana. Their collection was originally located in Great Falls Montana, at the fairgrounds, then was moved and added to the buildings already in Nevada City.. In an article featured in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, in May of 1997, the Bovey poperty including Virginia and Nevada City was sold for $6.5 million with another $3 million for the use of restoring the buildings. In another article from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle from September of 2007, Walt Williams writes about an archeological dig conducted and sponsored by a nonprofit organization called Elderhostel. Elderhostel gives people 55 and older a chance to travel and learn. According to the article, “Nevada City and neighboring Virginia City are among the states most-popular tourist destinations, but they are also places where historic preservation and archeological fieldwork are taking place….Workers there have turned up some small items, such as beads, that might date before the gold rush….”

George Ives Hanging and “The Vigilantes”
On Main Street Nevada City, December 21st 1863, George Ives was convicted and hanged for the murder of Nicholas Thiebalt. The trial was conducted in the town square by the only law known at the time; the miner’s court. The trial lasted three days, with almost 2,000 people in attendance. Roughly an hour after being convicted, Ives was hanged. Two days later the Vigilance Committee was formed. The committee consisted of men from every level of society. In the month following Ives’ trial and hanging, some 24 other people shared his fate.

Geography
Coordinates: 45.3074° N 111.9681° W	Nevada City’s population is included in Virginia City’s census.