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The internationally-famous map from the opening credits of "Bonanza." (Courtesy of the Ponderosa Ranch, Incline Village, Lake Tahoe, Nevada and the University of Nevada Press) |
Even before the premier of "Bonanza," Virginia City was gaining fame because of the efforts - and antics - of writer Lucius Beebe and his life-long companion Charles Clegg. In 1952, they resurrected the once-famous newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise, and made it a going concern, attracting national literary attention. Their promotion of Virginia City as the center of mining and technology, and of characters such as Mark Twain, caught hold with those interested in the Wild West. It was the TV series, however, that transformed Virginia City into a major tourist attraction. In my book, The Roar and the Silence: A History of Virginia City and the Comstock Lode, recently published by the University of Nevada Press, I described the effects of "Bonanza" on Virginia City as follows:
"Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe Cartwright became ambassadors for a new era of Comstock fame. It mattered little that their Virginia City stood on level ground without even a hint of the dramatic inclines that dominate the actual community's streets. The convenience of scriptwriters and executive producers created a place that chiefly served ranchers who drove their wagons into town for supplies, a drink in the local saloon, and invariably a little trouble. People could ignore the fact that ranching seemed more important than mining in this latter-day Comstock created by entertainment moguls. What mattered most was that Virginia City once again captured the national and eventually the international spotlight.
"Tourists answered the call more than ever, now hoping to see the place that had inspired a television hit. The town they visited bore little resemblance to the place they had come to know on the screen, partly because the imprint of the 19th century as it actually had been remained strong on the Comstock. Many of the property owners on the Comstock felt the need to change their town to make it seem more like the mythic Virginia City of television. Soon vertical unpainted rough cedar boards covered finely built brick structures, disguising the real 19th-century industrial town in favor of myth born in the 20th century.
"Beebe and Clegg fumed over these changes. Moguls made millions, capitalizing on a history that they would corrupt even while exploiting it. The tourists who came by the thousands sounded the death knell for the old Comstock. The giant of the old mining West slumbered no more. It had awakened, and it carried an Instamatic and wore plaid Bermuda shorts. In 1960, Beebe and Clegg sold the Territorial Enterprise and spent an increasing amount of time living elsewhere. Beebe died six years later, but the connection with the Comstock ran deep: Clegg did not sell their Virginia City home until 1978, a year before he died."
Note: The Nevada Dept. of Museum, Library and Arts offers many cultural resources to the public. For information, please see www.clan.lib.nv.us or call 775.687.8323.
Ron James is the State Historic Preservation Officer and has published three books on Nevada history. He is a long-time member of the Comstock Historic District Commission.
