Virginia City, Montana
GLO Record of the Week for May 1, 2020
This week's Record of the Week comes to us from May 1, 1869 and depicts Virginia City, Montana. Once a booming mining town and now a prominent tourist attraction, Virginia City has a rich history that is reflective of many small towns in the early American west.
On May 22, 1863, a small group of prospectors including William Fairweather, Henry Edgar, and Barney Hughes were returning east from Bannock, MT when they stopped in Alders Gulch, an area just west of what would soon be Virginia City, to pan the creek. They discovered what would eventually be the largest placer mine strike in the history of Montana. They tried to keep their discovery a secret, but on June 6, 1863, a mob of opportunistic miners followed them back to their claim. This was the same day that the area surrounding the strike was organized as the Fairweather District. From here, the miners initiated their own form of government to regulate placer claims. They adopted mining laws, set up a miner's court, elected officials and created other mining districts.
The mining boom surrounding Virginia City became so successful that the annual report of the Commissioner of the Land Office for the year of 1868, reported the product of Gold since July 1865 to be $50,000,000!
The mining industry boomed, and Virginia City attracted all kinds of people. Read on to meet two of its famous citizens. As the amount of gold being transported out of the city increased, so too did robberies. William Henry Plummer was elected Sheriff to enforce law and order in the wild city. Despite this, crime rose quickly in late 1863. Robberies continued, and some citizens suspected that the Sheriff was involved with the gangs who were committing the robberies. In response, a group of vigilantes was formed to enforce extra-judicial justice. In the first two months of 1864, the vigilantes hanged over 20 men suspected of gang activity, including Sheriff Plummer.
The evidence that proved Sheriff Plummer’s guilt then, is less clear today. A posthumous trial held in Virginia City, May 7, 1993, led Judge Barbara Brook to declare a mistrial. Had this verdict come 129 years sooner, Sheriff Plummer would have been a free man.
Sarah Bickford, born into slavery on Christmas Day 1855 in North Carolina, became one of Virginia City’s most notable citizens. She was living with her aunt in Knoxville, when Judge L. Murphy was appointed to a post in Virginia City. Sarah took a job caring for the judge's children. She moved to the city in 1871, and married William Leonard Brown, successful gold miner, a year later. Unfortunately, she lost her husband and both of her sons to diphtheria, a common disease at the time. After this, she took her daughter Eva and moved to Laurin, Montana, where met Stephen Bickford, a white man from Maine, who became her second husband.
Sarah would eventually be known as "Montana's First Career Woman." In 1888, she and her husband Stephen acquired a portion of the water system that provided the city's drinking water. When Stephen passed away in 1900, Sarah took over a two-thirds interest in the water company, as well as various other local investments. The building pictured here is known as Hangman's Building, so named after the five men who were hanged here by the Vigilantes years earlier. In 1902, Sarah purchased the building and moved all of the water company's functions here.
Sarah continued to build the business, purchasing local springs and building a reservoir, as well as taking business classes. In 1917, she purchased the remaining share of the water company from her long time partner and became the sole owner. Sarah's hard work made her the first African-American woman in Montana, and possibly the entire country, to own a public utility company. She was a true pioneer, and ran the water company until her death in 1931.
We hope you enjoyed this record of the week! For more GLO story maps, visit the BLM Record of the Week Shortlist , and for more information on Virginia City, the Montana Vigilantes, or Sarah Bickford, please see our sources below:
