Virginia City hopes to lure Lake Tahoe skiers with winter trolley, Ponderosa mine tours
Virginia City is offering lift tickets of the public transit and tour variety with the launch of the Comstock Lift Ticket that takes visitors on a ride through the high desert historic mining town east of Lake Tahoe.
The ticket gives visitors a 2.5-mile trolley ride, including a 20-minute narrated tour through Virginia City, a tour of the Ponderosa Mine as well as specials on lodging at any number of hotels, motels, restaurants and merchants.
“Our Comstock Lift Ticket provides an alternative for skiers looking for additional activities or extending their stays,” said Deny Dotson, Virginia City's tourism director. “We are often asked if we’re open during winter and the answer is, of course. We’re not an amusement park, we’re the real deal.”
At 6,200 feet on Mount Davidson, historic Virginia City is 25 miles from Reno and 45 miles from Lake Tahoe. Like many cities in Nevada, Virginia City was a mining “boomtown” with more than $400 million in gold and silver mined. In today’s prices, that’s more than $20 billion, said Dotson.
The 19th century mining bonanza turned Virginia City into the most important industrial city between Denver and San Francisco, and it turned destitute prospectors from all over the world into millionaires. Mansions, hospitals, churches, opera houses and schools were built and imported furniture, fashions and entertainment from Europe and the Orient overflowed. The riches helped finance the Civil War and went on to build empires around the world, including San Francisco, a city built with Comstock silver.
The Comstock Lift Ticket costs $10 and is available at the Virginia City Visitors Center located at 86 South C Street. Storefront windows will show participating restaurants and shops.
Proof of purchase is required to receive a 20 percent discount at participating lodging establishments. Book reservations directly with participating hotel properties. Participating lodging properties include: Cobb Mansion Bed & Breakfast, Edith Palmer’s Country Inn, Gold Hill Hotel, Silverland Inn & Suites, Sugarloaf Mountain Motel, Virginia City Inn and Silver Queen Hotel.
For more information on Virginia City and to purchase the Comstock Lift Ticket go to www.visitvirginiacitynv.com or call the Virginia City Tourism Commission at (775) 847-7500.
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