It’s been over one hundred and fifty years ago that the Virginia and Truckee Railroad was incorporated. Now, a lot of you are familiar with some major railroads like the Union and Central Pacific, and various lines that have run through your towns, in Nevada and elsewhere. The V and T meant a lot to Nevada’s history. And it reflected some important aspects of American history.
Our friends at Vegas PBS aired a documentary about the Gilded Age. To oversimplify a bit, that’s the period in late nineteenth century America that we recall for great wealth and poverty, industrialization, and immigration, among other things. At the time, industrialists like Andrew Carnegie practiced what was called vertical integration. That meant a company controlled its supply chain. Carnegie Steel had its own iron and coal, plus ships and railroads. That way, Carnegie maximized his profits.
Nevada had its version of this. In 1864, the Bank of California opened a branch in Virginia City. It became the financier of a lot of mining on the Comstock. Bank boss William Sharon set out to make money and gain control. Within a few years, Sharon or the bank owned several mines and mills, as well as lumber and water sources…