virginia city

A fire started after embers from the Virginia City fireworks show landed in nearby brush at about 10:10 p.m., causing the show to end early.

Originally, the Storey County Sheriff reported the fire to be 4.5 acres, but the reports Tuesday morning say one acre. It is now fully contained.

The start of the fireworks show was delayed 30 minutes because of winds in the area according to the Storey County Manager. After the show had been on for 5-10 minutes, the fire started.

No injuries were reported.

Mark Twain will share how, as Samuel Clemens, he traveled from the Mississippi River to Nevada Territory and why he came west. He will describe what he saw when he got here in 1861, and if he really took his pen name "Mark Twain" while living in Nevada. This lighthearted, humorous, yet rigorously researched Chautauqua presentation examines Nevada through the eyes of one of America’s greatest literary figures. Offering fresh insight into the much loved writer, this presentation is intended to motivate the reading of good books and inspire the pursuit of creative writing.

South Tahoe's girls softball team started off their Northern Nevada NIAA Division 1-A playoff season right, with a Thursday morning win over Elko, 8-1, but things didn't go the Viking's way after that. In Thursday afternoon's game against #1 seed Churchill County, the SLT girls lost a nail-biter, 1-0. During Friday's third round, South Tahoe High was matched up against Spring Creek, the host of the tournament. The home field advantage led them to a 8-6 win over STHS.

The historic Virginia and Truckee Railroad (V & T) is the most famous of all American Short Line railroads and dubbed the "Queen of the Short Line." Even though construction began on the original tracks and train in 1869, people can still enjoy riding the old steam and diesel trains from Carson City to Virginia City, Nevada.

A new storm is headed to Lake Tahoe, making its first push into Northern California and Nevada with rain and snow on Friday. Even though the storm should be a moderate sized one, significant shadowing will keep the precipitation along the Sierra crest westward, with little if any spillover from Lake Tahoe eastward.

If you live in Nevada, chances are you felt an earthquake in 2015. The University of Nevada, Reno's Seismological Laboratory said there were 17,500 earthquakes in the state during the year, 231 of those recently in south Reno.

South Tahoe High graduate Graham Kent in the director of the Nevada Seismological Lab. "While the Reno shaking is fresh in our minds, what's really bumping the number up from the background rates is the energetic sequence in far northwestern Nevada, the Sheldon sequence," he said.

The undefeated Whittell Warriors football team won Friday's playoff game against Spring Mountain by a score of 48-26, earning them a spot in the Nevada State Championship game November 21. Whittell last won a state title in 1988.

Whittell took a commanding 34-18 into the locker room at half-time and never looked back.

They will meet Pahranagat Valley who beat Virginia City by a score of 76-32 Friday night. Both Whittell and Pahranagat Valley are 11-0 on the season. Pahranagat has won 92 games in a row so it should be a great game.

The Whittell Warriors are entering next week's Nevada State Championship semi-finals as the number one seed after their 20-14 win Friday night over Virginia City.

This was the Warrior's first post-season home game since 1991. They get to do it again on Friday, November 13 when they host Spring Mountain, the number 2 seed from the South. Game time is 5 p.m.

Virginia City will play Pahranagat Valley on Friday as well. Their 7 p.m. game will be played at Alamo, Southern Nevada.

While many may hike past Lily Lake to get to a myriad of trails going through Desolation Wilderness, I took the trail to go the historic Glen Alpine Springs. Even though my walk was mid-day on October 13, I passed many other hikers on the two-mile hike, all enjoying the warm, un-fall like weather.

Even though I've lived in South Lake Tahoe for 36 years, I'd never gone past Lily Lake. Wanting to get to the springs before winter, there was no time like the present to finally accomplish that task!

Chautauqua performers Chuck Baldauskas and Doc Durden will present “Buffalo Bill & Wild Bill: Pals Together Again” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday September 2, at 6:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and free to attend.

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If you missed the sensational perform by MacAvoy Layne in July, be sure to see it this Friday, it is not to be missed!

Chautauqua performer MacAvoy Layne will perform "An Evening with Mark Twain" at Taylor Creek Visitor Center on Friday August 7th at 7:00 p.m. This event is open to the public and is a five-dollar donation to Tahoe Heritage Foundation.

Professional Bullwhip Instructor Doc Durden will share his talent in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, June 27, at 10:00 am. The term "bullwhip" is unique to the cowboys and buckaroos of the old West In the latter half of the 20th century, attempts to preserve traditional crafts, along with a resurgence of interest in Western performance arts led to an increased interest in whip cracking as a hobby, performance art and competitive sport.Durden will demonstrate the use of a 6’, 8’ and two 10’ whips in both ability and marksmanship.

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A race from Reno, around Lake Tahoe, through the Carson Valley, up to Virginia City and back to Reno began Friday morning at 7 a.m. This is the 11th year the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey Relay Run Adventure is taking place and it is growing in popularity each year. There are 253 teams of an average of 12 runners each taking part in the overnight race which covers 178 miles.

The historic Virginia & Truckee Railroad (V&T) will be opening for the summer this Memorial Day. Retracing the famous Comstock-era right-of-way, the historic trains travel the same 16-mile silver route. The V&T Railway, the richest short-line in American history, originally operated during the raucous silver strike era of the infamous Comstock Lode from 1869 to 1938.

The Whittell Warriors baseball team entered the state tournament as the defending championships, and today they are one step closer to repeating for Division IV teams.

They lost their first round game on Thursday against the number one seed from the south, Pahranagat Valley, 12-2. They then went on to beat Tonopah in the loser's bracket by a score of 7-6 on Friday which saw them meet up Pahranagat Valley once again.

Whittell won the game, 4-2.

In the meantime, Virginia City, the number one seed from the north, beat Tonopah 9-5 and Pahranagat Valley 6-1.

Tahoe Douglas Rotarians spent Saturday cleaning out the historic Osgood Toll House, the oldest standing building in South Lake Tahoe. They took out hundreds of items including windows, doors, window frames, shutters and boards. After removing them they cataloged each item, cleaned and dried them and then stacked them back in the toll house.

Two teams that have been neck and neck in the NIAA Northern Division IV standings all season are both headed to the Nevada State tournament.

Whittell Warriors who have just one loss in the regular season, to Virginia City, will meet their nemisis on Saturday for the Northern Nevada Region title. The Virginia City uckers, who's only loss in the regular season was to Whittell, aims to dethrone the defending state champion Warriors.

The two teams meet at 1:30 p.m. in Spring Creek, NV where the Northern Region tournament has been held since Thursday.

Chances are, the beast sitting on the bar stool next to you won’t be a real dog.

A measure heard Monday by the Senate Government Affairs Committee seeks to allow operators of stand-alone bars, saloons and taverns to allow dogs inside their establishments without interference from local government overseers.

But county health officials testified against Senate Bill 105, sponsored by Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Minden.

Settelmeyer introduced the bill at the request of Karen Woodmansee, editor of the Virginia City News in Storey County. She also works at a local casino.

The defending Division 4 State Champion Whittell Warriors are beginning the final weekend of regular season action with an impressive record. Overall, they are 21-2 and in league play they are 13-1. Their only loss of the season is to league leading Virginia City.

On Thursday night Whittell won their sixth straight game by beating Sage Creek 70-13.

Every Warrior ended up on the score board led by Palmer Chaplin's 11 points. Three teammates had 10 points: Colin Buchholz, Bryce Bronken and Quinn Kixmiller. All of those players are juniors except senior Bronken.

Long before the road between Placerville and Virginia City was paved and maintained by state transportation departments, the job of keeping roads clear of rocks and snow fell on opportunistic land owners.

The steady stream of prospectors from the declining gold fields in California to the 1858 silver strike in Virginia City created considerable damage, as well as traffic jams, along the route.

The rush was on in 1864 to make Nevada a part of the union. Congress was in a hurry to have the support of the Republican dominated Nevada territory for President Abraham Lincoln's reelection. The three electoral votes Nevada would bring helped bring the end of slavery when Lincoln was re-elected just 9 days after Nevada became a state.

The Nevada Highway Patrol is reporting a significant increase in highway traffic over the 4-day Street Vibrations event held this past weekend. While there were more bikes on the road, NHP reports only one injury accident that involved a motorcycle and two DUI arrests for motorcyclists, one in Carson City and Lyon County.

The NHP says there were expecting an increase in accidents along the highways around Reno and Lake Tahoe with an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Street Vibration participants in town.

The Virginia & Truckee Railroad will once again offer service to the North Pole onboard THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride starting Nov. 21. The magical story comes to life when the train departs the Carson City Depot on Eastgate Siding Road for a one-hour round trip journey to the North Pole. This event has consistently sold out since debuting four years ago and is expected to draw record numbers again this holiday season.

The boys basketball team from Whittell High School claimed the Division IV Nevada State Title on Saturday night by beating Virginia City by a score of 53-48.

The Warriors beat Spring Mountain on Friday in a close game by the score of 53-50, getting them into the final round for their 4th game of the year against Virginia City.

KNBB televised the game live from the University of Nevada.