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Virginia & Gold Hill Water Company Billhead Collection

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Paper Start Price:75.00 USD Estimated At:150.00 - 300.00 USD
Virginia & Gold Hill Water Company Billhead Collection
SOLD
50.00USD+ (12.50) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2018 May 09 @ 12:34UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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Lot of 13 billheads, most issued 1875-1876 and one issued 1910. Billed for water rents and various supplies purchased from Virginia City and Gold Hill merchants. A variety of billhead styles. Good condition. The Virginia & Gold Hill Water Company was incorporated in the early 1860s, a consolidation of the Virginia Water Co. and Gold Hill Water Co. Finding safe, good tasting drinking water on Mount Davidson was an early problem for the Comstock miners. It wasn't until this company was reincorporated in 1871 and purchased by W.S. Hobart and the Bonanza Firm (Fair, Mackay, Flood, O'Brien) that a stable water source was found and exploited. The new owners had a plan to bring water from the Hobart Creek and Marlette Reservoir area 1,500 feet above Lake Tahoe. They hired Hermann Schussler, a noted hydraulic engineer, who constructed a pipe line from Marlette down to the Washoe Valley and back up the other side to Virginia City in a reverse siphon process. This required a pipe line 7 miles long and 11.5 inches in diameter. The water pressure exceeded 200psi. The pipeline was completed July 25, 1873. When the water started flowing, residents could trace the progress of the flow by the sound of the blow-off valves opening to release trapped air. Virginia City journalist Dan DeQuille wrote: “Compared with what was heard when these cocks blew off, the blowing of a whale was a mere whisper.”It transported two million gallons a day. By 1887, two more pipelines had been laid to supply water to the Comstock. The Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company was purchased by Storey County over 100 years later. It is still providing water to citizens of Virginia City. (Potter Collection) HWAC# 60122 Date: 1875-1910 Location: Virginia City, Nevada