In Memory Of "Old Virginny"

James Finney, a native of Virginia known as Old Virginny, died in Chinatown, Dayton, on June 20, 1861, at about 44 years of age. He arrived in Gold Canon in 1850 or 1851 as one of its first placer gold miners, and Comstock miners revered him so greatly that at a community meeting they voted to name Virginia City after him. What little is known of him portrays a hard-drinking but skillful miner who was also generous, honorable, congenial, charitable, and picturesque. Historical accounts credit him with locating the first quartz claims on the Comstock in 1859, at Gold Hill on the Comstock Lode and at the Ophir diggings farther up the mountain. The Virginia Mountain Range also bears his name. After his death, Dayton residents buried him and passed a resolution declaring that the people of the territory had lost a man to whom, more than any other, they were indebted for the discovery of its mineral wealth.

Dayton, Nevada · United States