Mount Davidson, the highest and most topographically prominent summit in Storey County and the Virginia Range, rises behind Virginia City and forms the backdrop to the boomtown that grew above the Comstock Lode silver strike. Named for geologist Donald Davidson, the mountain became part of Nevada’s mining-era identity not only through its commanding place in the landscape but also through literature. Mark Twain referred to a flag on Mount Davidson in Roughing It, and that flagpole was still standing in 2003, connecting the mountain’s skyline with memories of Virginia City’s nineteenth-century peak.