High Noon – A Marvelous Feat – Virginia & Gold Hill Water System

A Marvelous Feat: Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Completion of the Virginia and Gold Hill Water System
Sherry Griffin Grundy, Archivist, Fourth Ward School Museum & Archives
March 21, 2024 – Noon

Virtual Program. Register: https://events.washoecountylibrary.us/event/11445135

Nevada Historical Society presents High Noon with Neal Cobb, a wonderful history series that delves into fascinating Nevada topics with local experts. Neal Cobb is a passionate historian and honorary curator for the Nevada Historical Society. He loves all things Nevada. Join Neal Cobb and our monthly speakers as we explore interesting topics and join in the audience conversations.

A Marvelous Feat: Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Completion of the Virginia and Gold Hill Water System

A Marvelous Feat

The Historic Fourth Ward School Museum is dedicated to connecting people to the relevance and importance of the Comstock story through its authentic preservation, interactive exhibits, interpretive programs, and archival research. Through 2024, the Museum is celebrating one of the most remarkable stories of the Comstock in their Changing Gallery with the exhibit “A Marvelous Feat” which shares the history behind the development and completion of the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company’s water system.

On the evening of August 1, 1873, rockets lit up the night sky over the Comstock and cannons signaled a celebration with the arrival of fresh, clean, and abundant water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The newly constructed water system of the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company brought Sierra water across a route over twenty miles long. Through a system of wooden flumes and iron pipes, the latter of which created an inverted siphon with an astounding high-level pressure point at 800 pounds per square inch, the Sierra water was delivered to the Comstock. Acknowledged as “a marvelous feat” by the Gold Hill Daily News in July 1873, the endeavor was a remarkable water engineering project for the time. The water system, while certainly upgraded over the past 150 years, continues to operate and serve the community today. The Museum is pleased to share the story behind the science, engineering, and people who designed, constructed, and managed the water system.

The Historic Fourth Ward School Museum is a majestic four-story 1876 schoolhouse in Virginia City, NV. It was originally built as a “monument to education” and this aim continues today as a museum that shares the rich history of the Comstock region with visitors from around the world.

March speaker: Sherry Griffin Grundy

Sherry Griffin Grundy

Sherry Griffin Grundy is a Resource Development Consultant, Archivist, and owner of Griffin Development Services, LLC in Carson City, Nevada. Sherry began providing services to the Fourth Ward School Museum in 2012. With over 25 years of experience in nonprofit management, fundraising, and resource development, Sherry supports the Museum in various ways. Sherry has a degree in History and was a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) for nine years.

Sherry lives in Carson City with her husband, Tom, and has actively been involved in the Northern Nevada community as a volunteer and local professional providing resource development services to area nonprofits since 1997.