TAKE FIVE: ‘HAVENS IN A HEARTLESS WORLD’

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 | 7:34 a.m.

What: "Havens in a Heartless World"

Where: Nevada State Museum and Historical Society, 700 Twin Lakes Drive

When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, through Aug. 19

Admission: $4, $3 for seniors, free for children 17 or younger

If the artifacts don't say enough, this excerpt from Eliot Lord's "Comstock Mining and Miners," on display at the exhibit, might help. Lord worked with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Census Office from 1879 to 1883.

"The 100 saloons of Virginia City and Gold Hill sold, in 1880, 75,000 gallons of liquor, chiefly whiskey, exclusive of beer and wine. In the six breweries of the county, 147,996 gallons of beer were manufactured during the year, and the amount sold reached 225,000 gallons in round numbers, 67,800 gallons having been imported from California and about 10,000 gallons from the Eastern states. This is an average of 15 gallons per head for every resident of the county, in addition to the average consumption of five gallons of liquor. At 'a bit per drink' (12 1/2 cents), the usual price, the cost of liquor per head was at least $40, and its total cost $600,000 reckoning 64 drinks to the gallon, the saloon estimate. The price of beer and wine at retail was probably half this sum, so that $900,000 was expended in quenching the thirst of 20,000 people, and yet 1880 was called a 'dry year' in comparison with 1876."

- Kristen Peterson

They mined the Earth, carried pistols, prayed in churches and drank themselves silly.

But the romanticized lore of gunslingers, bar fights and cheap damsels was merely a sliver of truth about Virginia City saloon life after the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode.

The "centers of life" were in reality civilized hot spots - living rooms for the community.

In "Havens in a Heartless World," an exhibit at the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society, the archaeological remnants from the storied watering holes might as well be speaking of our modern-day Las Vegas existence.

The excavated objects - toys, guns, oyster shells, dishes, pipes, cribbage boards - reveal life at four saloons and serve, in an odd way, as an anchor for a story that mirrors our own. It's a story of greed, hope, chance and dreams.

With apologies to Northern Nevada, we take a look:

1. Boomtown

People swarmed Virginia City with dreams of riches dancing wildly in their heads.

Sound familiar?

The sudden community built and spread. In Virginia City they mined ore. In Las Vegas we mine slots. They gutted the land for gold and silver. We gut it for development. Their bubble burst long ago. We're still waiting, wondering.

2. Millionaires

It may as well have been champagne and caviar that erupted from the blue/gray soil of Virginia City. The gold and silver created royal lifestyles. Some toiled fruitlessly, working dirty mines in the dusty towns. Others, many others, became instant millionaires with fat wads of cash and went on to build lavishly in San Francisco. Las Vegas, with its mighty palaces of empty promises, can take all that you have, but it's also given generously. As with Virginia City, some plunder, then leave.

3. Hydration

No water? No problem.

Before solving its water problems, some saloons served imported and filtered water. In our dire moments we've also done some problem solving: We all remember the Boca Park shopping center spending thousands monthly to fill its fountains with imported water.

In Virginia City they tapped Marlette Lake. We tap the Colorado River, courtesy of Lake Mead. Virginia City is still drinking that water, however. We're about to pipe it in from Spring Valley, much to the chagrin of ranchers there.

4. Lifestyles

Virginia City was a 24-hour city. We're a 24-hour city. A description of Virginia City saloons: "smell of tobacco smoke and wood, burning in a pot-bellied stove mingled with the odor of whiskey, stale beer and unwashed bodies." OK, so we don't have pot-belly stoves.

5. Television

Virginia City lost its thrust after pillaging most of the ore. Decades later television became its greatest friend when "Bonanza" hit the air in 1959, drawing a flood of tourists to the historic structures of the one-time dream town.

From "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and the fictional casino of "Las Vegas" to the Travel Channel, we also have the great American medium to thank for the continuing floods of deep-pocketed tourists. Even when we're gone and bellies of buildings have emptied, tourists are sure to come to see the remnants of the once thriving American spectacle, right?