In The Spirit of Mark Twain

Nevada, Dec. 1, 1998--This month marks the 140th anniversary of the Territorial Enterprise as a Virginia City property. Founded two years previously at Genoa, it arrived on the Comstock during the summer of 1860, and the first issue bearing a Virginia City dateline was in November of that same year.

Unfortunately, no files of this edition survive. The newspaper files up to that time all perished in the great fire of 1875. After the fire, back issues of the Enterprise are fairly complete in various institutions such as the Storey County Courthouse, Yale Library, Bancroft Library and the Nevada Historical Archives.

The first issue of the paper printed in Virginia City was published from the corner of A street and Sutton Avenue, then the heart of the booming business district. For three years it was printed under fairly primative conditions on a hand operated press from hand-set type. In 1878, however, the paper was sufficiently prosperous to occupy the Territorial Enterprise Building on C Street. The first steam operated press in Nevada operated there.

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