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Some Sources of Wood for Mining
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The area around Virginia City had very few trees for wood to
serve as fuel or building material. These and sagebrush were
quickly used up in the mills. In addition to wood for fuel,
square set timbering placed in the mines required wood that was
straight and strong. The diagram of square set timbering is
adapted from Purkey, B.W. and Garside, L.J., Geologic and
Natural History Tours in the Reno Area, Nevada Bureau of
Mines and Geology Special Publication 19, University of Nevada,
Reno, 1995; p, 60.
This photo is of a model of square set
timbering found in the Nevada State Museum in Carson City.
The trees around Lake Tahoe were a nearby source of wood.
Water flumes were built to bring the logs down from the Sierra
Nevada into the valleys between the Sierras and Virginia City
(Washoe and Carson Valleys). The wood was processed in these
valleys and then taken by the Virginia and Truckee (V & T)
train up the mountains of the Virginia Range to Virginia City.
See the map of the Virginia City-Lake Tahoe area for some
locations of flumes and rail lines. The Lake Tahoe forests are
marked on the shaded relief map in green.
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Some Sources of Wood for Mining
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