Virginia City : secrets of a western past / Ronald M. James.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : Twenty-one bits of glass, historical archaeology, and the meaning of the West -- Gold and silver! -- A crowded city on the mining frontier -- An Irish blacksmith and the archaeology of belief -- The Chinese -- Saloons and the archaeology of leisure -- Women on the mining frontier -- Kids on the Comstock -- Piper's Opera House and the archaeology of theater -- Death and the material culture of the final chapter -- Epilogue: Breathing meaning into the past.

Examines the historical archaeology of Virginia City, Nevada, when it was a boomtown of the American West.