Alder Gulch Short Line Railroad

The Alder Gulch Short Line runs where one of the richest gold strikes in the Rocky Mountain West played out. Gold was discovered along Alder Creek in May 1863, and Virginia City and its sister camp Nevada City boomed almost overnight; Virginia City served as Montana's territorial capital from 1865 to 1875 before the placer gold gave out and the towns faded. Beginning in the 1940s, Charles and Sue Bovey bought up the failing gold-rush buildings and ran Virginia City as an open-air museum with living-history flavor, and the State of Montana later purchased the Bovey properties. The Montana Heritage Commission now manages the Virginia City and Nevada City historic district and operates the Alder Gulch Railroad among its attractions: a 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge line that carries passengers from Virginia City to the restored ghost town of Nevada City — an outdoor museum of more than a hundred historic buildings about a mile and a half to the west — and back again.