V&T's progress just as gratifying 140 years later

We are gratified to learn that the preliminary survey of this road is being prosecuted energetically by Mr. James the engineer and with most favorable results.

The preceding paragraph can be found in the May 16, 1865, edition of the Daily Appeal and continues on to announce the initial survey route of the Virginia & Truckee Valley Railroad. After a few false starts, the first in 1861, the V&T Railroad would be built in four years. Engine wheels met rail Sept. 28, 1869.

We too, in 2005, are gratified to learn that the preliminary survey of this road is being prosecuted energetically by Granite Construction.

Granite's trucks have been much seen running up and down Highway 341 through Gold Hill and its survey crews seen scrambling over hill and dale in preparation for the next 1.4 miles of track to be built from the Gold Hill Depot south across the Overman Pit.

The project will cost $5 million - $3 million from the Nevada Department of Transportation - the rest funded by the V&T commission and private donations.

The official groundbreaking is set for Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Gold Hill Depot; work begins Monday. The track will be on the ground by late August.

We couldn't be happier for those who had the vision, and then did the work, to haul the dream this far. We support the quest for more funding - federal, state, local and private - to complete the 17-mile route from Virginia City to Carson City.

With work beginning Monday we have reached yet another milestone in the project. Other milestones have been met along the way: four miles of track have been stored away as has a bridge to cross Highway 50 East, a locomotive has been purchased. Each element like rail cars will one day be coupled into the full deal and Northern Nevada will reap the full benefits of adding yet another reason to visit Nevada.

We will be there each step of the way to keep our readers up to date on the progress. Just as we were there our first day, nearly 140 years ago, to announce the beginning work on that first dream of a V&T.