Group Wants Mining Towns

The Montana Historical Society Foundation has joined a coalition that will try to save the historic mining towns of Virginia City and Nevada City from the auction block.

The foundation’s board voted in Hamilton Friday to join forces with the National Trust for Historical Preservation and the Virginia City Preservation Alliance.

Ford Bovey says he can no longer afford to operate the two mining towns and will sell them at the end of the summer tourist season. The price is expected to be somewhere between $3.5 million and $6 million.

Bovey owns all of Nevada City and about 90 buildings in Virginia City. They’re about two miles apart in Madison County.

The coalition “may be the last, best chance to keep the artifacts and buildings for the people of Montana,” said Tom Cook, the foundation’s development director.

Initially, the coalition will try to persuade individuals, corporations and foundations to guarantee a $3 million loan that would be the down payment on the property. The three organizations are working with three of Montana’s largest banks, said George Anderson, a board member of the foundation.