I was able to pick up “Virginia and Truckee” by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, two wealthy and eccentric residents of Virginia City in the 1950’s. Originally Beebe wrote society articles for New York City papers before relocating to Virginia City. The only clue as to why I have seen is that VC was a hangout for eccentric artistic types in that era. They revived the Territorial Enterprise and pursued their interest in railroads by writing books on the subject while at the same time orchestrating the local social scene. Often they would be seen hobnobbing in VC in “top hats and tails.” One of their private railroad cars is on display at the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

This volume is a short 60 pages and includes some photos of the rolling stock taken by the authors among others. I was surprised to see two “Then and Now” photos included of Gold Hill and Virginia City. This is a mini hobby of mine. Beebe and Clegg later moved to San Francisco. In all, Beebe wrote 30 books.

They were both very interesting characters and deserve more attention on this site at a later time.