Editing Comstock Lode (section)

=== The Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company ===
When silver was first discovered on the Comstock, the flow of water from natural springs was adequate to supply the needs of the miners and small towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill, Nevada. As population increased, wells were dug for domestic needs, and the water in several mine tunnels was added to the available supply. As the mills and hoisting works multiplied, the demand for water for use in steam boilers became so great that it was impossible to supply it without creating a water shortage among the residents, now thousands in number. In this need, the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company was formed, being the first non-mining incorporation on the Comstock Lode.

Water from wells and tunnels in the surrounding mountains was soon exhausted. It became imperative to look toward the main range of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where there was an inexhaustible supply. Between the Sierra and the Virginia ranges lay the [[Washoe Valley]], a great trough nearly {{convert|2000|ft|abbr=on}} in depth. [[Hermann Schussler]], a German and Swiss-trained engineer of great repute who had planned and designed waterworks in San Francisco, was brought to the Comstock to plan and design the new works. Surveys were made in 1872, and the first sections of pipe laid June 11, 1873, and the last on July 25 the same year.<ref name="quille"/>

The initial pipe was made of wrought iron and had a total length of over {{convert|7|mi|abbr=on}}, with an interior diameter of {{convert|12|in|abbr=on}} and a capacity of 2.2 million gallons per day (gpd), or 1,500 gallons per minute (gpm). The pipe traversed the Washoe Valley in the form of an inverted siphon, at the lowest point having a pressure of {{convert|1,870|ft|abbr=on}} of water,<ref name=Smith/>{{rp|120–121}} or 810 pounds per square inch (psi) at the design flow. The inlet being {{convert|477|ft|abbr=on}} above the outlet, the water was forced through the pipe at tremendous pressure. Water was brought to the inlet in the Sierra Nevada range from sources of supply in two large covered [[flume]]s, and at the outlet end of the pipe was delivered in two large flumes a distance of {{convert|12|mi|abbr=on}} to Gold Hill and Virginia City. The pipe was constructed of sheets of wrought iron riveted together, each section fastened with three rows of rivets. Lead was used to seal the joints between pipe sections. The first flow of water reached Gold Hill and Virginia City on August 1, 1873, with great fanfare. This accomplishment was the highest pressure water system in operation in the world, having superseded the water system at [[Cherokee, California|Cherokee Flat]] also designed by Schussler.<ref name="quille"/>

The water company laid an additional pipe alongside the first in 1875 and a third pipe in 1877.  These pipes with lap-welded joints delivered more water, there being less friction of rivet heads on the water.  Additional flumes were also constructed to diversify and improve reliability of supply.

Portions of this water system, now called the Marlette Lake Water System, are still in use today, feeding Virginia City with fresh water.