City Of Virginia Water Bond Issued Following The Fire Of 1875

Publication: AL Bancroft & Co, 1877, San Francisco

Engraved $1,000 City of Virginia Water Bond, No. 45, issued February 1, 1877, to Sutro & Co. or bearer and payable February 1, 1878, with interest at twelve percent per annum, payable semiannually in U.S. gold coin. 14" x 15-3/4." Printed in black and brown with an elaborate ornamental border, large central engraved vignette of a domed public building, and gold seal. Signed by Mayor J.S. Kaneen and City Clerk J.E. Guild; countersigned by City Treasurer J.C. Currie on verso. Signatures punch cancelled, a customary means of cancelling the bond and preventing its reuse. Pencil notations on verso identify the bond number, $1,000 denomination and 1878 maturity date.

On October 26, 1875, a fire swept through Virginia City, Nevada, destroying much of the business district, including numerous commercial and public buildings. Less than two months later, on December 8, the city entered into the first of two contracts with the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company; a second followed on June 8, 1876.

In January 1877, the Nevada Legislature approved the contracts and authorized Virginia City to issue $224,000 in bonds to pay its debt to the Water Company. In return, the company was required to transfer to the city the reservoirs, pipes and hydrants it had constructed "for the protection of said city from fire." The Water Company was also required to keep the system supplied with water for extinguishing fires and protecting the city from fire damage.

The bonds themselves were prepared almost immediately. The January 31, 1877, Daily Territorial Enterprise reported that Mayor J. S. Kaneen had arranged for the $224,000 issue to be taken at a 1% premium, one-half by N. Luning and the other half by Sutro & Co. The bonds were lithographed by Bancroft & Co. The following day, the newspaper reported that all 224 bonds had arrived in Virginia City and were being filled out and signed. Each was for $1,000, with $56,000 payable in each of the years 1878 through 1881. Bond No. 45, payable to Sutro & Co. or bearer, was among the first group scheduled for payment in 1878.

By the fall of 1877, the bonds had been issued and sold, the Water Company had been paid, and Virginia City property owners were being taxed to repay the debt. The arrangement was not without disagreement. The Daily Territorial Enterprise reported that the Board of Aldermen was considering paying the Water Company $500 per month to keep the city's fire protection system supplied with water. Alderman William Biter opposed the agreement, arguing that the city had fulfilled its obligations while the Water Company had not yet fulfilled its own.

Issued as part of that $224,000 bond issue, the present $1,000 bond documents one of the measures taken by Virginia City as it rebuilt following the fire. Rather than recording the destruction itself, it survives as evidence of the city's effort to provide the water needed to protect Virginia City from another fire.

Three light vertical creases extend the length of the bond, with two closely spaced light horizontal creases just below center, a 1" closed tear to the bottom center, minor chipping to the edges and even tanning along the ornamental border, else a spectacular, gently worn copy of this historic water bond.