Life on the Comstock Lode: Virginia City in the 1860s
NARRATOR: The year is 1864. High on the slopes of Mount Davidson in Nevada, the town of Virginia City is booming. Thousands of people have traveled west, hoping to make a living on the famous Comstock Lode silver deposit.
SAM: [Wiping silver dust from his brow] Whew! Another long shift down in the Chollar Mine. Digging deep underground in hot, dusty tunnels is exhausting work, but silver is what brought me to Nevada!
HENRY: [Setting wooden crates outside his store] Welcome back to the surface, Sam! You look like you could use a new pair of leather boots and a sharp pickaxe. My shop just received a fresh shipment of iron tools brought over the mountains.
CLARA: [Carrying a tray of fresh baked bread] And don't forget dinner, Sam! Hard work in the mines requires a hot meal. Over at my boarding house, I have stew and fresh bread ready for all the hard-working citizens in town.
SAM: Thank you, Clara! Running a bakery and boarding house in a busy mining boomtown must keep you just as busy as we are underground.
- deposit:
- A natural layer or accumulation of a valuable mineral underground.
- exhausting:
- Extremely tiring and draining of physical strength.
- entrepreneurs:
- People who start and run businesses to provide goods or services.
- timber:
- Wood prepared for use in building structures and supports.
- commerce:
- The activity of buying and selling goods and services.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1Where and when does the script take place?
- 2What mine does Sam work in, and what is his job?
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About this reader's theater passage for Upper Elementary
“Life on the Comstock Lode: Virginia City in the 1860s” is a reader's theater reading passage about 1860s Nevada Mining and Entrepreneurship, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 3 minutes to read (430 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.