The history of the Virginia City Wikiup preserve has roots in the 1860’s, after the Pyramid Lake Indian War. Miners and ranchers seeking fortunes in the West forced the Northern Paiute to find alternative ways to make a living. Settling on the outskirts of Virginia City, Nevada provided the Paiute opportunities for work in support of the first silver boom in the United States. The Northern Paiute constructed post-contact dwellings (locally known as wikiups) as they moved closer to the historic mining town of Virginia City
Traditional Northern Paiute house construction uses willow poles as framing with a covering of cattail, willow, and sagebrush bark. Photographs from the 1870s show dwellings built in the traditional design, but with alternative construction materials. The Virginia City Wikiup is a good example of how the Northern Paiute people used canvas, sheet metal, iron pipe, and stove pipe to build shelter close to where they found work in town.
Destruction of most Northern Paiute post-contact dwellings in Virginia City took place throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries. Mining activities, residential expansion, and unauthorized excavation and destruction of archaeological sites eliminated most of the wikiups. Archaeologists recorded some of the structures but did not designate them as official architecture. Consequently, this meant there were no protections against removing them. Archaeologist Margo Memmott, Cultural Resource Manager for Broadbent and Associates, brought the wikiup to our attention. We now believe it to be the last standing post-contact Northern Paiute dwelling in Virginia City. Perhaps occupied by Indigenous residents until as late as the 1930s, the “later style” structure was located on a parcel owned by Mr. Richard Correll, who was aware of its uniqueness and historic importance. The Consrvancy purchased this half-acre property in March 2023. It is the fifth preserve in Nevada.
Further reading about the Northern Paiute people in the 1800s:
Landscapes of Resilience: the Northern Paiute on the Comstock