In shedding light on this fabled town indeed, I recommend:

Jared Graham's "Handset Reminiscences of an Old-Time Printer and
Journalist" published in 1915,

Stephen Leacock's "The Greatest Pages of American Humor" published in
1936,

George Lyman's "The Saga of the Comstock Lode: Boom Days in Virginia
City" published in 1934, and certainly

Ward's manager Edward P. Hingston's journal, "The Genial Showman
Being the Reminiscences of the Life of Artemus Ward" published in 1870.

John Pascal
West Caldwell, NJ