One of Nevada’s most iconic events started because of a prank war between Virginia City’s Territorial Enterprise and the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1959, the editor of the Enterprise wrote a fake story about camels racing in Virginia City. The San Francisco Chronicle didn’t realize it was a hoax and printed it.

The following year, The Chronicle borrowed camels from the San Francisco Zoo and took them to Virginia City to race them. And that’s how a tradition was born.

In 1959, Virginia City’s Territorial Enterprise newspaper editor was Bob Richards. On rare occasion and with humor intended, the newspaper had been publishing hoax articles since way back in the 1860s, when Mark Twain was the editor of Virginia City’s Territorial Enterprise.

So with "tongue in cheek", Bob Richards decided to do a fake story about the camel races that had actually happened nearly 100 years earlier.

The first Virginia City camel races started in 1866 by sportsmen and miners who used the camels to transport salt to the Comstock mills, according to event organizers.

The number of races weren’t well documented, but it didn’t extend past 1875. Camels were outlawed by the Nevada State Legislature because they scared the local horses.

The current annual event involves representatives of rival news outlets racing camels for the win.

The ostrich require a lot more skill and training on the part of the rider, since getting thrown off and occasionally mauled while riding an ostrich bareback is not uncommon (so you most likely won’t find a reporter racing one of those). Either way, every rider needs to sign a lengthy waiver, just in case.

Historic Virginia City, Nevada, is known for two things: silver and quirky special events. The International Camel & Ostrich Races created a tradition that has ingrained itself as a piece of the town’s identity.

Every year September celebrates the event that brings camels and ostriches to this historic mountain mining town along with the daring jockeys and crowds to cheer them on.

When it comes to riding camels and ostriches, there’s a big difference. Camels have a different gait, and an ostrich is strictly balance.

Racing bareback on a sweaty ostrich you will smell for a couple days afterwards. A camel doesn’t have any sweat glands, so you can ride a camel bareback and you won’t smell.

The camel and ostrich races have become so popular that they have moved to a bigger venue: the Virginia City Arena and Fairgrounds, built to accommodate this peculiar event, among other happenings.