Walter Van Tilburg Clark, author of The Ox-box Incident , The City of Trembling Leaves, The Watchful Gods and Other Stories & The Track of the Cat, lived in Virginia City and is considered one of Nevada's most distinguished novelists. Born in 1909, he ranks as one of Nevada's most distinguished literary figures in the twentieth century, as well as a leading interpreter of the American West. Clark died in Virginia City, Nevada, in 1971.