Around the turn of the 19th Century, 26 of the 27 ranches on the Carson River between Dayton and Weeks (south of Silver Springs) were owned by Italians. Many of these hardworking Italian immigrants had first been attracted to the silver and gold strikes and they settled in the upper Comstock towns.

One such family, the Pedroli/Quilici family settled in Silver City and not only mined but had a dairy (they called it a milk ranch then). This family fared well, and by 1906, they built the elegant Quilici Mercantile in Dayton on the corner of Pike and Main streets, and it was mainly a boarding house, bar and restaurant. (The building burned down at the hands of arsonists in 1982.)