location: coloma, california, date in use: 18480- technique: panning success: small amount of...
TRANSCRIPT
Gold Mines of the West
Sutter’s Mill Location: Coloma, California,
Date in Use: 18480-
Technique: Panning
Success: Small amount of gold was found at the mill, but it sparked the gold rush
Sparked the California Gold Rush
Caused 80,000 immigrants poured into California during 1849
The original flake of gold discovered at the mill is currently at the Smithsonian Institution.
Sutter's sawmill, in present day Coloma California, is one of the most significant historic sites in the nation
Cargo Muchacho Location: desert canyon of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains in the
southeast corner of the Colorado Desert (edge of San Diego County.)
Date in Use: 1775-1941
Technique: Mexicans: shallow pits, surface mining, Americans: placer
Success: small-scale mining
Mexican miners worked the area for decades before Americans entered the district in the late nineteenth century.
Development was hindered by the high cost of shipping equipment, the limited labor supply, and Apache raids
Mining became firmly established in 1877 with the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad to Yuma
Large-scale mining continued from around 1890 until 1916 and again from 1932 until 1941
Santa Rita Mine Location: Grant County, New Mexico
Date in Use: 1800-current
Technique: Placer; open pit
Success: largest porphyry copper deposit in New Mexico
"The Santa Rita is, perhaps, the most famous mine in Western America, for it was here that the techniques of copper mining were first developed in the Southwest." So wrote Carey McWilliams in his 1949 book, North From Mexico.
By 1805, 600 men were employed at Santa Rita
Apache raids were common
One of the oldest mines still being used today in the Southwest
AKA Chino mine
Chuckwalla Gold District
Location: Southeastern Riverside County, CA
Date in Use: 1880’s-1900s
Technique: lode
Success: Red Cloud produced over $1 million in lead and silver
There is a considerable number of gold mines and gold prospects in this area.
Gold was "very coarse and orangish or reddish yellow" in color due to the gold's natural alloy with copper
Some silver was also recovered
Ivanpah Gold District Location: San Bernardino County, CA
Date in Use: 1869-1930’s (gold mining began in 1882)
Technique:
Success: Short lived
Silver, copper, tungsten, tin, barite, fluorspar, and rare earths were also mined
Know more for its small but well-established trading center
Produced a considerable amount of silver between 1869 and 1880,
Started to see a decline by 1883
Carson Hill Location: Calaveras County, California.
Date in Use: 1848-1926
Technique: surface mining, placer mining
Success: $26 million in gold and quartz
It was one of the most productive mining camps in the state
The gold production from the district declined in the late 1850s
Named after James H. Carson, a Second Lieutenant in Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson’s Regiment of New York Volunteers
Within the first ten days Carson and a small company had each taken out 180 ounces of gold
Grass Valley Location: Nevada City
Date in Use: 1950-1956
Technique: Placer
Success: 5.8 million ounces of gold.
In its prime, mills were working 24 hours a day.
Now a historic state park
Most famous: Empire Mine
Consisted of 367 miles of underground passages
Cripple Creek Location: Pikes Peak Region
Date in Use: 1890-today!
Technique: Placer (open pit today)
Success: 22,400,000 ounces of gold were extracted from 500 mines in the Cripple Creek Mining District from 1890-1910
1900 was a pivotal year from the Cripple Creek Mining District. (made $18 million)
Miners made $3 a day
Cresson Mine-still active today
Molly Kathleen Gold Mine- located1,000 feet under Cripple Creek.
Boise Basin
Location: Idaho
Date in Use:1864
Technique: sluicing (in the beginning) then hydraulic
Success: $250,000,000 (greater than the California 49er and of the Klondike in Alaska)
Population at its prime: 25,000
Idaho City: the best mining camp in the Basin and attracted rendezvous of miners, speculators, and gamblers
Quartz mining prospered in the 1870s
Discovered by George Grimes
Gold from the Boise Basin helped to strengthen the Union treasury during the most crucial days of the Civil War,
Leadville Location: Leadville, Co
Date in Use: 1860-1999
Technique: sluice and pan (placer)
Success: $4 million in gold
By 1880, Leadville had more than 30,000 residents
"Unsinkable" Molly Brown
In 1889, Congress established a National Fish Hatchery (now the oldest fish hatchery west of the Mississippi River)
Climax Molybdenum Mine supplied half of the world's molybdenum
the most productive silver-mining district
After 100 years as a major US mining district, the last active mine, the Black Cloud mine closed in 1999
St. Elmo Location: 20 miles southwest of Buena Vista (Colorado)
Date in Use: 1880-1922
Technique: Placer
Success: Mary Murphy Mine recovered over $60,000,000 worth of gold
Originally named Forest City
One of Colorado's best preserved ghost towns
The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad line ran through St. Elmo
50 patented mine claims within the area
Pinos Altos
Location: Silver City, New Mexico
Date in Use: 1860- Early 1900’s
Technique: Placer
Success: $8 million in ore
Originally named Birchville, after prospector and former outlaw, Robert H. Birch
miners were harassed by Apache Indians
The Battle of Pinos Altos (Arizona Guards vs Apache) 1861
located along the Continental Divide at an elevation of 7,000 feet
Popular ghost town today