The Mining Boom

Western Mining

-First promising mining discoveries after the California gold rush were in Colorado

                -Gold was found near Pikes Peak in 1859

                        -Didn’t pan out

        -Also in 1859, gold and silver was found in Nevada

                -Carson River Valley

                -Comstock Lode

                        -One of the world’s richest silver veins

-In 20 years, the mines yielded more than 500 million worth of gold and silver        

        -Some miners went to Montana and Idaho

        -By the 1850s, people were mining in Canada

“Seward’s Folly”

-As mining moved north, Russia thought that the US was going to dispute the Alaskan territory

                -Russia offered to sell Alaska

-William H. Seward, Secretary of State, negotiated with the Russians in 1867

                -Russia would sell the Alaskan territory for 7.2 million

                        -About 2 cents an acre

-Most people believed the Alaskan territory was worthless

-Seward’s Folly”

        -Seward believed Alaska had some hidden treasures

-In 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike district of the Yukon Territory (Canadian land)

                        -Klondike Gold Rush

-In 1 year, miners had extracted more than one million dollars worth of gold

                                -100,000 prospectors moved to the region

                -Gold was discovered in other parts of Alaska

Life in the Mining Communities

-Mining camps sprung up overnight wherever there was the possibility of a strike

        -Almost exclusively men

                -Mining was not a family business

-US citizens, Mexicans, immigrants from around the world could be found in mining communities

-Life was very crude at first

        -Shanties and tents as houses

-Lots of competition

        -Sometimes led to violence

                -Sometimes racial

                -Deadwood, South Dakota

                        -Wild Bill Hickkok

-Things settled down after a while

        -Mining camps grew into towns

                -Businesses were eager to sell to miners

                        -Lodging and restaurants were very profitable

                                -Fresh food was the most profitable

                -Children scavenged for dropped pieces of gold

-Schools, hospitals, churches, newspapers, and “the law” were created/started

-Denver, Boulder, Carson City, Boise, Helena all started out as camps

Mining was a Big Business

        -Individual prospectors made the first strikes

        -Within a few years, the strike was “worked out”

-Still gold and silver there, but unreachable with hand tools--needed expensive machinery

                -Large companies began investing

                        -Relied on science rather than instinct

                -Federal Gov’t helped develop mineral resources

                        -US Geological Survey

WORLD HISTORY        GOVERNMENT     AMERICAN HISTORY       CRIMINAL JUSTICE    MAIN PAGE