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• Western Mining: (455-456)– The economic impact
of mining changed the face of the West
– Miners raced across the continent, hoping to be the first to strike it rich.
– Mining opened many new regions in the West to settlement
• Western Mining: (455-456)– Gold and Silver: (455-456)
• The first promising mining discoveries after the California Gold Rush took place in Colorado.
• Prospectors found gold near Pikes Peak in late 1858; thousand of people flock to Colorado.
• The Carson River Valley in present-day Nevada was another center of frantic activity in 1859.
• In addition to Gold, the area contained the famous Comstock Lode, one of the world’s richest silver mines
• Hispanic miners introduced mining methods that originated in Mexico and South America.
– These methods included a mill that separated gold from quartz and the patio process – which used mercury to extract silver from ore
• Western Mining: (455-456)• Northern Ventures: (456)
– Russia, which owned Alaska, offered to sell Alaska to the United States
– U.S. Secretary of State, William H. Seward, negotiated to purchase Alaska in 1867.
– Seward believed the price, which came out to less than two cents an acre, was a good deal
– Many Americans, however, considered Alaska worthless, ridiculing the purchase as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Ice Box.”
– In 1896, prospectors discovered gold in the Klondike district of Canada’s Yukon Territory – this discovery launched the Klondike Gold Rush
– Gold discoveries in Alaska in 1898 and 1902 attracted even more settlers
• Life in Mining Communities: (457-458)
– Mining camps sprang up overnight wherever news of possible wealth brought prospectors together.
– Most camps were almost entirely male
• Life in Mining Communities: (457-458)– The Settlers: (457)
• Mining camps drew a wide range of settlers: Californios, Chileans, Mexicans, and Peruvians. Also English, Irish and Chinese immigrants
• At first, life in the mining camps was crude, and comforts were few. Atmosphere in camps was intense competition.
• Some competition led to discrimination.
• Most Chinese miners left the Rocky Mountain camps because of such hostile treatment
• Life in Mining Communities: (457-458)• Instability: (457-458)
– Western mining camps were some of the most violent places in the United States during the late 1800s
– Tensions between ethnic groups led to fighting
– Gamblers and swindlers swarmed in, and conflicts over claims set off brawls
– The absence of law enforcement sometimes led people in mining camps to form vigilante committees to combat theft and violence.
– Stability came to the mining camps as they grew into towns.
– The camps attracted a host of businesses eager to feed and clothe miners.
• Life in Mining Communities: (457-458)• Instability: (457-458)
– The few children living in the camps had unique opportunities to earn money: hunted for gold dust, sold fresh food to miners.
– One brother and sister earned $800 one summer selling butter and bacon to local miners
– With the arrival of more families, many camps turned into permanent communities.
– Prosperity brought law and order and the establishment of churches, newspapers, schools, and even theaters and music groups.
• Mining as Big Business: (458-459)– Mining ore deposits deep
below Earth’s surface required resources and technology far beyond the means of the average prospector.
– As a result, mining became dominated by large, well-financed companies
– Mining companies relied on technological know-how rather than on guesswork or luck.
• Mining as Big Business: (458-459)
– To reach the ore companies used one of two methods:
1. Hydraulic mining: water shot a high pressure ripped away gravel and dirt to expose the minerals beneath. This process devastated the environment. The displaced soil choked rivers and caused flooding
2. Hard-rock mining: involved deep shafts to obtain ore locked in veins of rocks
• Mining as Big Business: (458-459)– New technology changed the
working conditions in the mines.– Laborers: built the tunnels, drilled,
and processed ore. The work was dirty. Temperatures deep in the mines sometimes got to 150 degrees
– There were: cave-ins, rock falls, and the use of explosives such as dynamite sometimes caused injury or death
– William Kelley: was blinded in a mining accident. The Montana Supreme Court ruled that the mining company did not have to pay for William Kelley’s blindness
• Mining as Big Business: (458-459)– Miners grew dissatisfied with
wages and working conditions.
– In some communities, miners formed unions.
– Unions helped injured miners and the families of miners who had been killed on the job
– Unions negotiated with or battled against owners who tried to cut wages.
