2. Chapter 14: The Western Crossroads (1860-1910)
Section 4: The Mining Boom

3. Gold and Silver
The first promising mining discoveries after the California Gold Rush took place in Colorado.
Prospectors found gold near Pike’s Peak in late 1858.
By early 1859, thousands of people had flocked to Colorado.
Many prospectors left in disappointment by midsummer.

4. Gold and Silver
The Carson River Valley was another center of mining activity in 1859.

5. Gold and Silver
In addition to gold, the region contained the Comstock Lode, one of the world’s richest silver veins.
Over a period of 20 years its mines yielded about $500 million worth of precious metals.

6. Gold and Silver
Some miners went south to Arizona, where Hispanics had been mining silver since the mid-1870s.
They introduced new
mining methods,
including the patio
process, which used
mercury to extract
silver from ore.

7. Northern Ventures Some miners went as far north as British Columbia.
This movement had
important consequences
for Russia and the United
States.

8. Northern Ventures
Russia, at that time, owned Alaska, and offered to sell it to the U.S.
U.S. Secretary
of State William H.
Seward negotiated
the purchase of
Alaska in 1867.

9. Northern Ventures 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.”
Seward remained confident, however, that the purchase had been worth it.

10. Northern Ventures
In 1896, prospectors discovered gold in the Klondike district of Canada’s Yukon Territory, which bordered Alaska.
This led to the
Klondike Gold
Rush.

11. Northern Ventures
Gold discoveries in 1898 and 1902 attracted even more settlers.
Today, there is something under the ice of Alaska that some might say is even more valuable than gold…what is it??

12. Question 1
How did mining bring more people to the West?

13. Life in Mining Communities
Mining communities sprang up overnight wherever news of possible wealth brought prospectors together.
Prospecting was typically not a family enterprise – most camps consisted almost entirely of male residents.

14. The Settlers Mining camps drew a wide range of settlers.
The mix often included U.S. citizens, miners from the Cornwall region of England, and Irish and Chinese
immigrants.

15. The Settlers The atmosphere was one of intense competition.
The competition often led to discrimination.
Miners in the Cripple Creek camp in Colorado forcibly excluded eastern and southern Europeans as well as Hispanics.
Most Chinese miners left the Rocky Mountain camps because of hostile treatment.

16. Instability
Western mining camps were some of the most violent places in the U.S. during the late 1800s.
Tensions between ethnic groups often led to fighting, gamblers and swindlers swarmed in, and conflicts over claims set off brawls.

17. Instability
Deadwood, South Dakota, gained a reputation as a particularly tough town.
It became the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickok, who was shot dead as he played cards.

18. Instability
The absence of law enforcement sometimes led people in mining camps to form vigilante committees to combat theft and violence.
Vigilante committees often used violence to resolve problems, however.

19. Instability Stability came as the camps grew into towns.
The camps attracted businesses eager to feed and clothe the miners.
Cooking, cleaning, and providing lodging were profitable, along with being a saloon and storeowner.

20. Instability
The few children living in the camps hunted for gold dust after the miners had finished for the day. They also sold fresh food to the miners.
Prosperity brought law and order and the establishment of churches, newspapers, schools, and even theaters and music groups.

21. Instability
Denver and Boulder, Colorado; Carson City, Nevada; and Helena, Montana all began as mining camps.

22. Question 2
Besides mining, how did people in the West earn a living?

23. Mining as Big Business The era of the lone miner did not last long.
Within a few years after a strike, most of the easily accessible mineral deposits were “worked out.”

24. Mining as Big Business
Mining ore deposits deep below the Earth’s surface required resources and technology far beyond the means of the average prospector.
Therefore, mining became dominated by large, well-financed companies.

25. Mining as Big Business
Mining companies relied on technological know-how rather than on guesswork or luck.
College-educated geologists and engineers located the ore and instructed the companies how best to extract it.
Major ores were copper, iron, lead, and zinc.

26. Mining as Big Business Companies used two methods to reach the ore.
Hydraulic mining – water shot at high pressure ripped away gravel and dirt to expose the minerals beneath.
This method was
very harmful to the
environment, as
displaced soil clogged
rivers and caused
flooding.

27. Mining as Big Business
Hard-rock mining – involved sinking deep shafts to obtain ore
locked in veins
of rocks.

28. Mining as Big Business The work was dirty and dangerous.
Temperatures in the mines could reach 150° F.
Poor ventilation led to respiratory illness.
Cave-ins, rockfalls, and the use of explosives sometimes caused injury or death.
Injured workers rarely received compensation.

29. Mining as Big Business
Miners soon grew dissatisfied with the wages and working conditions.
In some communities, miners formed unions, which battled for compensation from injury or death and fought to increase wages.

30. Mining as Big Business
Mining increasingly became the task of large companies, which would greatly affect the landscape and environment of the West.

31. Question 3
How did the methods of early miners differ from those who worked in company-owned mines?