Featured Mining Town: South Pass City, Wyoming
The first significant gold discovery in the South Pass area occurred in 1867 and a rush was on. South Pass City became the largest camp in the new district, and in 1868 became the second incorporated city in Wyoming. Continue Reading
The Top Ten Gold Producing States
From 1799 through 1965, the United States produced over 300,000,000 ounces of gold, which at the current price of around $1,500 per ounce (as of August 2019) would be valued at over $450 billion dollars. These are the ten states that contributed the most gold to US production during the golden era of mining in the American West. Continue Reading
The Top Ten Historic Mining Towns You Should Visit Today
The various gold and silver rushes in the West were the primary factor in the initial settlement of the western states. Thousands of mining camps were formed but most only lasted a few months or a few years before the residents packed up and moved on to the next rush or a more prosperous town Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: Central City, Colorado
Central City was Colorado's most important mining center for almost two decades following gold discoveries in 1859. The city's fame would be overshadowed by Leadville in 1880, but Central City would endure for decades as one of the West's oldest and most resilient mining towns. Continue Reading
New Interactive Maps of the Mining West
New mine maps at Western Mining History for the first time plot over 116,000 mines and over 350 mining towns on the same maps. Continue Reading
Placer Gold Deposits of Arizona
Arizona ranks tenth in the United States (eighth in the western continental States) in placer gold production. The U.S. Bureau of Mines cites 500,000 troy ounces of placer gold produced in Arizona from 1792 to 1964. The 1972 publication Placer Gold Deposits of Arizona - Geological Survey Bulletin 1355, gives a historical overview of Arizona's gold placer districts and describes 87 districts that have been placer mined in the state. Continue Reading
