Shorty Harris was the Death Valley region’s most famous prospector. He discovered the Bullfrog mine that started the great rush to Rhyolite around 1905. Despite his success as a prospector, he never became wealthy, and preferred the simple life of a desert prospector.
The rugged individuals that opened the frontier West were prospecting, mining, and attempting to survive in what was a vast wilderness at the time. Many of the basics of survival had to be sourced directly from the miner’s immediate surroundings, and shelter was one of the first necessities of life that had to be addressed.
Text By Gary Carter Photos sourced by Western Mining History from various archives. Author’s note: this is a short synopsis of early stagecoach activity in the far west. Please note that different sources may provide slightly varying numbers when describing coaches, men, way stations and animals used. The readers are directed to the bibliography for
Colorado is characterized by the most rugged and mountainous terrain of any state in the US, and those mountains were rich in minerals waiting to be discovered by prospectors as far back as 1858. Development of mines in Colorado was slow at first due to the extremes of terrain and weather, and the remoteness of
The Lost Burro Mine is located in Inyo County California, within the boundaries of Death Valley National Park. It is recorded in the USGS MRDS database as records 10036121 and 10236489. The mine was discovered in 1907 and was worked intermittently by several owners until the 1970s. The National Park Service has provided a report
The Colorado Gold Rush, originally known as the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, started in 1858 and was the second largest mining excitement in United States history after the great California Gold Rush a decade earlier.
WMH Gold Maps for Google Earth Pro are designed to locate areas with high potential for finding placer gold. A core feature of these maps is the highlighting of townships that contain both active placer mining claims and historical gold mines. The screenshot below uses data from the Idaho Gold Map and shows gold-bearing PLSS
Arizona of the 1800’s was a state defined by harsh desert topography, extreme isolation, fierce native tribes determined to defend their homes from outsiders, and a certain degree of frontier lawlessness. These factors contributed to Arizona getting a later start in the Western mining booms than some of the other states. Arizona remained a territory
The stagecoach has become an iconic symbol of the American West. In remote parts of the western frontier, the stagecoach was the only form of public transportation for years or decades before being replaced with trains or later roads and automobiles.
The ore that came out of western mines usually had to be milled to separate the valuable metals from the waste rock. Mills of many types were built to treat the variety of ores coming out of the mines. “Winning the Metal: Ore Mills of the West” takes a look at some of the more common mill processes and includes numerous photos of the West’s great mills.
