Gathering Gold: The Mines of Bobtail Hill
“Gathering Gold – An Illustrated Treatise on Modern Methods of Operating Gold Mines and Marketing Their Product” by General Frank Hall gives a fascinating look at the mines of Bobtail Hill at Blackhawk, Colorado around 1900. Continue Reading
Goldfield, Nevada: The Arthur Allen Albums
Photographer Arthur Allen captured many important scenes from Goldfield, Nevada’s peak years – from the budding camp that was just a collection of tents in the fall of 1903, to the thriving community that was described as “The World’s Greatest Gold Camp”, and was Nevada’s largest city by the middle of the decade. “Goldfield, Nevada: The Arthur Allen Albums” presents over 100 photos of the city, the mines, and cultural events that occurred during Goldfield’s boom years. Continue Reading
Death Valley’s Harmony Borax Works operated during the 1880s. The borax operations of Death Valley made the “20 Mule Teams”, the wagon trains that hauled the finished borax across the desert, famous in American culture. Continue Reading
While many romantic tales have been told of the prospectors that discovered the quartz leads that would become great mines, and of the mine owners and entrepreneurs that built empires of industry in what was a vast wilderness, it was the miner that ultimately did the difficult and dangerous work that extracted the great wealth of the West. Continue Reading
A vast fortune in gold ingots were lost to the sea in 1857 with the sinking of the S.S. Central America. Much of the gold has now been salvaged from the wreck, and in addition to the value of the bullion, the ingots serve as an important historical record of the private assayers that operated in California during the 1850s. “A Fortune in Gold: Ingots of the S.S. Central America” examines some of the stunning gold ingots that have sold at auction in recent years. Continue Reading
Lost Mines of Arizona
From The Mineralogical Record, Volume 14, No. 5, September-October, 1983: “The mountains and plains of Arizona are vast, complex, well mineralized and largely uninhabited even today. No one would dare to suggest that Arizona has given up all its secrets, and that no deposits or mineral occurrences remain to be found…” Continue Reading
Wyatt Earp spent most of his adult life moving between numerous gold rushes and mining excitements. In 1905 a newspaper described his wanderlust: “wherever was a new gold camp, a new oil field, a new place in which money was plentiful, there could be found Wyatt Earp, quiet, careful, but deadly in his own defense.” Continue Reading
Native Gold From the Jamestown Mine
From The Mineralogical Record, volume 25, January-February, 1994: “On December 26, 1992, owners of the Jamestown mine in Tuolumne County, California, received an unexpected Christmas present. Excavation in the company’s Crystalline pit revealed a ‘pocket’ of crystalline leaf gold. Approximately 1,568 ounces of specimen gold were collected in all. The largest piece, weighing in at 25.79 kg (69 troy pounds), ranks as one of the largest specimens of gold ever found in California, or the nation.” Continue Reading
Historically, very few large nuggets were saved for their value as collectibles. In modern times, large gold nuggets are exceedingly rare and are highly valued. The following examples are gold nuggets that have been sold at Heritage Auctions and have sales prices over $10,000. Continue Reading
In the 1890s, Leadville, Colorado was experiencing an economic depression. To boost the local economy, and the mood of the citizenry, in 1895 a plan was conceived to have a winter carnival, with the main attraction being a grand palace constructed almost entirely of ice. Continue Reading
