The Mining Company That Stole a Town
The Harrison Gulch townsite was owned by two mining companies – the Midas Gold Mining Company and the Victor Power and Mining Company. The Victor Company had nefarious plans for the town, resulting in a legal battle that lasted over a decade, with one paper declaring that the “townsite war is on.” 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
Little Girl Lost: The Story of Colorado’s Silver Dollar Tabor
How does it feel to go from unimaginable wealth to equally unimaginable poverty? In the Tabor family, youngest daughter “Silver Dollar” clearly knew, and was most affected. Continue Reading
Mojave Desert borax was first made famous in the late 1800s by by the Twenty Mule Team wagon trains that were used to transport it across the desert. Over 140 years later, borax is still an important mined commodity in Southern California. Continue Reading
The Young America mine was one located in one of California’s most scenic locations. It was partly owned by famed mining engineer Philip Deidesheimer. In a twist “Phillip Deidesheimer” was caught stealing a large quantity of gold from the mine. This article exposes the scandal that the mine owners attempted to make quietly go away. Continue Reading
The California Gold Rush was the most significant event in the history of the settlement of the western frontier. The initial discovery was made in January 1848, but news traveled slowly and although many miners arrived in 1848, the beginning of the Gold Rush was the following year in 1849. Continue Reading
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. Continue Reading
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. Continue Reading
In January of 1895, a warehouse fire ignited a large store of dynamite resulting in a great explosion that devastated several blocks of Butte, Montana, and killed an estimated 58 people. The following account is partial text from the 1895 publication “The Great Dynamite Explosions at Butte, Montana: January 15, 1895” The Fire and Explosions Continue Reading
It is often overlooked that the events surrounding “Gunfight at the OK Corral” occurred during one of the most important silver mining excitements in US history, and many of the region’s mining camps and towns played a part in the events that unfolded. Continue Reading
