Featured Mining Town: Kingston, New Mexico
Kingston was founded in 1882 after a rich lode of silver ore was discovered by miner Jack Sheddon. At the height of its silver mining boom the population of Kingston topped 7,000, outstripping Albuquerque by at least 1,000 people. Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: Rawhide, Nevada
Rawhide was a mining town that exemplifies many of the towns which sprang up in Nevada during the silver and gold rushes in the state's history. Rawhide was less a town born on the actual finding of large silver or gold deposits, and more on the manipulation of greed and desire for "the next big thing". Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: Silver Plume, Colorado
Silver Plume was founded in 1869 near the rich silver mines west of Georgetown. Today most of the town is part of the GeorgetownSilver Plume National Historic Landmark District. Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: Georgetown, Colorado
Georgetown, Colorado was settled after the discovery of gold in 1859. The town would ultimately become the center of a major silver district and Colorados most important mining town in the 1870s. Today, Georgetown is one of the best preserved Victorian-era mining towns in the West. Continue Reading
Central Idaho’s Yankee Fork Gold Dredge
Located adjacent to the Idaho ghost town of Bonanza, on a tributary of the Salmon River, is the idle Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. The dredge is described as the largest in Idaho, and one of the best-preserved dredges in the West. Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: Empire, Colorado
Settled in 1860, Empire is one of the oldest mining camps in Colorado. The town was the site of a local boom with the 1862 discovery of the Tenth Legion mine Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: St. Elmo, Colorado
St. Elmo, originally named Forest City, was settled near the Mary Murphy Mine in the late 1870s. The town thrived during the 1880s as the local mines employed hundreds of men and were producing millions of dollars a year in gold and silver. Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: Marble, Colorado
A world-class deposit of marble was discovered in a remote section of Colorado wilderness in 1873. The discovery was made at what would become known as the Crystal River Valley, one of Colorado's most spectacular locations. The town of Marble would be settled in the valley below the marble deposit, but not until many years later. Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: Silver City, Idaho
Silver City was at the center of one of the West's greatest silver discoveries. The ore deposits at Silver City were so rich that armed conflicts erupted over control of key mines. Continue Reading
Featured Mining Town: Bayhorse, Idaho
Established in 1877, Bayhorse was the first major mining camp in central Idaho's Salmon River country. The silver mines at Bayhorse were rich, and the camp had a long history of development well into the 1900's. Today Bayhorse is a ghost town and is preserved as a state park. Continue Reading
