R. A. F. Penrose

“ An important factor in the progress of gold mining has been the increased respect for the industry on the part of the public at large. Not many years ago, many people, especially in the east, looked on gold mining as a gamble and a calling of questionable character; and the numerous fraudulent schemes that had been floated gave them some justification for their ideas. Many a person who sought to increase his fortune by mining, kept the matter a secret, so as not to injure his standing with his more conservative business associates. ”

“ The first great discovery of silver ore in the United States was that at the Comstock lode, but others followed rapidly, until the multitude of mines opened between 1860 and 1885, made the United States the greatest silver producer in the world. Silver was then valuable, the deposits were larger than had ever been known to exist before, and the profits were immense. Towns grew up based entirely on the silver industry, and silver was the chief topic of the thoughts, conversation and daily pursuit of the people ”

“ No pioneers of a new country were ever more suited to their task than they, and the result was soon seen in many new mining discoveries, made in the years immediately following the war.
Again, after the price of silver began to fall, many men were thrown out of work by the closing of the mines, and the search for gold attracted them as offering a more stable pursuit: with the result that in the years from 1890 to 1905 some of the great gold discoveries of the world were made, including the Cripple Creek, Klondike, Goldfield and other regions. ”

“ In the same way a marked increase in the production of gold in 1908 followed the financial panic of 1907. This feature of gold mining as a last help to the unfortunate has been observed not only in the United States, but in many other parts of the world. When all else fails, the people take to gold mining, especially placer mining, which requires but little equipment, is easily learned, and in some places is sure to afford a certain, though often meager, profit. ”

“ The gold of California was discovered purely by accident, in a country which, though not exactly well known, had yet been passed over by many people, and was at least well enough known to warrant the existence of a mill, in the construction of which the gold was found. The Cripple Creek district was discovered in one of the best known parts of Colorado, in a region that had for many years been settled by ranchers. ”

“ In the meantime one discovery of gold rapidly followed another in the gravels of the many rivers and creeks that run down the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, and miners were soon working for over 150 miles along the mountains. Since then the range of the gold discoveries has spread over wider limits, reaching from the northern to the southern boundary of the state, but the larger part has come from the region worked in the early days, extending from Mariposa County on the south to the Feather River on the north. ”

“ The missions became the seats of government of prosperous communities, and the Indians from the outside, who came to trade for provisions and clothes, were observed to be always well provided with gold dust for this purpose. The monks thus became aware that an abundance of gold existed on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, but they feared the effect such news would cause if it reached the outside world. ”

“ Mining progressed at a rapid rate at Virginia City, the mines reached great depths, and the water and heat increased at an abnormally rapid rate. It was then that Adolph Sutro commenced the great tunnel which bears his name, with the object of draining the mines and making an easier outlet for the ore, but before the project was completed the great "bonanzas" were largely exhausted, and by 1880 the production of the district had greatly declined. ”

“ Mining still continues, however, to the present day, and the production some years reaches several hundred thousand dollars, in others only a small part of this amount. The experience people had obtained in gold mining in the south and the fact that the production of that region was on the wane, caused them to be quickly attracted to new fields when the reports of the discoveries in California reached the east in 1848. ”

“ Among the earliest to arrive from the outside were Mexicans, Peruvians, Chileans and Chinese, as they could reach the region quickly by sea; but the great tide of immigration that soon came from the eastern states, around Cape Horn, across the Isthmus of Panama and over the emigrant trail, soon placed the Americans in the majority, and by the end of 1849, there were nearly 100,000 miners on the ground. Thousands of others died on the way, from exposure and starvation, from heat and thirst in the desert, from attacks by the Indians and from cholera, which killed many along the trail in 1849. ”

“ Large bodies of ore, however, were first found in 1859, and then the news of the discovery spread rapidly and a great rush of people commenced, among them Henry Comstock, for whom the lode was named. The town of Virginia City sprang up from the desert and became a flourishing community. ”

“ After our Civil War had ended, in 1865, many men who had served in both armies had become too much accustomed to constant excitement and action to settle down to the ordinary monotonous callings of life, and thousands of them started for the west as a country offering the life of adventure that they sought. ”

“ From that time until the present the Black Hills region has been a steady producer of much gold and some silver, the production of gold usually amounting to several million dollars yearly, and aggregating, up to 1910, approximately $150,000,000. ”

“ One can not refrain from the conclusion that this is not only possible, but probable. Moreover, the better knowledge of the nature and occurrence of ores, which the prospector of to-day is gradually acquiring, will greatly assist in the search. ”

“ In the early mining operations, gold had been obtained by digging the gravel by hand and washing in pans or in the devices known as cradles and sluices; but when the richer deposits were exhausted and lower grade gravels had to be worked, efforts were made to find means to mine on a larger and cheaper scale. The result was the introduction of what became known as hydraulic mining, a process invented in 1852 by Mr. ”