Western Mining

Here for the first time is a clear account in words and pictures of the methods by which gold and silver were extracted and processed in the Old West. The author describes the early days of Spanish and Indian mining and the wild era inaugurated by the American prospector who rushed west to get rich quick ending with the year 1893 when repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act virtually closed the mining frontier.The account gives in laymen's language the techniques employed in prospecting placering lode mining and milling particularly those employed by the Spaniards Indians and Cornishmen and shows how the ever-practical Americans adapted and improved them. Special attention is given to the methods employed in the California and Montana gold fields Colorado and the Comstock Lode the Black Hills and Tombstone Arizona. In these pages the reader also meets some of the unforgettable personalities whose lives enriched (and sometimes impoverished) the mining camps.Otis E. Young Jr. is Professor Emeritus of History at Arizona State University Tempe. He is the author of several books on western history and mining including BLACK POWDER AND HAND STEEL: MINERS AND MACHINES ON THE OLD WEST FRONTIER also published by the University of Oklahoma.