Boomtown & Mining History
Desert FeverWhile this volume was not intended to be a comprehensive history of all mining activity that has occurred withing the California desert, the attention given to many of the significant mines should make it useful as an overview, ...
Feature Mines:
1859: Bodie, California
... by prospector Wakeman S. Bodey, who the town was named after. Bodey died in November making a supply trip and becoming stranded in a blizzard.
1862: The Rise & Fall of Cerro Gordo
Originally a small-scale operation worked by Mexicans between 1862 and 1866, the mine was included ...
1870: Darwin
... gold, silver, and lead deposits were again discovered in the Coso Range, resulting in ...
1871: Chloride Cliff
... some say he picked up a rock to kill a rattlesnake and found ore--Franklin somehow found what he thought was a vein of ...
1877: Wildrose Charcoal Kilns
The kilns operated until the summer of 1878 when the Argus mines, due to deteriorating ore quality, closed and ...
1880: Providence & The Bonanza King
Andy McFarlane and Charley Hassen “concluded to try their luck, and were rewarded by the discovery of a wonderful bonanza.”
1881: Harmony Borax Works
During the summer months, when the weather was so hot that processing water would not cool enough to permit ...
1881: Calico Ghost Town
Below the Silver King Mine the town of Calico grew slowly. In the spring of 1882 there were only 100 people living ...
1894: Lost Horse Mine
When the story of the Lost Horse Mine is told, it sounds like a western campfire tale: gun slinging cowboys, cattle rustlers, horse ...
1903: Keane Wonder Mine
Since this was Keane’s first strike in 8 years of desert prospecting, it is not surprising that he named it the...
1904: Rhyolite, Nevada
“... the quartz was just full of free gold... it was the original bullfrog rock... this banner is a crackerjack” declared Shorty!
1905: The Inyo Mine
It appeared that the prospector's dream was about to come true for the two men, as they found ...
1905: History of Leadfield
Leadfield, in fact, had ore from the beginning, which was in 1905, not in 1925. During the early days of the Bullfrog boom...
1906: History of Skidoo
In January 1906 two wandering prospectors, John Ramsey and John (One-Eye) Thompson were headed towards the new gold strike at Harrisburg. Along the way ...
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually (but not always) from an ore body, vein, or (coal) seam. Materials commonly recovered by mining include bauxite, coal, copper, diamonds, iron, gold, lead, manganese, magnesium, nickel, phosphate, platinum, rock salt, silver, tin, titanium, uranium, and zinc. Other highly useful materials that are mined include clay, sand, cinder, gravel, granite, and limestone. Any material that cannot be grown from agricultural processes must be mined.
Mining techniques
Mining techniques can be divided into two basic excavation types:
1. Surface mining
2. Sub-surface mining
Extractive metallurgy
The science of extractive metallurgy is the study of beneficiation and extraction of valuable metals and minerals from their ores. Although extractive metallurgy is all encompassing, mineral processing or mineral dressing is often the term used for the study of processing coal, industrial minerals and precious stones, as these are not metals.
Mining industry
While exploration and mining can sometimes be conducted by individual entrepreneurs or small business, most modern-day mines are large enterprises requiring large amounts of capital to establish. Consequently, the industry is dominated by large, often multinational, mostly publicly-listed companies.
What is Gold?
Gold is a yellow precious metal which is valued for its beauty and purity as it does not tarnish or oxidize and is nearly indestructable. Coins and jewelry have been made from gold for over 6000 years, and it is regarded as a symbol of wealth. Gold is very is the most malleable of all metals, being too soft to be used in jewelry without being alloyed with other metals.
Over 90% of the gold we have today, has been mined since 1848. However, there is less gold per person than ever before.
Feature Article:
The Mint at the Mescal Mine
The Mescal mine lay on the east slope of one of the largest mountains in the Mescal range...A tunnel opened in the side of the mountain about half way between its base and summit, ran in three hundred feet and crosscut an almost perpendicular vein of silver ore of about eight feet in thickness. ...
Inyo County
Inyo County owes much of its development to a single incident that occurred in the winter of 1849-1850. Approximately one hundred impatient emigrants, drawn west as part of the great California gold rush, found themselves trying to escape Death Valley after ...
Kern County
Kern County ranks first in overall gold production within the California Desert. The dollar figure has been estimated at over 46 million dollars, with almost half of that coming from just two gold mines: the ...
San Bernardino County
San Bernardino County is not only the largest county in California, but it is the largest in the United States. As a county it has been uniquely endowed with rich mineral deposits. ...
Looking down into a mineshaft at the Stedman - Bagdad-Chase (San Bernardino county)