Paydirt!

Comment by Jon Hovis on July 18, 2009 at 10:29am

Has anyone read the book, Silverton Gold by Allen Bird? I just finished reading my friend's copy and it was facinating! It tells the story of the Sunnyside mine north of Silverton, the largest gold mine in Colorado history. Interesting history and facts about mining, life, and fortunes won and lost. It was self published in '86 so I was surprised to see some copies on Amazon.

Comment by Charlie Morton on July 18, 2009 at 9:37pm

I haven't read Sileverton Gold. However, I read "The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War Unabridged" by Leonard Richards. It's a great book if you are serious about History of the West or the Civil War. I was pretty familiar with the basics: That the South was obssessed with the opportunity to expand slavery into the territories and that contributed to the coming of the Civil War. But I didn't know a lot of the details about the economic and political reprucssions of the Gold Rush. Another issue that came out was how strong pro-Southern sympathies were in Southern California and what is today the southern part of New Mexico and Arizona. Sibley's New Mexico expedition seems like a fools errand today, but in 1862 there was reason to think it might actually succeed.

I also recently read "Blood and Thunder" which is more or less a biography of Kit Carson, but it has a lot on Fremont and the gold rush. It starts a little slow, but is great all in all. In fact, Kit Carson comes across as one of the purest storybook heroes I've ever read about, although Stiles repeatedly tries to burst the bubble. He clearly wasn't perfect, but as large as his reputation is it deserves to be bigger.

Also, I am always posting new gold mining docs on my gold mining blog: http://www.gold-prospecting-equipment.net/blog/

I have posted some stuff about old mines in Virginia, Montana, and Washinton. I've got piles of docs over there.

Comment by Kerby Jackson on July 19, 2009 at 1:04am

Good info. on your blog, Charlie.

I've got a copy of "Blood and Thunder" here - a great book.

As for the Civil War and its connection to the Gold Rush, anti-Union sentiment was very common in all the Far Western states. One thing to keep in mind about the first Overlanders (those people who came West in covered wagons) is that for the majority, their intent was not to extend the American empire. They didn't call themselves "pioneers" as is common now, but "emigrants". The thing to remember is that the first of them were actually leaving the United States and migrating to areas only loosely controlled by other powers. (In the SW, that meant Spain and later Mexico, while here in the NW, it was British ruled, or to be more precise, it was controlled by the Hudson Bay Company.) While a lot of these early settlers were Pro-Confederacy during the war, it did not necessarily mean that all of them wished to join the Confederacy (though many did). It simply means that a large number supported the secession of states and territories from U.S. rule. This sentiment ran rife enough in California and Oregon, that on the senate floor in DC, California's admission as a U.S. state and Oregon's admission as a territory was very hotly debated. The argument against was that "we" could not be trusted due to the fact that "we" put our loyalty more in Oregon or California than in a central government located across a continent. (Those against were not so wrong, because it's still largely true today and in those days, there were major efforts to establish both as independent nations. In fact, California DID exist as an independent Republic for about a month). The argument for admission was that California and Oregon had too many natural resources (ie. gold) not to admit. Without the gold, neither would have become part of the U.S. and without the gold, the Union would have undoubtedly lost the war.

Comment by Meghan Saar on July 20, 2009 at 2:19pm

Hey Charlie. You should add your blog to this site, so people in the group can see it here too. Here's a web link that explains how you can bring in posts to your Ning page.

http://howtotechtips.blogspot.com/2008/08/ning-rss-feed-box.html

Comment by Charlie Morton on July 24, 2009 at 10:33am

I finally got the RSS feed up for my gold mining blog. Thanks Meghan!

Comment by Jon Hovis on August 9, 2009 at 2:07pm

I just finished another book about a Silverton, Colorado area gold mine. Ghosts and Gold by Scott Fetchenhier is about the Old Hundred mine just north of Silverton. The book has some great pictures and very detailed history of the mine and its owners. As with most gold seeking endevors, the mine was over-hyped by the owners and most went broke. The only money maker for the mine was when they opened it up for the tourist trade, taking in tours. I have personally been to the mine, and hiked to the old boarding house which is perched precariously on the edge of the mountain at over eleven thousand feet. A tough hike, I can't even imagine working up there.
Jon.

Comment by LUCKYDOGJIM on December 20, 2009 at 5:36pm

SILVERTON IS A GREAT MINING AND RAILROAD TOWN. YOU CAN TOUR THE OLD HUNDRED MINE NORTH OF TOWN. THERE ARE SEVERAL SCENES AT THE MINE IN THE WESTERN MOVIE " NIGHT PASSAGE" WITH JAMES STEWART AND AUDIE MURPHY. THAT WHOLE AREA WAS JAMMED WITH MINES . SO MUCH SO THAT THE TOWN HAD FOUR DIFFERENT RAILROADS LEAVING TOWN DURING THE DAY. I CANT RECALL ANY OTHER TOWN WEST OF ST LOUIS THAT HAD FOUR DIFFERENT TRACKS LEAVING TOWN. THE HISTORY OF THE PLACE AND CURRENT TOURIST TRAIN MAKE IT A PLACE TO DISSOLVE IN. BE NICE TO THE PEOPLE AND YOULL BE WELCOME.

Comment by Jay Longley on July 31, 2010 at 2:30pm

We will hold our regular monthly meeting of the Central Texas Treasure Club next
Tuesday, August 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will be at our regular meeting
place: Mid-State Detectors, 3803 4th St., Brownwood, Texas.

http://pages.suddenlink.net/cttc/index.html

Our newsletter editor wrote:

"Jay and El Rojo will be demonstrating gold panning techniques that they acquired after countless hours on the river. You will see gold found and gold amalgamated with mercury and cast into buttons. Mining items necessary will be on display.
Members and guests are welcome to watch these two ole sourdoughs put on a great demonstration!!!!!"

~Jay~

Comment by Jon Hovis on November 7, 2010 at 3:55pm

Just lettin' everyone know my latest book, Silverton Gold, has just been published. Available on amazon.com and everywhere books are sold. You'll find a little bit about mining, stolen gold, and such...an exciting read from start to finish!

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