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Unit 4: Miners. THE DECADE OF THE 1850’S. Slow-Fur trade was over and there were few settlers Uncertain-no mines were open and farmland was plentiful Uneventful in the Eastern United States. GOLD. Searching for Gold…. Spanish sought gold when they first came to North America
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THE DECADE OF THE 1850’S • Slow-Fur trade was over and there were few settlers • Uncertain-no mines were open and farmland was plentiful • Uneventful in the Eastern United States
Searching for Gold… • Spanish sought gold when they first came to North America • 1849 – California Gold Rush (the 49ers)
Major Gold Finds • 1828-Georgia-Led to Indian dispersal (Trail of Tears) • 1848-Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento Ca. • 1859-Pike’s Peak area • 1859-Nevada-Gold and silver found • 1863-Montana • 1876-Black Hills of S.D. • 1890’s-Klondike of Alaska;Canada in Yukon area
Why Gold is Valuable • Rare • Indestructible-Does not tarnish • Medium of exchange (most societies accept this as money) • Can’t reproduce it • Malleable-Can be broken to any size • Gold is gold-Pure in form unlike diamonds (A karat is 1/24 part of pure gold-24K=Pure gold)
Pikes Peak or Bust • 1850 – Cherokees found small amount of gold in Arvada • Fall Leaf, an Indian army scout, returned to Kansas with gold • Winter of 1857-58 -- Lawrence, Kansas group left for Colorado (due to Fall Leaf’s stories) • Winter of 1857-58 -- Oklahoma group (William Green Russell), along with Cherokees went West… found several hundred dollars in gold • John Cantrell joined them, went back East, told everyone about gold • August 1858 Newspaper – “Gold in Kansas Territory” (Colorado) • Led to “Pike’s Peak or Bust”
Pikes Peak or Bust Due to John Cantrell’s claims of gold, the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1858-59 began Spring of 1859 – 100,000 “59ers” set off for Colorado
FIRST GOLD STRIKES • Idaho Springs (Jan 1859) • Gold Hill, above Boulder (Jan 1859) • Central City/Black Hawk (Apr 1859) • All tried to keep it a secret…NO LUCK • Due to the little gold found, only about 25,000 of 100,000 “59ers” stayed
Placer Mining • Surface mining • Panning • Needs water • More popular
Placer Mining Sluice Box
HARD ROCK MINING • More Difficult • Underground • Mined gold ore from the veins • Required expensive equipment (brought from east) • Shafts, tunnels