Western Mining an Informal Account of Precious-metals Prospecting, Placering, Lode Mining, and Milling on the American Frontier from Spanish Times to 1893

Young, Otis E. Jr.

ISBN 10: 0806113529 / ISBN 13: 9780806113524

Published by University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK, 1977

About this Item

technical assistance by Robert Lenon. 342 pages; 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 " Light wear to spine and covers.

Seller Inventory # 52472

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Western Mining an Informal Account of Precious-metals Prospecting, Placering, Lode Mining, and Milling on the American Frontier from Spanish Times to 1893
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK
• Publication Date: 1977
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0806113529
• ISBN 13: 9780806113524
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science, Physical Sciences, & Math

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Otis E. Young, Jr., a native of Indiana, received the Ph.D. degree from Indiana University. He is Professor Emeritus of History in Arizona State University, Tempe. In addition to BlackPowder and Hand Steel and Western Mining, he is the author of several other books and articles on western history.