The Mechanics Of Optimism: Mining Companies, Technology, And The Hot Spring Gold Rush, Montana Territory, 1864-1868 (Mining the American West Series)

Safford, Jeffrey J.

ISBN 10: 0870817825 / ISBN 13: 9780870817823

Published by University Press of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 2004

About this Item

Signed and inscribed on title page by author, "To Ed & Phil - Dear friend and enthusiasts for Montana history. With Thanks for your kind invitation. Jeff Safford 10 Nov 04." Binding tight; interior clean. Black boards with metallic blue lettering on spine. Dust jacket in mylar; light shelf wear. From the rear cover, "This superb history covers the discovery, flourishing, and eventual collapse of the Hot Spring district, a part of Montana's exceptional 1860s gold boom." 1st edition, 1st printing per copyright number line. 185pp., including index and bibliography.

Seller Inventory # 030687

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Mechanics Of Optimism: Mining Companies, Technology, And The Hot Spring Gold Rush, Montana Territory, 1864-1868 (Mining the American West Series)
• Publisher: University Press of Colorado, Boulder, CO
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0870817825
• ISBN 13: 9780870817823
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Pratt, Daniel (Jacket)
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Very Good to Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good to Near Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Mining and Geology
  • Montana

About this title

Synopsis

For every successful mining district celebrated in history, there were failed dozens whose stories have been largely forgotten. The Mechanics of Optimism fills a void by documenting, in rare detail, the boom-bust cycle of Hot Spring District, a mid-1860s Montana gold camp that didn’t pay, despite early predictions of a bonanza.

Author and historian Jeffrey J. Safford examines how gold mining ventures were developed and financed during and after the Civil War, and how men, primarily Easterners with scant knowledge of mining, were willing to invest large sums in gold mines that promised quick and lucrative returns.

Safford explains how these mining companies were organized and underwritten, and why a little-known district in southwestern Montana was chosen as a center of operations. What were the businessmen involved in these ventures thinking? Why didn’t new mining technology triumph as predicted? Why did their financial strategies fail to produce lavish profits? Relying on extensive primary sources, Safford answers these and other questions while reminding the reader that the rapid rise and decline of Hot Spring was not unique. The mining frontier is littered with short-lived "sure-fire investments." True bonanzas were the exception, not the rule.

About the Author

Jeffrey J. Safford is professor emeritus of history at Montana State University. Long committed to historic preservation, he has served as historian to the Montana Heritage Preservation and Development Commission and as a member of the State Historic Preservation Review Board.