Mining « History Rhymes

19Jun/090

The History of Elkton Mine

I don't think I've really said a whole lot about my fiction writing, but as a hobby, I enjoy writing fiction. I have mainly written short horror stories, but I've decided to try something different this time. I am going to try my hand at writing a short western. The story of course needs a good location to take place in which naturally has set me to researching various locations in the old west. After a bit of research, I've pretty much decided on the town of Elkton, Colorado.

Located in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Elkton came to life in the 1891 after a blacksmith from Colorado Springs named William Shemwell staked a claim in the Cripple Creek area. The town sprung up around the mine to support the miners and their families. By 1892, the mine still had not produced results and Shemwell decided to sell the claim to three brothers: George, Douglas and Sam Bernard.

George, Douglas and Sam Bernard

By 1894, the Bernard brothers had also been unsuccessful and gave the mine only two weeks before they would consolidate their loses. Near the end of these two weeks, a vein of gold was discovered which produced $40,000 within a week. The mine had finally become a success.

In 1899, a man by the name of Ed De LaVergne proposed to merge his mine located directly next to the Elkton with the Elkton. With this move, the Elkton mine became one of the largest mines in the Cripple Creek area. Total, the mine would yield more than $16 million in gold and would be active until 1956.

Elton Mine in October, 1903. <a href="http://www.halslamppost.com/USGS%20Colorado%20Mining%20Photo%20Library/slides/Elkton%20Mine%20from%20Guyot%20Hill.%20Cripple%20Creek%20District.%20Teller%20County,%20Colorado.%20October%205,%201903..html">Source</a>.

Elkton Mine in October, 1903. Source.

Several of the men involved, including Ed De LaVergne and the Bernards, became millionaires, but most of them were dead broke again by the time of their deaths.

The town itself never actually was platted, but the area simply became known as Elkton, Colorado. It had its own post office for a while and grew to reach a population of 2900 people at its peak.

This is kind of a brief overview of the town and the mine. If you would like more information or to see more pictures, visit Mike Hurtt's website History of Elkton Mine.

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Sources:

Hurtt, Mike. "History of the Elkton Mine." The Cripple Creek History Site. http://www.cripplecreekhistory.com/elkton_history.htm (accessed July 18, 2009).

Tagged as: Colorado, Gold, Mines No Comments

18Jun/090

The Mine Shop

So I found an interesting shop on eBay. The shop is called The Mine Shop and contains all sorts of mining artifacts from the late 19th and early 20th century. I haven't bought anything as most items are out of my budget as a college student, but it is really interesting to see some of the available artifacts.

Tagged as: Shops, Stores No Comments

2Nov/080

New Worlds For All

This semester I am taking a survey class of US history up to 1865. For that class, I just finished reading a book entitled New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America by Colin G. Calloway.

New Worlds for All

The book itself was actually quite interesting. Calloway discusses how the world not only changed for the Europeans who came over to the Americas, but also how life changed for the natives who had already been here for centuries. From my experience, I can say that most Americans tend not to even consider the Native American viewpoint on the European invasion on their lands.

Tagged as: Colonial America, Indians No Comments

14May/082

The General Mining Act of 1872

When gold was discovered in California in 1848, it caused a mass-migration of prospective miners to the west. Unfortunately at that time, the US government had very few mining laws, practically none of which were effective, and without a significant presence in the newly-acquired state of California, there was no good means with which to enforce those the government already had in place. Laws and mining regulations were therefore up to the individual mining communities to govern. Instead of the ineffective laws produced by the American government, they decided to adopt the Mexican mining laws which were already effectively in place. The Mexican mining laws stated that an individual who discovers gold or silver on public land has the right to mine it. These laws and regulations varied surprisingly very little between different communities with only minor differences such as the maximum size of claims.

On July 26, 1866, the first effective American mining legislation was passed by Congress. Known as the "Chaffee laws," the legislation basically made what the miners were already doing legal. At first the laws covered the legalization of mining lode, or hardrock, on public lands. The laws were then expanded in 1870 to include the legalization of placer mining, or the mining of sand or gravel for gold. With the original laws, miners could make claims if they had discovered and intended to extract gold, silver, cinnabar or copper.

In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the General Mining Act into law. The new act was more or less a more organized revision of the mining laws of 1866 and 1870, however, there were a few major changes in the 1872 act. Miners were now granted extralateral rights to lode claims which meant that if a miner had discovered a surface outcrop of a vein on his claim, he had the right to follow it and mine it wherever it led him, even under someone else's claim. The new act fixed the maximum size of a claim to be 1500 feet long and 600 feet wide. One of the more significant changes was the addition of "or other valuable deposits" to the list of materials that could be discovered and claimed, effectively expanding the scope of the law.

While most people know of the Homestead Act of 1862, which brought much attention to the desolate west and an onslaught of settlers, not many people know about the General Mining Act of 1872, although they were both intended to promote the settlement of the west.

$A large \"crater\" mine.$ The significance of the General Mining Act of 1872 is still felt quite prominently in the west. Aside from a few amendments made throughout the years, it remains mostly unchanged since its inception in 1872. One of the more significant amendments with the most profound impact on modern times was made just six years later and is called the Timber and Stone Act of 1878. It allowed private purchase of federal mineable land for very cheap.

Today, private miners and mining companies are able to obtain federal land for next to nothing. Modern mining techniques have also left huge craters in the western landscape, some of them large enough to see from space.

There is an interesting video from National Geographic on YouTube about the General Mining Act of 1872 and its effects on the modern west. I posted the video in an earlier post which you can find here.

Tagged as: 1872, Acts, American West, General Mining Act, History 2 Comments

11May/080

The Scofield Mine Disaster

The day of May 1, 1900 started off as any other ordinary day for the miners in Scofield, Utah. Early in the morning, the men and boys kissed their wives and mothers good-bye as they left for a hard day's work in the mines. Later in the day was to be festivities celebrating May Day, to which many of the miners were looking forward. None could predict that many of the miners would not live to see later in the day.

At around 10:28 AM, there was a very loud noise that came from mine No. 4 -- one of the two mines belonging to the Pleasant Valley Coal Company at Winter Quarters. Many people in the town heard the blast, but thought it was fireworks for the celebration later in the day. Mine employees not working in the mine realized it was something more serious, however. One of the employees was mine superintendent T.J. Parmley who put together a search and rescue party to go into the mines. What the team found was death and devastation.

Although the cause for the explosion is not known for certain, there is speculation that blasting powder exploded and set off a chain reaction when highly explosive coal dust -- which the mine was covered with -- blew up following the initial blast. When the rescue team got to the entrance to mine No. 4, they found it had been completely blocked with debris. When the entrance was finally cleared, they found the mine to be a death trap. Those who had survived the initial blast were suffocating from the "afterdamp" which consists of toxic gases combined with a lack of oxygen. Miners in adjourning mine No. 1 were not affected to the same degree by the blast, but they soon had to evacuate the mine due to poisonous gases escaping from mine No. 4.

By the end of the day, the body count had reached 200 victims. There were more bodies than available coffins and several had to imported from Denver. Casualties outside the mine itself include workers such as John Wilson who had been at the mouth of the mine at the time of the explosion. Wilson was flung 820 feet and was found lying against a tree.

Special trains were sent from Salt Lake City to retrieve the injured and those whose bodies would be laid to rest elsewhere. William Sharp, the company manager, also came by train from Salt Lake City with several doctors to assist the injured. When President William McKinley received news of the explosion, he wired his condolences:

"I desire to express my intense sorrow upon learning of the terrible calamity which has occurred at Scofield, and my deep sympathy with the wives, children and friends of the unfortunate victims of the explosion."

The explosion affected everyone in Scofield. There was not a single family who did not have at least one loss. The Scofield mine disaster was the worst tragedy in American history up until that time. Four days after the incident, on May 5, two massive funerals were held in Scofield for the victims: one was a Lutheran service and the other was a Mormon service.

Harry Taylor, a lucky miner who survived with only injuries, recalls,

$Victims\' Coffins$ “I was repairing some track out on the dump when I started toward the mouth of the tunnel to get some tools. I got about fifty feet away from the tunnel mouth when suddenly there was an awful report and at the same time a black cloud, filled with rocks, bore down on me. I felt several small rocks strike me and then I felt a jolt on my side and then – then I came away.

“The next thing I knew I woke with a man pouring some brandy down my throat, and I saw the boys lying all around me moaning for help. We were fixed up and put on the train.”

Tagged as: Disasters, History, Mines, Utah No Comments

3May/080

Mining in the Modern West

I was looking around on YouTube today and came across a really interesting video about modern mining in the Rocky Mountains by National Geographic. The primary focus of the video is about an 1872 mining law that allows mining companies to purchase federal land from the government at 1872 prices. They also talk about the effects modern mining practices have on the environment. Here is the video:

Tagged as: American West, Colorado, History, Mining, Rocky Mountains No Comments

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