Pike's Peak Gold Rush
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pike's Peak Gold Rush (later known as the Colorado Gold Rush) was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of northwestern Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861. An estimated 100,000 gold seekers took part in the greatest gold rush in North American history.[1] The participants in the gold rush were known as Fifty-Niners after 1859, the peak year of the rush.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The Pike's Peak Gold Rush, which followed the California Gold Rush by approximately one decade, produced a dramatic but temporary influx of immigrants into the Pike's Peak Country of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The rush was exemplified by the slogan "Pike's Peak or Bust", a reference to the prominent mountain at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains that guided many early prospectors to the region westward over the Great Plains. The prospectors provided the first major European-American population in the region. The rush created a few mining camps such as Denver City and Boulder City that would develop into cities. Many smaller camps such as Auraria and Saint Charles City were absorbed by larger camps and towns. Scores of other mining camps have faded into ghost towns, but a few camps such as Central City, Black Hawk, and Idaho Springs survive.
[edit] Discovery
For millennia, Native Americans observed the wide variety of minerals in and around the Rocky Mountains. The people of the Chaco Culture mined turquoise at Los Cerrillos in New Mexico and traded the beautiful gem with the great civilizations of México, Yucatán, and [[District - 03: Milford | format = HTML | work = The History of Turquoise in the Cerrillos Hills, New Mexico | publisher = New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Bureau | accessdate = December 20 | accessyear = 2006}}</ref> Native Americans considered gold, silver, and other metals to be far less valuable and mining for metals did not begin north of México until English colonists began mining iron ore in 1619.[2]
In 1849 and 1850, several parties of gold seekers bound for the California Gold Rush panned small amounts of gold from various streams in the South Platte River Valley at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountain gold failed to impress or delay men with visions of unlimited wealth in California, and the discoveries were not reported for several years.[3]
As the hysteria of the California Gold Rush faded, many discouraged gold seekers returned home. Rumors of gold in the Rocky Mountains persisted and several small parties explored the region. In the summer of 1857, a party of Spanish-speaking gold seekers from New Mexico worked a placer deposit along the South Platte River about 5 miles (8 kilometers) above Cherry Creek in what is today Denver.[1]
William Greeneberry "Green" Russell was a Georgian who worked in the California gold fields in the 1850s. Russell was married to a Cherokee woman, and through his connections to the tribe, he heard about a 1849 discovery of gold along the South Platte River. Green Russel organized a party to prospect along the South Platte River, setting off with his two brothers and six companions in February 1858. They rendezvoused with Cherokee tribe members along the Arkansas River in present-day Oklahoma and continued westward along the Santa Fe Trail. Others joined the party along the way until their number reached 107.[3]
Upon reaching Bent's Fort, they turned to the northwest, reaching the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte on on May 23. The site of their initial explorations is in present-day Confluence Park in Denver. They began prospecting in the river beds, exploring Cherry Creek and nearby Ralston Creek but without success. In the first week of July 1858, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek that yielded about 20 troy ounces (622 grams) of gold, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. The site of the discovery is in the present-day Denver suburb of Englewood, just north of the junction of U.S. Highway 285 and U.S. Highway 85.[3]
[edit] Gold rush
When word got back east, the Pike's Peak Gold Rush was on. By 1859, large numbers of prospective miners and settlers had come up the South Platte River to the Cherry Creek Diggings (Denver). At first, there was only the slight showing in Cherry Creek and the South Platte River, but soon hard rock deposits of gold were discovered at Idaho Springs and Central City. By 1860, Central City had a population of 60,000 people, and Denver City, Golden City, and Boulder City were substantial towns serving the mines.
The first decade of the boom was largely concentrated along the South Platte River at the base of the mountains, the canyon of Clear Creek in the mountains west of Golden City, and South Park. As prospectors flooded the region in search of quick riches, the rapid population growth led to the creation of the Colorado Territory in 1861 and to the U.S. state of Colorado in 1876. The easy-to-reach gold deposits were largely played out by 1863 until another major strike was made in 1891 in the Cripple Creek area. Cripple Creek became a powerful center of union activity organized by the Western Federation of Miners primarily as a result of the successful strike of 1894. A subsequent strike of mill workers in 1903 led to the Colorado Labor Wars.
Hard rock mining followed exhaustion of the easy-to-reach surface deposits in all those areas, and the region continues to produce gold ore and many other minerals, although gold has been a minor mining effort for decades. The railroad lines built to haul gold from the mountains were a major part in creating the economic base of the region in the following decades, especially as Colorado experienced a companion mining boom in 1879 with the Colorado Silver Boom.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Noel, Thomas J. (December 19, 2006). Denver History - The Arapaho Camp (ASP/HTML). Mile High City. City and County of Denver. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
- ^ Timeline of Casting Technology (HTML). Birmingham District of the American Foundry Society (2006). Retrieved on December 20, 2006.
- ^ a b c Gehling, Richard (2006). The Pike's Peak Gold Rush (HTML). The Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Richard Gehling. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
