A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry for the extraction or smeltering of ore.
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In the United States several different types of communities were established by Americans during the frontier period; mining towns, railroad towns, cow towns and farming towns were the primary settlements built. Throughout the continental United States and Alaska, valuable minerals were discovered and mining operations launched. The miners would usually settle a site and make home of tents and shacks, eventually mining buildings such as smelters or stamp mills would be constructed followed by cabins, stores and saloons. A community would naturally be born with the settling of women and children and existed as long as precious metal could be dug from the area. Sometimes the geograpghical location of a mining community or the various American railroads would ensure a community's existence after all the valuable minerals were gone. Many American mining communities became ghost towns though others have become prominent cities. A settlement usually can only be considered a mining community if a mine exists directly at the settlement or within the immediate area and if the population relies on the mine economically. Smelter towns were built for smeltering ore extracted from mines, they are considered a type of mining community. Mill towns are also a type of mining community.