Western Mining History : Reliving the Industrial Revolution of the West

When the Berkley mine broke out afire the other day in Butte, Montana, sending five hundred men to the surface and suspending operations for a month in one of the biggest producers of the greatest mining camp on earth -- the camp that gives to the world's market one-fourth of its copper production -- the sight of the flames and smoke didn't cause as much as a ripple of excitement on the surface of the busy population at the foot of the hill, for Butte is accustomed to a mine fire that is perpetual and which burns with intense heat in the ground under her very business district.

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Western Museum of Mining & Industry in Colorado Springs, Colorado. WMMI's slogan is "The Museum that Works", a reference to the numerous pieces of antique machinery that are in working order and are operated during tours by the museum staff.

Ghost Towns and Mining Districts of Montana, by Terry Halden, is the definitive guide to the ghost towns and mining districts of Montana. This extensive work contains information and photos on over 300 ghost towns and 179 mining districts.

The most comprehensive study of John Cleveland Osgood to date, From Redstone to Ludlow covers events from 1892, when Osgood and his associates organized the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, to 1917, when Osgood signed a contract with the United Mine Workers of America, marking the end of his long history of battling the union.

This comprehensive treatment of the smelting industry of Colorado, originally published in 1979 and now back in print with a new preface by the author, details the people, technologies, and business decisions that have shaped the smelting industry in the Rockies.

The Spenceville Copper Mine, located in Spenceville, Nevada Co., California, operated between 1863 and 1918. In its day, it was considered one of the most long-lived copper mines in the state.

Among the comparative tests the most remarkable was that in Cornwall, England, where the Ingersoll drill worked in competition with the diamond drill, when the former bored the same depth of hole in half the time it could be accomplished by the diamond drill.

The substitution of a mechanical power in place of the hand-labor formerly exclusively used for drilling rock, has been a subject of much thought, and many attempts have been made, with greater or less success, until the rock drill by improved machinery became of late years a firmly established institution, and the credit of this belongs, to a great extent, to the improvements made by Mr. Ingersoll, as he overcame the defects connected with former attempts, which were excessive weight, imperfect action, easy derangement, frequent damage, and costly repair.

This article was originally published in Manufacturer and Builder Magazine March of 1870. Excerpt: WHEN, a few years ago, the writer of this article found in the French journals an account of a new application of the diamond, namely, for boring rocks, and gave to an American newspaper a translation of it, which went the rounds of the whole press of the United States, the story was disbelieved by many, and was thought absurd and extravagant. It was indeed known that glaziers use diamonds to cut glass, and that engravers on glass and precious stones employ them; but to use diamonds to bore in common rock, instead of the usual large steel punches and drills, was supposed by some to be the height of foolishness.

Yellowcake Towns: Uranium Mining Communities in the American West provides the first detailed analysis of the four mining and milling communities at the center of the twentieth-century unranium booms: Moab, Utah; Grants, New Mexico; Uravan, Colorado; and Jeffrey City, Wyoming.