Western Mining History : Reliving the Industrial Revolution of the West

As you are browsing the many mining towns profiled here at Western Mining History, if there's a particular one that sparks your interest there is a pretty good chance that Arcadia Publishing has a book out on that town. Arcadia's Images of America series is interesting in that it works with historical societies, museums, and other organizations or individuals that have a collection of historical photos of an area. These partnerships have resulted in the extensive Images of America series of books. Each book is just an introduction followed by hundreds of historical photos and captions, which I believe is a format that mirrors some of the work I have done on this site and is a great way to preserve and disseminate histories in an easy-to-digest format.

Arcadia recently came out with an Images of America book on Austin, Nevada. Austin is one of the West's older, and most remote, mining towns. Located on America's Loneliest Road (Nevada Route 50), Austin really embodies what frontier America was (and is) all about. Austin was never a huge mining district so it's not as famous as places like Nevada's Virginia City, which I believe is a reason that few people know of Austin and it's history is somewhat shrouded in mystery due to lack of available photos and historical documents.

Enter Arcadia's book about Austin and we finally have a great photo history of this unique town. For anyone wanting to learn more about Austin, or just about any other town of historical significance in the West, I encourage you to check out Arcadia Publishing and their extensive line of books.