Western Mining History : Reliving the Industrial Revolution of the West

I have received many emails inquiring as to the nature of the organization that was behind Western Mining History. The answer to that question is there is no organization and I have created this website myself as a hobby over the last 8 years or so. So a bit about me. My name is Aaron and I have a B.S. in geology and after college I spent two seasons working on a mineral exploration team at a mine in Alaska. Years later I moved to Colorado and was surrounded by the amazing mining history for the first time. I believe that it was the combination of these experiences and one final event that caused me to finally acknowledge that the mining history landscape of the West was something incredible. That final event was my first visit to Butte, Montana, undisputed king of the mining camps. I was so amazed by what I saw in Butte that a plan for this website started coming together shortly after.

WMH is the result of years of trial and error and endless hours of computer work and many months of travel across the West. The site has gone through several major redesigns and I have finally achieved a form that will be the foundation of future site work and expansion.

As of mid-2012 I will be attempting to work full time on this site on a permanent basis. Part of this work will be to investigate the feasibility of turning WMH into a non-profit with a greatly-expanded scope and range of preservation activities.


WMH Site Goals

These are the current and future goals for Western Mining History:

1. Continue to profile mining towns across the West.

2. Continue to scan books and documents related to the topic and make them available on the site.

3. Start highlighting and interviewing individuals and organizations that are making contributions to the preservation of mining-related cultural resources.

And in the event that WMH should achieve non-profit status:

4. Launch a project to catalog all of the historical mining structures in the West.

5. Coordinate with local non-profits and communities to increase preservation efforts.

6. Increase the pace of document scanning with the intent of making an online library of related materials.

7. Create K-12 lesson plans related to mining history and distribute them for free to any classroom that would like to use them. This would help schools short on money and reintroduce children to our fascinating history of the western United States.

8. And a lot more but I don't want to get too ahead of the game just yet so please check back periodically to see what's new.


Would You Like to Help?

If you would like to see this project grow, there are small ways you can help now that would be greatly appreciated. Keep up on the site progress by following the WMH Facebook page and/or joining the WMH newsletter. The more visitors the site gets will help to ensure that progress can continue. Tell your friends and family. Spread the word!

If you have photos of old mining towns, whether they are 100 years old or only 30 years old, and you would like to submit them to the site please contact me to let me know.

Please consider making a donation. Click here to view the WMH donation page.

Thank You!

Thanks to everyone that has followed the site and for all the kind and supportive emails.