Soudan Underground Mine State Park
Minnesota is a state known for lakes, mosquitos, and iron. The incredibly iron rich state is doted with mines but none is more notable than the Soudan Mine, Minnesota’s oldest and deepest iron ore mine and where the industry found its start in 1884.
Broken Boot Gold Mine Tour
Take a step back in history and experience the industry that defined the Black Hills and Deadwood, South Dakota with a tour of the Broken Boot Gold Mine. This modest mine operated fro 26 years from 1878 to 1904. Now visitors can experience part of Deadwood history and walk through the historic tunnels.
Sierra Silver Mine
The Sierra Silver Mine just north of Wallace, Idaho, while a poor silver producer finds new life as an educational hotspot where tourists learn the history of Idaho’s richest mining district, view demonstrations of hard-rock mining, and see samples of regional ore.
The Borax Museum
The Borax Museum is a relatively small collection of mining artifacts, borax products, and local history housed in one of the oldest structures in Death Valley National Park. Along with displays of picks, pans, soap flakes, and arrow heads is an outdoor collection of mining and other industrial equipment used across Death Valley at the turn of the century.
Keane Wonder Mine
Nestled on the steep Chloride Cliffs of the Funeral Mountains is one of the most successful mines in present day Death Valley National Park. The Keane Wonder Mine operated in the early 1900s, during the Death Valley mining boom. Nearly $1 million in gold were yielded between its discovery and closing in 1912. Yet the mine remains a popular attraction in the National Park.
Gilman, Colorado
Gilman, Colorado is a ghost town perched on a 600-foot cliff over the Eagle River. Today, the colorful but graffiti covered housing and Eagle Mine operation stand empty along the slopes of Battle Mountain. Yet, in the 1880s, Gilman was counted among the notable Colorado Silver boomtowns. A Brief History of Gilman, Colorado Within the…
Everett J. Ritchie Tri-State Mineral Museum
The Tri-State Mineral Museum may be small but it is a beautifully curated wing of the Joplin Museum Complex in Joplin, Missouri. The museum collection highlights minerals, mining equipment, and the mining history in the Joplin area’s Tri-State Mining District from the 1870s through the 1960s.
Bayard Mining Park
On the corner of Central Avenue and Poplar Street in downtown Bayard, New Mexico, the Bayard Mining Park commemorates Grant County miners with a collection of mining equipment and educational plaques. While the park does not warrant a trip in and of itself, the park, like a fine wine, is paired nicely with a trip…
Pinos Altos Museum
Pinos Altos may not be the easiest town to locate today, but in it’s day, it was a hub for ranching an mining.
Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum
Located in the original Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company headquarters in the center of Bisbee, the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum preserves the legacy of the “The Queen of the Copper Camps.”