South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Museum of Geology
View striking mineral and metal samples at the South Dakota School of Mines Technology Museum of Geology in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Hill Annex Mine State Park Clubhouse Museum
Hill Annex Mine State Park is located on the grounds of the sixth largest iron producer in the United States. The open pit Hill Annex Mine extracted natural iron ore from the Mesabi Range of northern Minnesota from 1913 to 1978. The Hill Annex Mine captures an era of mid-century mining that is often overlooked in other mining museums. Equipment, records, and other artifacts from the Hill Annex Mine are all on display at the Clubhouse Museum.
Quincy Mine
Quincy Mine (“Old Reliable”) was the most successful 1840-era mine and continues to draw visitors to its historic works in Hancock, Michigan.
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.
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…
Bodie State Historic Park: A Gold Mining Icon In Arrested Decay
Tucked away in the Eastern Sierras of California, Bodie is a gold-mining ghost town preserved in a state of arrested decay. Yet, in its hey day, Bodie hosted one of the richest gold strikes in California with a peak population of nearly 10,000 people. Gold and silver extracted from the Bodie Hills totaled in the millions.
A California Silver Rush in Cerro Gordo
Silver was discovered in Cerro Gordo (“Fat Hill”) in 1865 by Pablo Flores – the first major silver strike in Owens Valley and a defining feature of the Lone Pine Mining District. Today, it is a privately held mining ghost town outside of Lone Pine, California. It is infused with history and accessible by a rough dirt road.