staff, Author at News From The Diggings

Wallace, Idaho Silver History Site

IdahostaffAugust 9, 20160

As the “Silver Capital of the World,” Wallace, Idaho is awash in silver mining history sites. The most accessible of these is visible from Interstate 90, sharing a lot with the Wallace Chamber of Commerce. The ambiguously named “Silver History Site” is a public park dotted with mining equipment. The exhibit’s head frame, stamp mill, ore car, drills, bits, and even a closed tunnel is capped off with a statue of a miner with his wife and child, dedicated to all miners and their families.

July 2016 Review

Trends ReviewstaffAugust 3, 20160

Mining claims on federal land saw a small increase over the month of July 2016. While 173 claims were staked and only 95 claims were abandoned, this is still significantly fewer than claims staked and closed in July 2015. Interestingly, in July of 2015, though 310 claims were staked, it marked a decrease in mining…

Harmony Borax Works

CaliforniastaffAugust 3, 20160

While Death Valley has had its share of gold and silver mines, the “White Gold of the Desert” has proven to be the deserts most profitable mineral. Borax mines and related facilities are dotted across the valley yet the Harmony Borax Works and interpretive trail is the primary attraction for visitors.

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

North AmericastaffJuly 29, 20160

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park319 2nd Ave SSeattle, WA 98104 Hours Tuesday – Sunday: 10AM-5PM Admission Free Discover “The Gateway to the Gold Fields” of Canada’s Yukon Territory at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The museum offers an overview of the Klondike Gold Rush while highlighting how Seattle becomes the main provision…

Trinity County Jake Jackson Museum

CaliforniastaffJuly 28, 20160

Historic downtown Weaverville is host to massive mining equipment, delicate gold nugget necklaces, and the only working steam powered stamp mill on the west coast—all preserved by the Trinity County Jake Jackson Museum. The museum is dedicated to the preservation of and education on the history of Trinity County. Of course, no history of the region would be complete without a deep dive into its early mining origins. The museum collection includes mining equipment, assaying scales, gold nuggets, and other artifacts from the historic county.

Central City, Colorado

ColoradostaffJuly 27, 20160

Central City, like many settlements in the area, owes its existence to the shiny yellow metal that can drive ambitious men to the ends of the earth. The Pike’s Peak Gold Rush was already in full swing when John H. Gregory discovered a gold bearing vein in Gregory Gulch in May 6, 1859. What came to be known as the Gregory Lode soon joined the Bates, Gunnel, Kansas, and Burroghs veins, discovered in the following two months. Prospectors flocked to the site. By, 1860 an estimated 10,000 prospectors ascended to the growing settlement known as Mountain City.

Gold Nugget Museum

CaliforniastaffJuly 21, 20160

The Gold Nugget Museum in downtown Paradise, California preserves and protects the rich mining history of the Ridge. The museum is named after a 54-pound gold nugget discovered in 1859. The “Dogtown Nugget” or “Magalia Nugget” was found a few miles outside of Paradise, in historic Dogtown. The nugget drew a stampede of miners who first settled the region and whose triumphs and challenges are commemorated in the Gold Nugget Museum.

Shasta State Historic Park

CaliforniastaffJuly 6, 20160

Sitting in the Klamath foothills, 6-miles west of Redding, California. is a row of half-ruined buildings flanking highway 299. These are the remains of the gold rush boomtown of Shasta, the “Queen City of the Northern Mines.” While its rise to relevance and fall into obsolescence is swift, it is a striking and well preserved reminder of gold rush that put the state of California on the map.

June 2016 Review

ResearchstaffJuly 4, 20160

June 2016 marks a continued slowing in the mining claim activity on public land. Last month experienced a greater number of closed claims (516) compared to activated claims (298), a reverse of the trend in June of 2015 when 754 claims were opened and 168 claims were closed. Unlike most of the major mining states, Arizona experienced an…

Idaho Museum of Mining & Geology

IdahostaffJune 25, 20160

Hidden in the back of the Old Idaho Penitentiary Site, the Idaho Museum of Mining & Geology is a repurposed structure featuring 2300 square feet of maps, regional mining artifacts, and dioramas educating visitors on Idaho’s mining history and mineral wealth. Displays demonstrate the tools and techniques of placer and lode mining including a model stamp mill and mine elevator. While a model miner’s camp demonstrates how miner’s lived while working their claims.