Description
Book SynopsisIn The Trail of Gold and Silver, historian Duane A. Smith details Colorado's mining saga - a story that stretches from the beginning of the gold and silver mining rush in the mid-nineteenth century into the twenty-first century. Gold and silver mining laid the foundation for Colorado's economy, and 1859 marked the beginning of a fever for these precious metals. Mining changed the state and its people forever, affecting settlement, territorial status, statehood, publicity, development, investment, economy, jobs both in and outside the industry, transportation, tourism, advances in mining and smelting technology, and urbanization. Moreover, the first generation of Colorado mining brought a fascinating collection of people and a new era to the region. Written in a lively manner by one of Colorado's preeminent historians, this book honors the 2009 sesquicentennial of Colorado's gold rush. Smith's narrative will appeal to anybody with an interest in the state's fascinating mining history over the past 150 years.
Table of ContentsForeword by Tom Noel; Prologue; Pike's Peak or Bust; 1859: The Year Dreams Became Reality; 1860-1864: "To Everything There is a Season"; 1864-1869: "Good Times a-Comin" -- Someday; 1870-1874: Bonanza! "Three Cheers & a Tiger"; 1875-1880: 'All Roads Lead to Leadville"; The Silver Eighties: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times; "There'll Be a Hot Time"; "The Everlasting Love of the Game": Photographic Essay: Nineteenth-Century Colorado Mining; 1900-1929: Looking Forward into Yesterday; Mucking through Depression, War, & New Ideas; Mining on the Docket of Public Opinion: The Environmental Age; Index.
