The History Of The Alaska Gold Rush

The first big gold discovery in Nevada was what we call placer gold. It was in a stream flowing into the Carson River near the town of Dayton. This gold discovery was made by the Mormon gold-seekers, called "forty-nine" on their migration (as a reference to 1849), to California gold fields. It later led others upstream into what is called the Virginia range. Where they found the mother-load of gold fields in 1859.

There were two miners by the name of Peter O'Reilly and Patrick McLaughlin, they began prospecting with a rocker box on the mountain near a small screen. Most got some gold and also large balls of heavy blue and black mud that stuck to the rocker box which made it almost impossible to wash out the material and find any gold.

On a closer inspection, it revealed that the blue mud was loaded with silver almost pure silver, which can easily be done by hand with a shovel. By the ton. And every ton was worth an estimated $2000.

The Comstock load got its name from a Henry Thomas Paige Comstock, he came across O'Reilly and McLaughlin, who were prospecting and told them that he had claim their and they were claim jumping, which was illegal and a lie. The man didn't want any trouble, so they shared the claim with Comstock, which became the famous Ophir Mine.

The new news travel very fast. The silver and gold fever was on! Prospectors and drifters rushed into the area to work in the underground mine tunnels Mark Twain came to the original Nevada Sin city, which was a beehive of activity and Virginia City was a festering den of scum and villainy you'd think Las Vegas was the original 24-hour sin city, but Virginia City claimed that title it long time ago in 1863 the total number of arrests and jailed was one-third the town's population of 31,000 people.

The wealthy mines helped grow Virginia City during the gold rush. It turned the poorest prospector into instant wealthy millionaires and made billions for Wall Street, many stockholders made fortunes in the Comstock gold rush. As for Henry Comstock after working his way into his deal sold his share of the claim for $20,000 and opened up his own businesses, all of them failed. He tried to be a prospector again, but with no success in 1870, he committed suicide.

The Comstock load discoverer Peter O'Reilly held his shares a while longer. Then finally, selling out for $50,000 he spent his fortune in the Sierras, thinking that he'd find a richer gold strike then the Comstock load, but that didn't pan out it was a bust. Instead, he went insane and died in asylum.

Co-discover of the Comstock load Patrick McLaughlin sold his mine share for $3000. The money didn't last long. He worked at odd jobs until he died. He was buried in a pauper's grave.

There was a lot more different discoveries during the California gold days and continues even now, with a lot more rules and regulations. A person can still strike it rich, especially with the prices of gold skyrocketing from back when the gold rush started at around $200 an ounce to $1600 an ounce, and climbing.

Gold was first mined and discovered in Alaska in the 1870s. Alaska has the most interesting gold history of them all. Alaska today has its landscape full of old remnants of the states gold-rush past and present.

Gold rush in Alaska today Today Alaska is one of the few states in the world that will allow a small-scale prospector to prospect for gold legally. It is common for a prospector to use a gold pan and a sluice box in the city or small sites that don't call for a commercial mining outfit. A person can stop on the side of the road near a creek on his way home from work and pan a few shovels of dirt.

The University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks. There is a gold showcase of the Alaskan gold Rush history from its discovery in the 1870s to the present, a visitor to Alaska can choose from many gold jewelers and gift shops. There are a lot of tours and panning type of trips and is also known for its great hunting and fishing across the state.

The gold rush began with the discovery at a place called Sitka in 1872, then another gold rush discovery at the second major place called Windham Bay in 1876, but the Alaska can be created to the discovery of major gold deposits in 1880 at Juneau Alaska, the gold prospectors found significant pieces of quartz black sand and galena, containing shiny gold in Gold Rush Creek, city of Juneau was named after a prospector Joseph Juneau, the gold deposits in Juneau are still being mined today, which has given the Alaskan state economy a great contribution of wealth.

The great Alaska gold rush It was the Juneau gold discovery that started the Alaska gold rush when prospectors came to the state to cash in on the gold craze in 1880. Today, along the old mining areas, you will find all kinds of tourists attractions along the coast of Alaska. One such area is the Nome region that was made famous by all the old prospectors in the 1890s that came for the gold rush looking for gold. The beaches of Nome still produce gold for the small-scale prospectors that wanted to be reminded of the gold rush days.

Much like the California gold rush. The Alaskan gold Rush can also be credited with the growth of settlement towns into major economic centers Fairbanks got a great boost from the gold-rush era. Still today, Fairbanks has sufficient gold deposits, and is a big mining city with lots of small time prospectors trying their luck at the gold rush of the past and present the largest, most recent Alaskan gold find was made near a Lake just 235 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, Thought to contain the largest gold deposits in the second largest copper deposit in North America with 31.3 million ounces of gold with a further 18.8 billion pounds of copper the gold rush continuous.



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