today we're looking at mining boom towns of the wild west
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos in 1848 gold had been
discovered in california sparking the california gold rush which pulled thousands upon thousands of
americans and people from around the world to the american west the california gold rush reached its
peak in 1852 and then began to decline but just a few years later in 1858 gold was discovered near
pike's peak in present-day colorado this set off a new rush of settlers moving west as nearly 50 000
prospectors moved to colorado to mine for gold but in the process of looking for gold other minerals
and precious metals were discovered in 1859 silver was discovered in nevada on the property partly
owned by henry comstock a miner from canada the comstock load was one of the richest deposits
of precious metals such as gold and silver in history between the years of 1860 to 1880
mines from the comstock lode area mined nearly 7 million tons of precious metals and generated
over 500 million dollars in wealth prospectors began scouring the west hoping to strike it rich
searching for gold silver zinc copper and lead in the 1870s silver was discovered at leadville
in colorado then soon after there were gold discoveries in the black hills of south dakota
a discovery of precious metals would immediately lead to a rush of miners to an area generally
near the mining site a small tint city would pop up but soon after usually a general store
would be established and surrounding at permanent buildings would begin to be constructed although
many of these buildings were considered rickety and unsafe these small camps became the western
boom towns towns such as virginia city near the comstock load deadwood in the black hills of south
dakota [ __ ] creek and telluride colorado coeur d'alene idaho and tombstone arizona just to name a
few these boom towns are what many today identify as being the quintessential image of the wild west
these towns were known for popping up quickly and being pretty wild these towns became known for
shootouts gambling and saloon fights interestingly with the towns developing so rapidly there was
little time to consider basic city functions such as trash pickup or sanitation so many times these
towns were described as being dirty places because garbage would just be thrown out behind businesses
hotels and saloons were the centers of activity in these boom towns many miners would strike it rich
only to lose their fortune gambling at the saloons violence and robbery became a common occurrence as
many miners would be carrying a lot of money after making a strike it was common for the average
citizen to be carrying a gun for protection most towns sprung up so quickly that law enforcement
was not able to develop and in many towns it was completely non-existent many of the boom towns
could not afford to hire a sheriff so there was a lot of vigilante justice and and by that i mean
citizens of the town taking law into their own hands if someone committed a crime citizens would
many times organize a posse or group of men to ride out and hunt down and capture the criminals
these towns were overwhelmingly populated by men estimates are that most towns had a ratio of nine
men to every one woman women did not work in the mines but rather open businesses in mining towns
such as laundries and stores many women helped to establish churches and schools in the boom towns
railroads began to stretch into the west to carry the large amounts of mind ore back to the
east to be used in factories many of the larger boom towns began to be connected by rail lines
but as the late 1800s wore on the areas where these boom towns popped up
began to be completely stripped of their resources without any regulations on mining
practices or the amount that could be mined suddenly the mine would run out
when this occurred many of these boom towns just as quickly became deserted virtually overnight
the miners all left to find riches elsewhere and the town was abandoned today scattered
throughout the american west are the empty shells of these once bustling communities known as ghost
towns they stand as reminders of the sudden growth and equally sudden decline of the boom
towns in the late 1800s so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you