Charles Moyer

Charles H. "Charlie" Moyer (1866 – June 2, 1929) was an American labor leader and president of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) from 1902 to 1926. He led the union through the Colorado Labor Wars, was accused of murdering an ex-governor of the state of Idaho, and was shot in the back during a bitter copper mine strike. He also was a leading force in founding the Industrial Workers of the World, although he later denounced the organization.
Early life.
Little is known about Moyer prior to 1893. He was born near Ames, Iowa. Moyer's parents, William and Maria Drew Moyer, were natives of Pennsylvania who migrated to Indiana by 1852 and on to Iowa by 1860. Charles was the youngest of five brothers and two sisters who survived their mother who died at the age of thirty-nine-years-old in 1870. In 1870, one of the sisters, a sixteen-year-old, had assumed the task of housekeeping for the family and care of Charles who was a sickly infant and youth. He attended public school but left after the fourth grade.
Moyer headed West in 1872 and found work as a cowboy in Wyoming. He returned East in 1885 and settled in Chicago, Illinois. He committed robbery, and served a year in the Illinois State Penitentiary. After his release, Moyer became a miner at the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, and joined the Lead City Miners' Union. In 1893, the Lead City Miners' Union was one of several unions which formed the Western Federation of Miners.
Moyer was elected to the Executive Board of the WFM in 1900. After President Ed Boyce declined to run again in 1902, Moyer was elected his successor.
WFM presidency.
Moyer was strongly committed to industrial unionism, and pushed the WFM to organize both underground and surface miners as well as all ancillary mine workers.
Colorado Labor Wars.
Moyer's push for industrial union organizing involved the union in what came to be known as the Colorado Labor Wars. In August 1902, the WFM organized mill workers in Colorado City, Colorado. The employers planted a labor spy in the union, and 42 union members were fired. Negotiations over the dismissals dragged on into 1903. On February 14, 1903, the WFM struck. The employers claimed a riot was in progress, and Governor James Peabody called out the Colorado militia to suppress the strike. Miners in Cripple Creek and Telluride also struck, and the militia was deployed in those cities as well. Mass arrests began in September 1903 which finally broke the strike.
One of those arrested was Moyer. He had gone to Telluride to protest the mass arrests and deportation of miners. While there, he lent his signature to a WFM poster decrying the arrests. Moyer was arrested on March 28, 1904, for desecrating the American flag. He was released on bail, but re-arrested the following day on the orders of Adjutant General Sherman Bell of the state militia on charges of "military necessity". When Moyer successfully petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, the Colorado State Attorney General and the local district attorney refused to release him. Moyer appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court On June 6, 1904, the court ruled in "In re Moyer," 35 Colo. 163, that it could not question the governor's finding that insurrection existed in Colorado and that Moyer had not been arrested or imprisoned in violation of his rights. Moyer appealed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Missouri, and obtained a writ of habeas corpus on July 5, 1904. Alarmed by the writ, Governor Peabody revoked the finding of insurrection the same day and ordered Moyer released by 3:45 p.m. (before the federal writ could be served). Moyer was released, but his case continued to the U.S. Supreme Court. On January 18, 1909, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court in "Moyer v. Peabody," 212 U.S. 78. Writing for the majority, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. refused to question the governor's assertion of facts which led to the declaration of martial law or grounds for Moyer's arrest. Concluding that the governor's good faith would protect a person's constitutional rights, Holmes held that Moyer's civil liberties had not been infringed.
Radicalization.
The state's use of military power to crush union organizing drives convinced Moyer that no single union could be effective or successful. He concluded that only "one big union" linked to a strong political party could effectively counteract the anti-union power of the state and employers. Moyer subsequently became a strong supporter of the Socialist Party of America.
In January 1905, Moyer participated in a conference in Chicago to consider whether the Socialist Party would be an effective vehicle for labor's goals. It was at this conference that the delegates decided to form a new union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). When the IWW was formed in Chicago on June 27, 1905, Moyer immediately affiliated the WFM with the new labor federation.
The Haywood trial.
In 1906, Moyer was implicated in the assassination of Frank Steunenberg, ex-Governor of Idaho. On December 30, 1905, Steunenberg, who had clashed with the WFM during several strikes, was killed by an explosion at his home in Caldwell, Idaho. Harry Orchard, a former WFM member who had once acted as Moyer's bodyguard, was arrested for the crime. Using coercion and intimidation (including restricted food rations and threats of immediate execution), Pinkerton agent James McParland wrung a 64-page confession from Orchard. The confession named Moyer and other WFM leaders as the instigators of the bombing plot.
But Moyer was in Colorado, not Idaho. Idaho authorities were concerned that Orchard's confession would not be enough to persuade a judge to issue extradition papers. Acting in concert with law enforcement leaders, McParland perjured himself to convince a judge to issue the extradition papers against Moyer, falsely representing that Moyer had been in Idaho at the time of the murder, and was a fugitive from justice (under Idaho law, conspirators were considered to be present at the scene of the crime.) McParland arrived in Denver on Thursday, February 15, and presented the extradition papers to Colorado Governor McDonald, who, by prior arrangement with the governor of Idaho, accepted them immediately. But they waited until Saturday evening to arrest Haywood, Pettigrew, and Moyer, then held the three overnight in the Denver Jail, and refused requests by the three to contact lawyers and family. Early Sunday morning the prisoners were put on a special train, and guarded by Colorado militia, were sped to Idaho. Although the events were very controversial, the extradition was ultimately upheld by the US Supreme Court.
Haywood and Pettibone were acquitted in separate trials, after which charges against Moyer were dropped.
Conservatism.
His experiences with the IWW led Moyer to the conclusion that the federation was too radical. Moyer was especially disturbed by the IWW's refusal to ally with or endorse any political party, which had been the key to Moyer's support for the creation of the IWW. In 1908, Moyer led the WFM out of the IWW, taking most of the IWW's membership (which belonged to the WFM) with him. Concerned that the WFM's reputation for radicalism was making it difficult to reach collective bargaining agreements, Moyer re-affiliated his union with the conservative American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1911.
Moyer pushed for more traditional labor union policies in his last decade in office. He forced the union's locals to agree to contracts which expired after a set period of time. He pushed resolutions through the WFM convention committing the union to the same limited legislative goals favored by the AFL such as the eight-hour day, a ban on child labor, and controls on immigration. He also withdrew his support for the Socialist Party and adopted the policy of nonpartisanship advocated by Samuel Gompers.
WFM membership declined sharply from 1911 to 1916. In part, this was due to the continuing intense opposition from mine owners in the West. But conflict with the IWW also led to significant membership losses. Historian Vernon H. Jensen has asserted that the IWW had a "rule or ruin" policy, under which it attempted to wreck local unions which it could not control. From 1908 to 1921, Jensen and others have written, the IWW attempted to win power in WFM locals which had once formed the federation's backbone. When it could not do so, IWW agitators undermined WFM locals, which caused the national union to shed nearly half its membership. Paul Brissenden noted WFM dissatisfaction with the IWW in Jerome, Arizona in 1913, attributing some of the friction to the fact that the WFM was becoming more conservative, accepting contracts with employers and affiliating with the AFL, while the IWW was becoming more revolutionary. (The IWW would not begin to accept contracts with employers until 1938.)
The greatest animosity between the two organizations occurred in Butte, and resulted in the Butte, Montana labor riots of 1914. When Moyer went to Butte to mediate differences between the WFM loyalists and a dissident faction sympathetic to the IWW, he barely escaped from the WFM union hall before dissidents destroyed the building with dynamite. Moyer hid from the mob until he left town before dawn the next morning.
Historian Melvyn Dubofsky, however, offers a different perspective. In Minnesota, for example, the miners went on strike in 1916 to abolish the contract system, to secure a minimum wage, and to end exploitation by the company. They approached the AFL and the WFM, both of which failed to respond. Dubofsky notes, "IWW headquarters had been advised of employee discontent on the eve of the [strike] ... and the IWW instantly had organizers on the spot." Dubofsky states that the walkout occurred without IWW involvement, and he describes the evidence for this as "incontrovertible". The IWW was approached for help and, according to Dubofsky, the IWW "achieved its aims not by coercion but by giving the striking miners leadership, funds, and publicity."
With the companies and the press accusing the IWW of sending "outside agitators", M.E. Shusterich, one of the Mesabi Range strike leaders, attempted to "set the record straight":
This strike was not started by the I.W.W., but has been underway the past six years. We have appealed to every labor official in Minnesota to have the miners on the range organized, but we have been shuttled back and forth between the Western Federation of Miners and other organizations who passed us on again until finally the miners took things into their own hands and went out without organization.
According to Marxist historian Philip S. Foner, the issues of socialism and industrial unionism — and more specifically, the AFL vs. the IWW — had been debated by the Minnesota miners since the WFM's Mesabi Range strike of 1907. Foner concluded that in the 1916 strike, "Most of the Range Finns ... backed the I.W.W."
Whatever the reasons for the decline, the WFM was particularly hard hit in the copper mining industries of Michigan and Arizona, and in the WFM's stronghold around Butte, Montana.
In 1916, Moyer led a successful movement to change the union's name to the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (colloquially known as "Mine Mill").
Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914.
Organization of workers.
The Western Federation of Miners began to heavily increase its presence in the Copper Country in 1912. Moyer warned WFM organizer Thomas Strizich on March 25, 1913, against calling a strike prematurely:I was much pleased to hear of the progress being made in the way of organizing in Michigan and sincerely trust that the men there will realize the importance, in fact the absolute necessity, of deferring action that may precipitate a conflict with the employers until they have practically a thorough organization.
Initial involvement in the strike.
When the Copper Country miners went out on strike on July 23, 1913, Moyer was at a conference in Europe, and so Vice President Charles E. Mahoney had to assume control of the strike until his return to the Copper Country.
On August 22, soon after Moyer returned to Denver, he asked American Federation of Labor (AFL) President Samuel Gompers for financial aid for the Michigan strikers. Six days later the AFL Executive Council endorsed the strike; it did not assess affiliates but suggested an immediate appropriation of at least five cents per member. On that same day on which Moyer wrote to Gompers, the WFM sent $25,000 to Michigan, bringing the total to only $36,000 which had to suffice until September 12.
On Sunday afternoon, August 31, a crowd of 2,700, 800 of them women and children, marched in sweltering heat to pack the Palestra, a "colossal oven," where Moyer encouraged them to continue early morning picketing, telling them they had the right to peacefully persuade men to stay away from work. The WFM Executive Board fully sanctioned their strike, he told them. He had told reporters that the WFM had all kinds of money, piles and stacks of it. He assured the strikers that benefits would be forthcoming: the WFM had $161,000 "in cash here"; an assessment of $2 had been levied for September on each WFM member—90,000 of them, Moyer had said, doubling the actual membership figure. The $161,000 had included the loans he hoped to procure, but he did not tell them that. Rather, he depicted a financially secure WFM, ready and able to finance the strike, a characterization that was most unreal. The strikers passed resolutions calling for a Senate investigation, protesting the militia, and denouncing the deputies.
A "Mining Gazette" reporter termed Moyer's speech a refreshing change from the "radical . . . viciously inflammatory" oratory of Miller and Mahoney. Were there "a few more conservative talkers such as Moyer there might be a chance, many people believe, for the federation to accomplish something, for the other class of verbal bombs is reacting against the organization," the reporter stated. Moyer was long-winded and not an effective orator, he continued, but he really made "a nice little argument from the WFM point of view." Moyer said that he favored having the militia in the district but that "the governor should order them to disarm all these thugs and gunmen, load them on trains and dump them without the confines of the state." The reporter commented that "in this statement Moyer has the approval of a great many people on both sides of the strike question."
Meeting with Ferris and Darrow.
Moyer cut short his visit to the strike zone to confer with Governor Woodbridge Nathan Ferris on September 3. Joining him was Clarence Darrow, who had previously defended Moyer, Haywood, and Pettibone in the Steunenberg murder case. Moyer and Darrow asked the governor to again try to arbitrate the strike. The strikers would not insist on mentioning the WFM in any settlement, but would insist on the right to organize and select representatives. Ferris was skeptical, saying it resembled his earlier rejected proposals: "When James MacNaughton says that he will let grass grow in the streets before he will ever treat with the Western Federation of Miners or its representatives, I believe what he says." Moyer countered: "I'm not willing to admit yet that James MacNaughton will not recognize organized labor before he dies."
Moyer and Darrow gave Ferris affidavits claiming Waddell men were serving as deputies. He read the telegram he had sent James A. Cruse reminding him of the residency requirement for deputies, and he said: "Cruse knows what the law is but in Keweenaw County we have a sheriff that can take care of absolutely nothing. Sheriff Hepping [sic] cannot even take care of his cat." Neither Moyer nor Darrow had criticized Ferris for sending in the militia. Moyer claimed to the governor that "almost all" "of the 16,000 men on strike now belong to the WFM." At Ferris's urging, Darrow accompanied Moyer back to Calumet.
Return to Michigan's Copper district.
Moyer returned to the district for a day with Darrow and then went to Chicago to confer with Duncan McDonald of the Illinois division of the United Mine Workers of America about a $100,000 loan. It was approved by the union's executive board and the money was made available in late September. Moyer also obtained a $25,000 loan from the United Brewery Workers of America, and contributions to the WFM's Michigan Defense Fund rose to $18,074 in September.
In mid-September Moyer returned to the district once more, to confer with the Department of Labor investigators. He and John Brown Lennon, AFL treasurer, spoke to a crowd of 2,000 at the Palestra on September 14. Moyer emphasized that any proposal for ending the strike must recognize the WFM.
December of 1913.
Tensions grew following the Jane-Dally murders. Special Houghton County Prosecutor George E. Nichols warned Moyer that he would hold him accountable if strikers attacked the Alliance parades. Moyer was said to have acted "promptly and creditably in joining with the prosecutor in an effort to prevent anything of that kind." The night before the meetings, Moyer told strikers at Red Jacket to avoid violence, and that the Alliance was looking for any opportunity to make trouble. Organizers Thomas Strizich, Yanko Terzich, Mor Oppman and Ben Goggin translated his message to the strikers.
Moyer notified U.S. Representative William Josiah MacDonald and AFL officials that mine operators and the Alliance had announced on December 10 that they would give all representatives of organized labor from outside the state twenty-four hours to leave and that "if they fail to do so, they [would] be sent out of the district in a manner most convenient and effective." Moyer urged the AFL to give this the greatest publicity and call it to the immediate attention of President Woodrow Wilson. Moyer also wired Governor Ferris that "operators and others, calling themselves law and order citizens, threaten to deport from this district or remove by the quickest possible means of citizens of other states against whom no charges have been made other than that they dare to represent labor." Ferris then advised Nichols at once that "citizens must not commit violence on any citizen of Michigan or of any other state . . . protection must be given to all alike." He commanded him to consult with military authorities and to see that peace and dignity were maintained.
Moyer's return to the Michigan copper district in the wake of the Jane-Dally murders marked his fifth trip to the Copper Country during the strike and his first since October. It would be his longest stay. Local newspapers printed names of "outside labor agitators" still within the district. As the grand jury started its work, Judge Orrin N. Hilton of Denver arrived to reinforce the WFM's legal staff. Moyer, one of the first witnesses before the jury, testified for two days. The jury got possession of the books and records of the Calumet WFM local, but the Ahmeek leaders, alike those over at South Range, claimed that their books had been sent to Denver.
Sheriff Cruse placed notices in the local newspapers reviewing lawlessness, disorder, and intimidation and stating that Moyer had been notified that the right to work must be respected, and that every man who wanted to work would be protected. Law officers appeared to be especially vigilant of activities of the strike leaders. Goggin was "run out of Laurium" after witnesses identified him as being involved in the beating of Calumet men in Laurium some time previous. On December 10 Judge Patrick Henry O'Brien granted a writ of injunction to WFM attorneys restraining members of the Alliance from interfering with WFM organizers, members, or officers. The Houghton Trades and Labor Council wired Ferris on December 11 saying that it feared bloodshed from the Alliance and asked for an immediate federal investigation of the situation.
After the Italian Hall disaster.
Moyer was in Hancock, Michigan when he learned by telephone of the Italian Hall disaster, He summoned a meeting of the WFM on Christmas Day, where he set up a multilingual committee to consult with families of victims of the disaster about the funeral arrangements. Moyer announced that "the Western Federation of Miners will bury its own dead . . . the American labor movement will take care of the relatives of the deceased. No aid will be accepted from any of these citizens who a short time ago denounced these people as undesirable citizens."
The women of the Citizens' Alliance found themselves rejected in home after home. In one household where distress was acute, the family accepted money only to return it the next day. In most of the homes the people said that they had been told to accept aid only from union members. Moyer later denied making such recommendations but the evidence was unmistakable.
"Deportation".
The Citizens' Alliance relief committee subsequently decided to appeal to Moyer to come before them and explain the situation. Sheriff Cruse rejected that proposal. The feelings at Calumet were running so high that Cruse believed if Moyer "appeared there even under my protection he would be lynched." Headlines in the "Mining Gazette" epitomized the feeling: WHILE COPPER COUNTRY MOURNS FOR ITS DEAD, MOYER TRIED TO MAKE CAPITAL OF DISASTER and USES CHILDREN'S DEATHS TO BENEFIT HIS STRIKE. Cruse telephoned Moyer and arranged for a small committee to meet with him the evening of December 26 in Hancock. Cruse wanted a small group so that he could control it if anger got out of hand.
Moyer was assaulted — beaten and shot in the back by men in the employ of the mine owners. That evening, detectives from the city of Calumet escorted him, still bleeding, to a local train and "deported him" (e.g., ran him out of town). Moyer sought medical treatment in Chicago. State and Congressional investigations were unable to prove the identity of his assailants, and the crime went unsolved.
Retirement and death.
Moyer was unable to reverse the decline in Mine Mill's membership. After a bitter internal struggle, Moyer and his entire executive board resigned in 1926.
Moyer lived in relative obscurity until his death. He died in Pomona, California, on June 2, 1929.


Alexander Grey Zulu

Alexander Grey Zulu (3 September 1924 – 16 August 2020) was a Zambian politician and freedom fighter.
Zulu was born in Chipata. He was subsequently educated at Munali Secondary School in Lusaka.
After serving in several positions, Zulu was appointed Minister of Commerce and Industry 1964; Minister of Transport and Works 1964; Minister of Mines and Cooperatives 1965–67; Minister of Home Affairs 1967–70; Minister of Defence 1970–73; Secretary General of the Party (equivalent to vice president) 1973–78; Secretary of State for Defense and Security 1979–85; Secretary General 1986–1991.
He had four sons and four daughters.


Valea Blaznei mine

The Valea Blaznei mine is a large mine in the north of Romania in Rodna, Bistriţa-Năsăud County, 50 km southwest of Bistriţa and 699 km north-west of the capital, Bucharest. Valea Blaznei represents one of the largest lead and zinc reserve in Romania having estimated reserves of 10.5 million tonnes of ore grading 0.76% lead and 2.48% zinc thus resulting in 0.08 million tonnes of lead and 0.26 million tonnes of zinc.


Orbite Technologies

Orbite Technologies Inc. is a Canadian cleantech company based in Montreal, Canada. It specialized in extracting processes for mining industry, especially alumina extraction. Its main asset is the Orbite process which can be used as a cheaper and pollution-free replacement of the Bayer process as well as a way to treat red mud. In April 2017, the company declared bankruptcy, due to ongoing delays and issues relating to its construction of a new plant in Cap-Chat, Quebec. As of January 2018, the bankruptcy process was still ongoing.
Orbite process.
The Orbite process is an industrial means to refine aluminum ores (such as bauxite) to produce alumina (aluminum oxide) patented by Orbite Alumnae using acid rather than sodium hydroxide like in the Bayer process. It’s also a way to treat red mud in order to extract the minerals it still contains. It does not produce any industrial waste in significant quantity. The process uses hydrochloric acid that is entirely recovered by the end of the process. It works well with low quality bauxite and many other raw materials.
The process.
The Orbite process is divided in four steps: aluminum ore preparation, leaching, extraction of alumina, extraction of iron and calcination. First, the raw material is reduced into fine particles to increase the contact surface. Doing so maximize the effect of the acid leaching which is the next step. The acid leaching then occurs at very high temperature using hydrochloric acid. At the end of the leaching all metal molecules (excluding titanium) react to produce chloride compounds. Specifically, iron molecules form ferric chloride (FeCl3) and alumina molecule form aluminum trichloride (AlCl3). Silica is then removed by simple filtration becoming the main leftover of the process. Afterward, the aluminum trichloride is removed by precipitation. The step of the high temperature calcination transforms it into alumina. The leachate still containing FeCl3 is hydrolysed at low temperature, producing ferric oxide and regenerating the hydrochloric acid. Rare earth and other metals can then be extracted using common process.


Nathaniel S. Keith

Nathaniel Shepard Keith (July 14, 1838 – January 27, 1925) was an American manufacturer, chemist, inventor, writer, and electrical engineer. Keith was born in Boston, Massachusetts and worked in his fathers laboratory. He was instrumental in designing, manufacturing, and installing the original electric lighting and power system in San Francisco, California. In 1884 he became editor of Electric World, co-founded the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and served as the first secretary of the organization. The AIEE merged with other societies in 1963 to become the IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Biography.
N. S. Keith grew up experimenting in his father's laboratory in New York City. He was educated in the common schools of Dover, N. H. and New York City, and attended the New York University Medical School, but never practiced medicine. He also learned the basics of chemistry in the laboratory of his father, Bethuel Keith & Co., a physician and chemist in drug manufacturer (Bethuel Keith 1811-1884). In 1860, at age 22, he followed the Pikes Peak Gold Rush to Colorado where he spent nearly a decade mining and milling in the Central City-Blackhawk area. He experimented with various processes to work the rebellious gold ores (see "Ore Roasting Furnace" Patent No. 36437, Sept 9, 1862). Although the "Keith Process" of ore crushing and smelting worked in the laboratory, he failed to perfect the system on an industrial scale. He was superintendent of several mining operations, including the well known Mammoth mine, which closed when the vein pinched out.
Returning to the East by 1870, he became a respected New York City chemist and began experimenting with electricity. He operated nickel plating works in Newark and patented a method to remove tin from scrap, patented in 1876. He also patented early electric lights and motors, among the earliest patents. He was active in professional organizations, being a co-founder of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and editor and founder of "Electronic World". At the same time he authored "Magnetic and Dynamo-Electric Machines" (1884) and translated German texts on electric motors. Lured West again, in 1884 he built the first electric plant for San Francisco. Between 1884 and 1893 he was among the first to apply electricity to mining, especially electro-metallurgy. Located in San Francisco he served as consultant to mining companies across the West. He would also patent several more pieces of mine machinery (a ball crusher [the "Keith Pulverizer"]) and amalgamation equipment (the commonly used centrifugal electrical amalgamation machine). In San Francisco, he also sold electric motors to meet burgeoning demand, but sold out with the crash of 1893.
During much of 1893-1897 he was in England trying to promote his electro-metallurgical process for the extraction of precious metals from their ores. He returned to the United States and became an advisor to Thomas Edison, based in Philadelphia. He worked on the ill-fated electro-magnetic mining operations funded by Edison. He also worked on electric extraction of copper from its ores, helping organize a company to test his process in the old copper mines of New Jersey. At the time of his death he was still director or officer in a number of mining companies, including the Metals Recovery Company and the American Mines & Venture Corporation.
He married Anna Tait Swan in New York in 1860 and all three of their daughters were born in Black Hawk, Colorado—Virginia (1862), Harriet (1866), and Elma (1867). None married, but taught in a college in New York City. Anna Keith died July 2, 1909 in Philadelphia. Nathaniel Shepherd Keith died January 27, 1925 in Philadelphia.
External links.
James O'Leary, “Nathaniel Shepard Keith,” in The Builders of a Great City: San Francisco's Representative Men, the City, Its History and Commerce: Pregnant Facts Regarding the Growth of the Leading Branches of Trade, Industries and Products of the State and Coast, Volume 1 (San Francisco: San Francisco journal of commerce publishing co., 1891), 229-230.


Gold mining in the United States

Gold mining in the United States has taken place continually since the discovery of gold at the Reed farm in North Carolina in 1799. The first documented occurrence of gold was in Virginia in 1782. Some minor gold production took place in North Carolina as early as 1793, but created no excitement. The discovery on the Reed farm in 1799 which was identified as gold in 1802 and subsequently mined marked the first commercial production.
The large scale production of gold started with the California Gold Rush in 1848.
The closure of gold mines during World War II by the War Production Board Limitation Order No. 208 in autumn 1942 was a major impact on the production until the end of the war.
US gold production greatly increased during the 1980s, due to high gold prices and the use of heap leaching to recover gold from disseminated low-grade deposits in Nevada and other states.
In 2019 the United States produced 200 tonnes (6.4 million troy ounces) of gold (down from 210 tonnes in 2018) from 12 states, worth about US$8.9 billion, and 6.1% of world production, making it the fourth-largest gold-producing nation, behind China, Australia and Russia. Most gold produced today in the US comes from large open-pit heap leach mines in the state of Nevada. The US is a net exporter of gold.
Gold mining by state.
Alabama.
Gold was discovered in Alabama about 1830, shortly following the Georgia Gold Rush. The principal districts were the Arbacoochee district in Cleburne County, mostly from placer deposits, and the Hog Mountain district in Tallapoosa County, which produced from veins in schist.
Alaska.
Russian explorers discovered placer gold in the Kenai River in 1848, but no gold was produced. Gold mining started in 1870 from placers southeast of Juneau. Alaska produced a total of of gold from 1880 through the end of 2007. In 2015 Alaskan mines produced of gold, 12.7% of US production. The largest gold producer is the Fort Knox mine, a large open pit and cyanide leaching operation in the Fairbanks mining district, which in 2019 produced 200,263 gold equivalent ounces. The Pogo (159,344 ounces) and Kensington (127,914 ounces) gold mines and the Greens Creek polymetallic mine (56,625 ounces) accounted for the remainder of 2019 gold production.
Arizona.
Arizona has produced more than 16 million troy ounces (498 tonnes) of gold.
Gold mining in Arizona reportedly began in 1774 when Spanish priest Manuel Lopez directed Papago Indians to wash gold from gravel on the flanks of the Quijotoa Mountains, Pima County. Gold mining continued there until 1849, when the Mexican miners were lured away by the California Gold Rush. Other gold mining under Spanish and Mexican rule took place in the Oro Blanco district of Santa Cruz County, and the Arivaca district, Pima County.
Mountain man Pauline Weaver discovered placer gold on the east side of the Colorado River in 1862. Weaver's discovery started the Colorado River Gold Rush to the now ghost town of La Paz, Arizona and other locations along the river in the ensuing years.
The most prominent of these were those of the San Francisco district, which includes the towns of Oatman, Bullhead City and Katherine in Mohave County was discovered in 1863 or 1864, but saw little activity until a rush to the district occurred in 1902. The district produced 2.0 million ounces of gold through 1959.
The gold-bearing quartz veins of the Vulture Mine, southwest of Wickenburg, in Maricopa County were discovered in 1863. The mine produced of gold through 1959.
The last gold mine to operate in Arizona was the Gold Road mine at Oatman, which shut down in 1998. Patriot Gold is exploration drilling at the Moss mine at Oatman.
In 2006, all of Arizona's gold production came as a byproduct of copper mining.
California.
Spanish prospectors found gold in the Potholes district between 1775 and 1780, along the Colorado River, in present Imperial County, California, about ten miles northeast from Yuma, Arizona. The gold was recovered from dry placers. Other placer deposits on the west bank of the Colorado River were quickly found, including the Picacho and Cargo Muchacho districts.
Placer gold deposits were found at San Ysidro in San Diego County in 1828, San Francisquito Canyon and Placerita Canyon in Los Angeles County in 1835 and 1842, respectively
Major gold mining in California began during the California Gold Rush. Gold was found by James Marshall at Sutters Mill, property of John Sutter, in present-day Coloma. In 1849, people started hearing about the gold and after just a few years San Francisco's population increased to thousands. Gold production in California peaked in 1852, at 3.9 million troy ounces (121 tonnes) produced in that year. But the placer deposits worked in the early years were quickly exhausted, and production crashed. Hardrock mining (in California called "quartz mining") began in 1849, and placer mining by hydraulic mining began in 1852. Despite the new mining methods, by 1865 production was , less than one-quarter of peak production.
Production sank to in 1929, but then soared to more than for each year 1939 through 1941, after the price was raised from $20.67 to $35 per ounce. However, the federal government, in War Production Board Order L-208, ordered gold mines closed, to free up resources for the war effort during World War II, and production fell to in 1943. Post-war gold production never reached the peak of the early 1940s, as inflation and the fixed price of gold eroded its value.
The largest gold-mining district in California is the famous "Mother Lode" of the Sierra Nevada. Found in the early 1850s, the lode is a zone one to four miles wide and running 120 miles northwest-southeast from El Dorado County in the north, through Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties, to Mariposa County in the south. The gold of the Mother Lode is in quartz veins within phyllite, schist, slate, and greenstone. Through 1959, the Mother Lode produced about 13.3 million troy ounces (414 tonnes) of gold.
The second-largest gold-mining district in California was Grass Valley-Nevada City district in Nevada County. Gold in Holocene gravels was found in 1850, followed a few years later by hydraulic mining of Tertiary gravels. By 1880, most of the mining had shifted to lode deposits, such as the Empire Mine. Through 1959, the district produced 10.4 million troy ounces (323 tonnes) of lode gold, and 2.2 million troy ounces (68.4 tonnes) of placer gold.
The rich placer deposits of the Columbia Basin-Jamestown-Sonora district were found in 1853. Almost all the gold was found at the base of Quaternary gravels, but some drift mines were worked in Tertiary gravels. Total production was about 5.9 million troy ounces (183 tonnes) of gold.
In 2018 California produced of gold from its only operating mine, the Mesquite mine (owned by Equinox Gold Corp.) in Imperial County, which restarted active mining in 2007, having been inactive since 2001.
Colorado.
Gold was discovered in 1858 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in the vicinity of present-day Denver in 1858, but the deposits were small. The first important gold discoveries in Colorado were in the Central City-Idaho Springs district in January 1859. Only one Colorado mine continues to produce gold, the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine at Victor near Colorado Springs, an open-pit heap leach operation owned by Newmont Mining Corporation, which produced of gold in 2018.
Florida.
Small amounts of gold were mined commercially in North Eastern Florida during the late 19th Century, at the site where Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park is located today. No records are extant on the amount of gold produced, but the find was insufficient to keep the operation running commercially, and the small amount of pay dirt was depleted within a matter of months.
Georgia.
Georgia is credited with a total historical production of of gold from 1830 through 1959. Although historically important, the state is not currently a gold producer.
See also:
Idaho.
Gold was first discovered in Idaho in 1860, in Pierce at the juncture where Canal Creek meets Orofino Creek.
The leading historical gold-producing district is the Boise Basin in Boise County, which was discovered in 1862 and produced 2.9 million troy ounces (90.2 tonnes), mostly from placers.
The French Creek-Florence district in Idaho County began in the 1860s, and has produced about 1 million troy ounces (31 tonnes) from placers.
The Silver City district in Owyhee County began producing in 1863, and made over 1 million troy ounces (31 tonnes), mostly from lode deposits.
The Coeur d’Alene district in Shoshone County has made of gold as byproduct to silver mining.
In 2006, active gold mines in Idaho included the Silver Strand mine and the Bond mine.
Maryland.
Gold was reported in Maryland as early as 1830, but no production resulted. Placer gold was discovered at Great Falls near Washington, DC in 1861 during the American Civil War by Union soldiers from California. After the war a number of mines were opened on gold-bearing quartz veins in Montgomery County. No gold production has been reported since 1951. Total production was about .
Michigan.
Approximately of gold were produced from the Ropes gold mine northeast of Ishpeming in Marquette County, Michigan. The underground mine, originally operated from 1880 to 1897, and reopened from 1983–1989,
extracted gold from quartz veins in peridotite.
Montana.
Gold was first discovered in Montana in 1852, but mining did not begin until 1862, when gold placers were discovered at Bannack, Montana in 1862. The resulting gold rush resulted in more placer discoveries, including those at Virginia City in 1863, and at Helena and Butte in 1864. In 1867, the Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode was located.
The Butte district, although mined primarily for copper, produced 2.9 million ounces (91 tonnes) of gold through 1990, almost all as a byproduct of copper production.
Current active hardrock gold mines include the Montana Tunnels mine, and the Golden Sunlight mine. Active gold placers include the Browns Gulch placer and the Confederate Gulch placer. Gold is also produced from three platinum mines in the Stillwater igneous complex: the Stillwater mine, the Lodestar mine, and the East Boulder Project.
Nevada.
Nevada is the leading gold-producing state in the nation, in 2018 producing , representing 78% of US gold and 5.0% of the world's production. Much of the gold in Nevada comes from large open pit mining and with heap leaching recovery. Some of the world's major mining companies, including Newmont Mining, Barrick Gold and Kinross Gold, operate gold mines in the state. Active major mines include Cortez, Twin Creeks, Betz-Post, Meikle, Marigold, Round Mountain, Jerritt Canyon and Getchell.
Newmont and Barrick operate the largest mining operations, on the prolific Carlin Trend, one of the world's richest mining districts.
New Mexico.
Gold was first discovered in New Mexico in 1828 in the “Old Placers” district in the Ortiz Mountains, Santa Fe County, New Mexico. The placer gold discovery was followed by discovery of a nearby lode deposit.
In 1877, two prospectors collected float in the area of the future Opportunity Mine near Hillsboro, New Mexico, which was assayed at $160 per ton in gold and silver. Soon, ore was discovered at the nearby Rattlesnake vein and a placer deposit of gold was found in November at the Rattlesnake and Wicks gulches. Total production prior to 1904 was about $6,750,000.
In 2018 gold production in New Mexico came as a byproduct of copper mining from Freeport-McMoRan Inc.'s Chino mine, a large open pit copper mine in Grant County.
North Carolina.
North Carolina was the site of the first gold rush in the United States, following the discovery of a 17-pound (7.7 kg) gold nugget by 12-year-old Conrad Reed in a creek at his father's farm in 1799. The Reed Gold Mine, southwest of Georgeville in Cabarrus County, North Carolina produced about of gold from lode and placer deposits.
Gold was produced from 15 districts, almost all in the Piedmont region of the state. Total gold production is estimated at 1.2 million troy ounces (37.3 tonnes).
Oregon.
Although gold mines are spread over much of Oregon, almost all of the gold produced has come from two principal areas: the Klamath Mountains in southwest Oregon, including Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson and Josephine counties; and the Blue Mountains in northeast Oregon, mostly in Baker and Grant counties.
Prospectors from Illinois discovered placer gold in the Klamath Mountains of southwest Oregon in 1850, starting a rush to the area. Lode gold deposits were also discovered.
Pennsylvania.
About of gold was produced from the Cornwall iron mine five miles south of Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Although the deposit produced iron since 1742, no gold was reported from the mine until 1878.
South Carolina.
South Carolina had a number of lode gold mines along the Carolina Slate Belt.
The Haile deposit was discovered in Lancaster County in 1827, and at least of gold were extracted intermittently between then and 1942, when the gold mine was ordered closed as nonessential to the war effort. Beginning in 1951, the deposit was mined for associated sericite, which was used as a white filler. Gold is associated with silicic, kaolinitic, and pyritic alteration of greenschist-grade felsic metavolcanics. The mine was reopened as an open pit in the 1980s, and operated until 1992. Kinross Gold Corporation's reclamation of the Haile site was nominated for a US Bureau of Land Management "Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award."
OceanGold Corp. restarted mining at the Haile deposit 2016. The company expects to produce an average of 126,700 ounces of gold per year for 13.25 years.
The Brewer mine operated from 1828 to 1995, and is now a federal Superfund site.
Kennecott Minerals operated the Ridgeway open-pit gold mine from 1988 to 1999, and the land is now being reclaimed by Kennecott.
The Barite Hill mine operated from 1990 to 1994.
South Dakota.
The only operating gold mine in South Dakota is the Wharf mine, at Lead, an open pit heap leach operation operated by Coeur Mining that produced 109,000 ounces of gold in 2016.
Tennessee.
Placer gold was discovered on Coker Creek in Monroe County, Tennessee in 1827. The district produced about .
About of gold was recovered from the massive sulfide copper ores in the Copper Basin at Ducktown, Tennessee.
Texas.
Some prospects have been excavated for gold on the Llano Uplift of central Texas. Gold prospects include the Heath mine and the Babyhead district, both in Llano County, and the Central Texas mine in Gillespie County. Gold production, if any, is not known. Historically, the Lost Nigger Gold Mine may be in Texas.
Utah.
Most gold produced in Utah today is a byproduct of the huge Bingham Canyon copper mine, southwest of Salt Lake City. In 2013, the Bingham Canyon mine produced of gold. Over its life, Bingham Canyon has produced more than 23 million ounces (715 tonnes) of gold, making it one of the largest gold producers in the US.
The Barneys Canyon mine in Salt Lake County, the last primary gold mine to operate in Utah, stopped mining in 2001, but is still recovering gold from its heap leaching pads. Utah gold production was in 2006.
Washington.
Gold was first discovered in Washington in 1853, as placer deposits in the Yakima Valley. Production from the state never exceeded 50,000 troy ounces per year until the mid-1930s, when large hard rock deposits were developed near the Chelan Lake and Wenatchee deposits in Chelan County, and the Republic deposit in Ferry County. Production through 1965 is estimated to be 2.3 million ounces.
Wyoming.
Gold was discovered at the South Pass-Atlantic City-Sweetwater district in present Fremont County in 1842. The placers were worked intermittently until 1867, when the first important gold vein was discovered, and prospectors and miners rushed to the area.. The towns of South Pass City, Atlantic City, and Miner's Delight catered to the miners. The district was nearly deserted by 1875, and was worked only intermittently afterward. Total gold production was about . In 1962, the district became the site of a major iron mine.
Moraine gold.
Several states (e.g., Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania) have placer gold deposits, despite having no hard rock gold deposits. This placer gold is found north of, or near the terminus of, Pleistocene, or earlier, moraines left by Ice Age glaciers that pushed gold-rich dirt down from Canada, where hard rock gold deposits do exist, and which were scoured by glaciers. Small commercial operations have existed at various times, to mine this gold, with various degrees of limited success. The southernmost limit of these moraines, Pleistocene and older, is approximately at the Ohio River for Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The moraines in Pennsylvania are in the northwestern and northeastern portions of the Commonwealth.
Taxes and royalties.
A mineral royalty is a payment to the mineral owner of a portion of the value of an extracted mineral. Royalties are paid on minerals extracted from state land (as specified by state law) and private land (as negotiated with the mineral owner). Much of the gold mined in the western US is extracted from federal land, for which the federal government collects no royalty. However, a 2009 report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) characterizes state taxes on mineral production as "functional royalties," in that they take a share of mineral production, including gold production, for the public benefit. State taxes narrowly targeting mineral production include severance taxes, mining license taxes, and extraction excise taxes.
Extraction taxes on gold mining in the nine major western gold-mining states (in descending order of gold production) are:
In 2015 Nevada and Alaska together accounted for 90.3% of US gold production.


El Creston mine

The El Creston mine is a large molybdenum mine in the north-west of Mexico in Sonora. El Creston represents one of the largest molybdenum reserves in Mexico and in the world having estimated reserves of 215.4 million tonnes of ore grading 0.071% molybdenum.


Peelwood Colliery

Peelwood Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after 1883 in Shakerley, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.
Shaft sinking at Peelwood began in 1878 and the colliery opened in 1883. The colliery, owned by the Tyldesley Coal Company, was situated to the east of Shakerley Lane on the south side of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Manchester to Southport line and where the company had a siding. A fault caused the company to sink another shaft, the Daisy Pit, to win coal from seams close to the surface.
The colliery's two 13 feet diameter shafts north of the Wharton Hall Fault accessed the Trencherbone at 335 yards and Black and White mines at 170 yards. Coal was extracted by room and pillar working in the Black and White mine and longwall mining in the Trencherbone. Coal was wound at both shafts.
In 1896 the colliery employed 262 underground and 104 surface workers. By the time the pit closed, coal had been got from the Three Feet, Four Feet, Cannel, Plodder, Haigh Yard and Arley mines. In 1923 the colliery had 319 underground and 72 surface workers and produced gas, household and steam coal. The pit closed in 1929.
The colliery was linked to the company's other pits, Combermere and Cleworth Hall, by a mineral railway which had exchange sidings with the Tyldesley Loopline. After 1888 an exchange siding was constructed next to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's line from Manchester to Wigan, providing access for the company's coal traffic.


Usuglinskoye mine

The Usuglinskoye mine is a large mine located in the south-eastern Russia in Primorsky Krai. Usuglinskoye represents one of the largest fluorite reserves in Russia having estimated reserves of 2.9 million tonnes of ore grading 64% fluorite.


Kharchenkovskoye mine

The Kharchenkovskoye mine is a large iron mine located in central Ukraine in the Poltava Oblast. Kharchenkovskoye represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Ukraine and in the world having estimated reserves of 2.8 billion tonnes of ore grading 30% iron metal.


Sherman Mine (Colorado)


Sandy Bowers

Lemuel Sanford Bowers (nickname: "Sandy") (February 24, 1833 – April 21, 1868) was an American teamster of Irish descent, miner and owner of the Crown Point Mine near Gold Hill, Nevada. Bowers and his wife were the Nevada Territory's first millionaires. Their home, the Bowers Mansion, was the first of the stately homes built in Nevada with the wealth from the Comstock Lode.
Biography.
Bowers was born in Madison County, Illinois. After coming west in 1856 and spending some time in Sacramento, he soon traveled to Gold Hill. A new mining community located south of where Virginia City, Nevada is today. Sandy quickly began investing in mining claims. Once his claims were set, he bought, sold and traded his investments.
Bowers and James Rogers registered their holdings for a 20-foot mining claim in Gold Canyon on January 28, 1859. In 1859, Eilley purchased Rogers' half of the claim for $1,000 (approximately $ today). Though she was married at the time to someone else, Eilley married Bowers on August 9, 1859, and ten months later, she divorced Alexander Cowan on grounds of desertion.
Their first two children, a son, John Jasper Bowers (June 28, 1860 – August 27, 1860), and a daughter, Theresa Fortunatas Bowers (June 16, 1861 – September 17, 1861) died as infants. Shortly thereafter, the Bowers decided to build a home and they travelled to Europe between 1861 and 1863 to purchase furnishings for their mansion and had a desire to meet Queen Victoria, who not give them an audience. The couple returned to Nevada in April 1863, accompanied by an adopted baby girl, Margaret Persia Bowers. With furnishings, they spent $407,000 (approximately $ today). Though Bowers could only read and write a little, every book in the Bowers Mansion library had his name on it. The Bowers Mansion in Carson City, Nevada, completed in 1864, is an example of fine homes built in Nevada by those who became rich as a result of the Comstock Lode mining boom.
By 1865, the Nevada mines were reaching the end of their heyday. Rich and miserable, Bowers preferred living in a shack while his wife preferred spending their millions of dollars. He moved back to Gold Hill, attempting to save their mine, with poor results. In early 1868, he tried to sell a portion of the mine but died on April 21 at the age of 35 from silicosis, a common lung disease amongst miners. Bowers is buried in back of the mansion at the top of a rise. His estate was appraised to be worth $638,000 at the time of his death.
The "Sandy Bowers Claim" still exists, though it became a part of the "Consolidated Imperial" before control was taken over by Sutro Tunnel Coalition, Inc.
The actor Morgan Jones played Bowers in the 1955 episode, "The Crystal Gazer," of the syndicated television anthology series, "Death Valley Days", hosted by Stanley Andrews. Natalie Norwick (1923-2007) was cast as Mrs. Bowers, the former Eilley Orrum, who consults a crystal ball to guide her decisions. She helped Bowers to locate a gold strike. The two marry, spend recklessly on a world tour, and build the still-standing Bowers Mansion between Reno and Carson City. Bowers dies of a lung disease, and Eilley is left with many unpaid bills for which she was responsible. She had not foreseen that their fortune would run dry so quickly.


Tarynnakh mine

The Tarynnakh mine is a large iron mine located in eastern Russia in Olyokminsky District, Sakha Republic
. Tarynnakh represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 2 billion tonnes of ore grading 28.1% iron metal.


Evan Williams (tenor)

Harry Evan Williams (7 September 1867 – 24 May 1918) was an oratorio tenor. He recorded almost one hundred 78-RPM records for the Victor Talking Machine Company in the United States and The Gramophone Company (HMV) in England. Williams gave more than 1,000 performances and recitals during his 25-year professional career across the United States and in England and Wales. Williams was praised most highly by critics for his interpretations of Handel.
Biography.
Evan Williams was born on 7 September 1867 in Mineral Ridge, Ohio, the son of David Williams and Gwendolyn Harris. His parents were recent poor Welsh immigrants from Pembrokeshire, Wales. They were married in 1867 in Trumbull County, Ohio. When Evan was 13 years old, his Mother died in childbirth, and he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Thomas and Sarah Davis in Thomastown, a Welsh immigrant mining community near Akron, Ohio.
While he was working in his youth in coal mines in the Akron area, the quality of his voice was discovered when he was singing in a local church choir. He began voice lessons with Madame Louise Von Feilitsch in Cleveland. He began rising to prominence as a singer when he participated in a Welsh choir in Galion, Ohio, in 1891. By 1894 he was performing in London and began dividing his career between appearances in the United Kingdom and in the United States. At this time in his career he was hired to be the soloist at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. He was reputed to be the highest-paid church singer in the world at the time. In 1896 he gave his first performance at the well known Worcester Music Festival in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1907 he returned to the United States for most of the rest of his performing career, where he sang as a tenor soloist for various choral societies and in concerts all over the country. His recording career with Victor Red Seal records was very successful.
Williams was a great draw at many music societies and events, among them the Orpheus Club of Springfield, Massachusetts, from the 1890s until his death in 1918.
He died on 24 May 1918 in Akron, Ohio from blood poisoning, the result of a boil.
Family.
Evan Williams was married on October 18, 1888 to Margaret Jane née Morgan "Nona" Williams in Thomastown, Ohio. She was the daughter of Welsh immigrant parents Levi Morgan and Ann Williams. They had four children:
H. Evan Williams had five grandchildren, one of whom Edgar Morgan Williams Jr of Cambridge, Maryland—survives as of 2020. He also has 13 great-grandchildren.
Recordings.
Williams voice recorded prodigiously for the Victor Talking Machine Company and he was reported to be the Victor Company's third most popular recording artist after Enrico Caruso and John McCormack as ranked by total record sales. His two best selling titles were "Open the Gates of the Temple" and "A Perfect Day". For two publicly available (pre-1923) recordings of his singing, click and —both composed by Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862–1946). Evan Williams also made many records for Victor's British affiliate, His Master's Voice (HMV).
Legacy.
According to his obituary in "The New York Times", Williams was fondly remembered for his singing of "Tim Rooney's at the Fighting" to audiences of soldiers during World War I.
H. Evan Williams is buried in Ohio's East Akron Cemetery in the Williams family plot. The gravestone on Evan Williams grave reads:
An antique oil portrait of Evan Williams was given in 2009 by his descendants to the University of Akron. In his lifetime Evan Williams was sculpted by the famous American sculptor Jo Davidson. ( It was said at the time about celebrities that they were not truly famous unless Davidson had sculpted them)
Evan Williams' family house still stands as of 2020. He built the substantial house circa 1914 at 105 Mayfield Avenue in Akron with his record royalties and concert proceeds. It was quite commodious and had a billiard room and a music room with a Mason and Hamlin piano and also a lovely rose garden. After Evan Williams' premature death in 1918, his widow Nona built a smaller house in the side lot at 97 Mayfield Avenue where she subsequently moved. She died in 1944.
Evan Williams performed at the White House at a State Dinner hosted by President and Mrs.Taft in 1910. The Tafts were also from Ohio and were introduced to Williams by U.S. Senator and Mrs. Charles W.F. Dick of Akron, whose daughter Grace Amelia later married Williams's son Edgar Morgan in 1917.


Tsagaan Suvarga mine

The Tsagaan Suvarga mine (, "white stupa") is a copper ore deposit and mine in development located in the Mandakh sum of Dornogovi aimag in the south of Mongolia.
The deposit is estimated at reserves of 240.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.53% copper.
It is included in the Mongolian governments list of strategic important deposits.


Jack Gore

John Henry "Jack" Gore (16 June 1899 – 18 March 1971) was a Welsh international rugby flanker who played rugby union for Blaina and rugby league for Salford. His son, Billy Gore, played international rugby for Wales national rugby union team the same as his father.
Rugby career.
Gore played all his rugby union for the unfashionable lower level club Blaina, though during this period the Welsh selectors would often choose tough manual workers to represent the forward positions. Gore first represented Wales in the 1924 Five Nations Championship in a match at the Cardiff Arms Park against Ireland. Under the captaincy of Jack Wetter, Gore found himself on the losing team which stopped a run of 9 successive home wins for Wales. His second game was against France and although a win for Wales, it was a poor Welsh performance caused by players being thrown out of position by the selectors decision to suspend Ossie Male on the trip to Paris. Gore was selected later in the year to face the touring New Zealand team. Wales were totally outclassed by the All Blacks, though the forwards put on a spirited display.
The next year Gore played his final game for Wales, when he faced England during the 1925 Championship. Wales lost the game 12–6, and Gore played no further international union games. He switched codes to the professional league game when he joined Salford later in 1925.
Salford.
Whilst captain of Salford he played for both the England and Wales positioned at , i.e. number 13, during the era of contested scrums.
Many say that he played for the Great Britain rugby league team as he was of Welsh birth and was not the only Welshman to play for this team, however local Salford newspaper reports of the day clearly record: To Jack Gore our Captain, we offer our very hearty congratulations on his selection as Loose Forward for 'England' on the occasion of the Third and Final Test against the "All Blacks" to be played at Leeds, on 15 January 1927. This match of course depends upon what transpires at the League Councils Meeting, held on Wednesday last. This honour, by the way is not unexpected, when having read "Old Stagers" report of the recent Wales v. "All Blacks", an extract from the "South Wales News" which is as follows: GORE, a forward who would be an acquisition to any pack of Forwards - on his showing at Pontypridd. Gore is one of the greatest Forwards Wales has ever produced - would secure a 'place' in any National side for which he was qualified
Gore qualified to play for England because of his father's nationality.
Jack made his début for Salford against St Helens on 28 February 1925 as a before quickly being switched to with great effect. Gore made 125 appearances for Salford between 1925 and 1928 scoring 29 tries. He played his last game for Salford at Barrow on 9 April 1928.
Wigan Highfield.
He transferred to Wigan Highfield during the close season. Gore then played for Wigan Highfield from 1928 until 1932 making 109 appearances and scoring 17 tries.
Monmouthshire.
Jack Gore played in Monmouthshire's 14-18 defeat by Glamorgan in the non-County Championship match during the 1926–27 season at Taff Vale Park, Pontypridd on Saturday 30 April 1927.
Retirement.
Gore returned to his birth town where he ran the Kings Head public house, High Street, Blaina. Gore was often suspected of being a rugby league spy for Salford. It is reported that he was instrumental in spotting the great Dai Watkins, also from Blaina who followed Gore to Salford after his days as a Welsh International rugby star.
International rugby union matches played.
Wales
Gore was also a Reserve on 2 February 1924. Played at Inverieth, Edinburgh, SCOTLAND 35 WALES 10
International rugby league matches played.
Wales
England


Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company

The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (1852–1952), also known as TCI and the Tennessee Company, was a major American steel manufacturer with interests in coal and iron ore mining and railroad operations. Originally based entirely within Tennessee, it relocated most of its business to Alabama in the late nineteenth century. With a sizable real estate portfolio, the company owned several Birmingham satellite towns, including Ensley, Fairfield, Docena, Edgewater and Bayview.
At one time the second largest steel producer in the United States, TCI was listed on the first Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896. However, in 1907, the company was merged with its principal rival, the United States Steel Corporation. The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company was subsequently operated as a subsidiary of U. S. Steel for 45 years until it became a division of its parent company in 1952.
History.
Early history.
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company was founded as the Sewanee Furnace Company, a small mining concern established in 1852 by Nashville entrepreneurs seeking to exploit Tennessee's rich coal reserves and the 19th century railroad boom. After losing money, the business was sold to New York investors in 1859 and reorganized as the Tennessee Coal and Rail Company, but the outbreak of the Civil War the following year saw the fleeting company repossessed by local creditors.
It became Tennessee's leading coal extractor over the next decade, mining and transporting coal around the towns of Cowan and Tracy City in the Cumberland Mountains, and soon branched out into coke manufacture. This practice of both extracting and moving coal to market by building private rail tracks was not unusual at the time, as by owning the tracks that served their mines, businesses could undercut rivals at market by saving money on transportation. A Thomas O'Connor purchased the company in 1876 and expanded the business into iron manufacture in order to stimulate coke sales, building a blast furnace near Cowan. The business was subsequently renamed the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company. TCI never again changed its name, despite a later expansion into Alabama following the 1886 purchase of the Birmingham-based Pratt Coal and Iron Company. Such was the industrial importance of Alabama to TCI that in 1895, the company relocated its offices to Birmingham, relegating its native state to relative unimportance.
Canny investments and the purchase of major competitors in 1888 and 1892 under the direction of financier Hiram Bond, TCI Corporate General Superintendent, saw the firm grow rapidly. The corporation was for several decades one of the few major heavy industries based in the largely agricultural Southern United States, by a wide margin the largest blast furnace operator in the South and at one time the second largest steel producer on the continent. Its 1900 asset sheet listed 17 blast furnaces, 3256 beehive coke ovens, 120 Solvay coke ovens, 15 red ore mines, as well an extensive network of railroads, although following the panic of 1893 the company shifted its primary interests from railroads to steel. TCI's largest industrial plant was located in Ensley, a company town founded in 1886 on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama, by company president Enoch Ensley. Ensley (map of) was served by the sizable Birmingham Southern Railroad, one of TCI's early acquisitions, and from 1899 contained four 200-ton blast furnaces. In 1906 two more furnaces were constructed, and 40,000 tonnes of steel were produced that year, feeding Ensley's integrated rail, wire and plate mills. The company was fiercely competitive with the larger Pittsburgh steel businesses to the north, owing to the remarkable fact that all the natural resources required to produce steel were located in abundance within a relatively small radius of the Birmingham mills.
From forced labor to paternalism.
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company was one of the largest users of prison laborers, mostly Blacks convicted of petty crimes, as a method for paying fines. This practice was common for obtaining coal mining labor in Alabama at the close of the Reconstruction era. The number of convicts employed increased after U.S. Steel acquired TCI in 1907, as did the brutality of the conditions in which they labored. In 1908, the first full year of U. S. Steel's ownership of TCI, almost 60 prison workers died from workplace-related accidents. That same year, the new owners of the company discovered a 400% annual turnover in the workforce.
In the 1910s, TCI undertook a comprehensive program to stabilize its labor force, excluding prison laborers, by developing rigorously-planned "model villages", thereby improving worker health, welfare and loyalty. This paternalistic approach carried with it obvious benefits for workers and their families, but also drew criticism for limiting the free movement and organization of labor.
Listing on the Dow Jones Index and merger with U. S. Steel.
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company's status was bolstered when it became one of the first 12 companies to be listed on the inaugural Dow Jones Industrial Average, compiled in May 1896. However, it was not long before TCI was eclipsed by its principal competitor, the United States Steel Corporation, a huge conglomerate formed in 1901 out of the enormous Carnegie and Federal steel empires. By the time of the Panic of 1907, U. S. Steel felt confident enough to launch a takeover bid of its Southern rival.
On the morning of Saturday November 2, banker and tycoon J. P. Morgan, one of the founders of U. S. Steel, convened a meeting in his library and there suggested that U. S. Steel purchase the stock of an insolvent Wall Street brokerage firm, Moore and Schley, which had secured huge loans against 6 million TCI shares. This was not an entirely selfish gesture, as Morgan recognised that the failure of Moore and Schley would send investor confidence in the markets into a nose-dive. E. H. Gary, president of U. S. Steel, agreed in principle to this transaction, yet argued that without careful political maneuvering the deal would be seen by Congress as an effort to create a monopoly and thereby encounter troublesome federal anti-trust litigation. Morgan himself had been burnt by crusading Washington trust-busters in 1902 when his Northern Securities Company had been forcibly broken up by the government in a landmark test case.
In response to his concerns, Morgan sent Gary on an urgent mission to Washington that Sunday so that the deal might not be vetted by President Theodore Roosevelt himself before the stock exchange opened the next day. Convinced by Gary that U. S. Steel only wished to purchase Moore and Schley's stock in order to inject liquidity into the firm and thereby shore up investor confidence in the wider economy, Roosevelt granted the transaction antitrust immunity in November 1907, a decision for which he was later derided by critics as a hypocrite. Indeed, in 1911 the federal government sought to undo what it perceived to be Roosevelt's mistake and (without success) sued U. S. Steel. In the meantime, Moore and Schley was saved from collapse, the panic soon subsided and U. S. Steel was rewarded with a valuable prize – a controlling stake in TCI. U. S. Steel immediately replaced the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company on the Dow Jones Index, where it remained until 1991.
U. S. Steel.
TCI was not fully incorporated into U. S. Steel, and continued to operate as an extremely profitable subsidiary of its parent company well into the 20th century. Immediately following the merger, a venture was launched to create a new, larger TCI plant to the west of Ensley and at the center of a new company town, and so in 1910 work on the planned community of Corey, Alabama, began.
Named after an executive who later committed suicide, Corey was soon renamed Fairfield, and the steel works there opened in 1917. With the discovery of new coking coal and ore deposits in the region, and with the aid of U. S. Steel's enormous capital, the Fairfield works were quickly expanded with the construction of new steel mills and rail links. Several rolling mills were completed in 1917, which produced ship materials for the nearby shipbuilding plants in Chickasaw, Alabama, in support of America's sudden entry into World War I. In 1920 a direct rail line between Fairfield and Birmingport, the new port of Birmingham on the Warrior River was opened. This was followed by the completion of the 'High Ore Line Railroad', which connected the Red Mountain and the Fairfield works; trains literally rolled down the hill from mine to mill. In 1923 a merchant steel mill was completed, followed by the opening of a sheet products mill in 1926.
TCI proved to be so efficient at making cheap steel that a post-merger internal tariff (the 'Pittsburgh Tariff') was levied by U. S. Steel from 1909 on all steel coming out of the Birmingham region. This was an effort to negate the competitive edge of Birmingham steel over U.S. Steel's own Pittsburgh product.
TCI's independence as a separate legal entity from its parent corporation ended in 1952, a century after the founding of the Sewanee Furnace Company, when the it became the Tennessee Coal & Iron Division of U. S. Steel. The memory of the historic importance of TCI was not lost when a short book to celebrate the Tennessee Company's centenary was published by U. S. Steel in 1960: "Biography of a Business". Stagnation and decline began in 1962 when a majority of the mines in the Birmingham region were closed as domestic ores and coal were superseded by cheaper foreign products, especially from Venezuela. The 1970s and 80s brought about a downsizing and eventual consolidation of the Fairfield and Ensley works, mirroring the general decline of heavy industry in the USA throughout those decades.
Current operations.
The last relic of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, the Fairfield Plant, continues to be operated by U. S. Steel as one of its five integrated steel mills in the USA. It is the largest steel-making plant in Alabama, employing 2,000 workers as of September 2006, down from a peak of 45,000 during World War II. With a single blast furnace and three basic oxygen process furnaces, amongst other various mills and production facilities, the plant produces 2.4 million tons of raw steel per annum and 640,000 tons of seamless tubular and sheet products, mainly for purchase by the booming oil industry.
August 17, 2015, U. S. Steel President and CEO Mario Longhi announced, "We have determined that the permanent shut-down of the Fairfield Works blast furnace, steelmaking and most of the finishing operations is necessary." The decision does not impact Fairfield Tubular Operations or the electric arc furnace (EAF) construction project. 1,600 workers were laid off by November 17, 2015.


List of copper mines in the United States

The following lists of copper mines in the United States:
Leading copper-producing mines.
Leading copper-producing mines in the U.S. in 2018, in order of output: The mines on this list account for more than 99% of U.S. mine copper production.
Inactive or defunct copper mines.
There are hundreds of inactive or defunct copper mines in the United States. The list below includes only those with Wikipedia articles.


Konawe Utara mine

The Konawe Utara mine is a large mine in the east of Indonesia in Sulawesi. Konawe Utara represents one of the largest nickel reserve in Indonesia having estimated reserves of 100 million tonnes of ore grading 2.86% nickel. The 100 million tonnes of ore contains 2.86 million tonnes of nickel metal.


Howe Bridge Colliery

Howe Bridge Colliery was a coal mine which was part of the Fletcher, Burrows and Company's collieries at Howe Bridge in
Atherton, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.
The Fletchers owned several small pits which eventually became the Howe Bridge Collieries.
In 1845 Howe Bridge Collieries owned by John Fletcher sank three deep shafts to the Seven Feet mine,
the Victoria pit where coal was wound was sunk to 447 feet, the Puffer for pumping water to 435 feet and the Volunteer, the upcast ventilation shaft. These last three pits were taken over by Manchester Collieries, became part of the National Coal Board in 1947 and closed in 1959.
After the pit closed Lancashire United Transport built a garage and bus repair works on the site.


Northeast Siberia Company

The Northeast Siberia Company (NESC) was an American company established in 1902 by a retired Russian colonel named Vonlyarlyarsky, but composed primarily of Chicagoans. The company's chartered purpose was to prospect for gold in the Chukotka region of Russia.
The first problem encountered by the company once it was founded was finding miners willing to work in Chukotka. Because the concession was on imperial land, it could not be divided into claims like in North America. As a result of this, the company could not legally offer any property rights to miners, only salaries. Russian miners were very hard to come by, so the company had to recruit Americans with false promises of lucrative gold stakes with generous terms (half of the gold plus half of the gold-producing land).
The NESC operated vessels of its own, including the gasoline schooner "Barbara Hernster". In 1905, the "Barbara Hernster" struck a reef and was sunk near Providence Bay while on a journey to recover furs and ivory worth more than a million dollars. Its captain, adventurer Olaf Swenson, became a well-known trader in Anadyr.
In 1906 it was reported that the NESC was forbidden by the Russian government from any activities other than mining, such as fur trading. The company may also have been involved in illegally trading alcohol. Also in 1906, American miners working for the NESC reportedly discovered a steel and leather mail coat, along with a helmet and coins which may have been left by Cossack explorers in the mid-1600s.
In 1909, the company sent out a dispatch that there was a prison riot in Yakutsk resulting in the deaths of at least four guards, and that escaped prisoners were attempting to flee to Alaska. Later that year the Russian government banned foreign investment in Chukotka in an effort to stop the "unscrupulous exploitation" and mistreatment of the Chukchi people by the Americans.
The company's concession in Russia was ended in 1910.


List of iron mines in the United States


Lupeni Coal Mine

Lupeni Coal Mine is an underground mining exploitation, one of the largest in Romania located in Lupeni, one of six cities in the Jiu Valley region of Hunedoara County. The legal entity managing the Lupeni mine is the National Hard Coal Company which was set up in 1998. The mine has reserves of 65 million tonnes of coal.


Bald Mountain mine

The Bald Mountain Mine is a large gold mine in the northern Nevada. It is an open-pit, run-of-mine, heap leach gold mine with conventional heap leaching technology and carbon absorption for ore treatment. The mine is located in White Pine County, Nevada, 110 kilometers southeast of Elko.
Proven and probable gold reserves were:
In January 2016, Kinross Gold acquired Bald Mountain along with a 50% interest of the Round Mountain gold mine from Barrick Gold Corporation for $610 million in cash.
2018 production.
In 2018, 284,616 ounces of gold (2017: 282,715 oz) were produced, at a cost of $547 per ounce, a 15% improvement on the previous year's cost.


Emma F. Langdon

Emma Florence Langdon (1875 – November 29, 1937) moved to the gold mining district of Cripple Creek, Colorado in 1903. She was an apprentice linotype operator who wrote that "women's place should be in the home and not in public life." In spite of such sentiments, she played a very visible role during some very turbulent times. She and her husband were working at the Victor "Daily Record", a pro-union newspaper, during a 1903-04 strike of miners in the Cripple Creek gold fields that erupted into the Colorado Labor Wars. Along with many other union sympathizers, Langdon was forced to leave in 1904, and moved to Denver.
History.
Republican governor of Colorado James Peabody had sent the national guard into Cripple Creek to suppress the strike. The "Daily Record" erroneously charged that one of the soldiers was an ex-convict. Its staff was imprisoned by the national guard in a bullpen before a retraction could be published. While Victor "Daily Record" editor George Kyner and four printers were in the bullpen, Emma Langdon, a linotype operator married to one of the imprisoned printers, sneaked into the "Daily Record" office and barricaded herself inside. She printed the next edition of the paper, and then delivered it to the prisoners in the bullpen.
Langdon was the only linotype operator in Victor who was overlooked by the national guard. She received a telephone message at midnight about the raid, and rushed to the office, barred the doors, and printed a four-page edition of the morning paper, with the headline across the top — "Somewhat Disfigured but Still in the Ring." The next morning Emma Langdon arrived at the bullpen with an armload of papers intended for the prisoners. She was stopped by the guards. She recorded in her 1908 book, "Labors' Greatest Conflicts", that the national guard officers were,
...discussing with glee the "great victory in suppressing the paper." Their laughter was soon changed to oaths when they were dramatically presented the papers that were intended for the imprisoned printers.
The "Associated Press" picked up the story of the apprentice printer who could not be intimidated.
The "Daily Record" did not miss an issue as a result of the arrests. The printers were held for twenty-four hours, charged with criminal libel, and then were released on bond. When the cases went to court, all charges were dismissed.
For defying the militia and producing an issue of the union paper by herself, Langdon was presented with an engraved gold medal at the Western Federation of Miners convention in 1904, and was made an honorary member of the union. Although the designation was somewhat overused in the period, Langdon was frequently referred to as "Labor's Joan of Arc".
Affiliations.
Langdon was secretary of the Victor Women's Auxiliary, vice-president of the Victor Trades Assembly, a member of the Typographical Union in Victor, and later of TU Local No. 49 in Denver. She became chair of the Typographical Union executive board.
She attended the 1905 founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World in Chicago, where she was elected assistant secretary under general secretary-treasurer William Trautmann.
Emma Langdon became a publicist for the Western Federation of Miners, and was also with the organization when it changed its name to the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers. She was also an organizer for the Socialist Party of America.


Mes Aynak mine

The Mes Aynak mine is a large copper mine located in the east of Afghanistan in Logar Province. Mes Aynak represents one of the largest copper reserve in Afghanistan and in the world having estimated reserves of 690 million tonnes of ore grading 1.65% copper.
History.
On 17 May 2020, the Taliban attacked a security checkpoint near the Mes Aynak mine. Eight security guards were killed and five others wounded.


Cempaka diamond mine

The Cempaka mine is one of the largest diamond mines in Indonesia and in the world. The mine is located in South Kalimantan, Borneo. The mine has estimated reserves of 32.9 million carats of diamonds.
The hundreds hoping for fortune at Indonesia's largest diamond mine
1.2k Share Tweet
BY VICTORIA HOSingapore
Nov 09, 2015
For the 500 or so miners that toil at the Cempaka mine, Indonesia's largest diamond producer, each day provides hope that one of them will find the next massive rare diamond there.
Cempaka is in South Kalimantan in Indonesia, and has provided some huge finds for miners in the past. In 2006, a 3.02 carat blue diamond was discovered, and it was rare enough that its UK-based owner, BDI Mining, thought it was important enough to announce to shareholders.
But it's still dwarfed by 1965's find of a 166 carat gem that was nearly the size of a pigeon's egg. The Trisakti diamond, as it was later named, was sold off at auction.
Ulet Ifansasti, an Indonesian photographer who went down to the mine to shoot for Getty Images, told Mashable that he met miners aged 17 to 70 at the site. One of the oldest miners told him he had been working there for the past 50 years, in hopes of finding the next Trisakti.
But the life of a diamond miner can be fraught with danger, Ifansasti pointed out. 400 of them have died at Cempaka since 2000 due to landslides caused by soil erosion from digging. "From the top it looks like the moon," he said, of the numerous craters made at the site.
There are also disputes over territory, said Ifansasti. The workers are freelance, not hired by BDI (now owned by LSE-listed Gem Diamonds), and head to the mine in groups of ten to stake out spots with potential. Groups of miners which dig in competitors' spots have come to clashes before, and people have been killed in the conflicts, he said.
"It's open to all, everybody can go (to the mine), and workers, they fight for the land," he said.
Cempaka's mine is located near to the Martapura city center, which has become a tourist attraction for its numerous shops carrying diamonds at purported bargains. Kalimantan has had several diamond mines since the 18th century when it was under Dutch rule.
Cempaka owner BDI Mining, now owned by LSE-listed Gem Diamonds, started mining operations there in 2005, and in a year had uncovered 50,000 carats of "gem quality" diamonds, it said in a statement.
References.
The hundreds hoping for fortune at Indonesia's largest diamond mine
http://mashable.com/2015/11/09/campaka-indonesia-diamond-mine/#5XrLagnkdEqk


Fairbanks Exploration Company Machine Shop

The Fairbanks Exploration Company Machine Shop is a historic machine shop in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. Located behind the Fairbanks Exploration Company (F.E. Company) administration building at 612 Illinois Street, it is a large single-story steel-frame structure, built in 1927 to serve the company's nearby gold mining operations. Its easternmost section is high, while that on the west is high, in order to accommodate belt-driven equipment and cranes. A tall double door at the center of the east facade is the main entrance. The front of the building housed large belt-driven lathes, while the center had a welding shop, drill presses, and a tool room. A blacksmithy in the back had a sand floor. The building was used by the F.E. Company between 1927 and 1964.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.


Maple Mountain mine

The Maple Mountain mine is a mine located in the north-east of the United States in Maine. Maple Mountain represents one of the largest manganese reserve in the United States, having estimated reserves of 341 million tonnes of manganese ore grading 9% manganese metal.


Degtyarsky mine

The Degtyarsky mine is a large copper mine located in the south-west of Russia in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Degtyarsky represents one of the largest copper reserve in Russia and in the world having estimated reserves of 224 million tonnes of ore grading 1.48% copper.


Lednikovy-Sarmaka mine

The Lednikovy-Sarmaka mine is a large open pit mine located in the eastern part of Russia in Siberia. Lednikovy-Sarmaka represents one of the largest tungsten reserves in Russia having estimated reserves of 11 million tonnes of ore grading 0.37% tungsten.


Fisherville, British Columbia

Fisherville is a classic example of a boom and bust gold rush town that characterized the 1860s in British Columbia. Gold was discovered here in 1864. As the first permanent white settlement in the East Kootenay region of the Southern Interior, Fisherville boasted a population of 5,000 inhabitants in 1865 and numerous buildings including six general stores, four saloons, two butcher shops, a brewery, a blacksmith’s shop, a boarding house, a post office, a sawmill, and government offices.
Fisherville was the first in the series of town sites which sat on the bench above the Wild Horse River. Successive settlements were referred to as ‘Wild Horse’ or ‘Kootenay’. The gold rush of 1864 was directly responsible for the creation of Galbraith’s Ferry which later became known as Fort Steele. When the railway bypassed Fort Steele in favour of Cranbrook in 1898, Fort Steele began to decline while Cranbrook grew to become the region’s economic and commercial centre. Cranbrook – formerly known as ‘Joseph’s Prairie’ – was also site of the Ktunaxa Chief Isadore’s favourite farm. However, land ownership was eventually granted to British Colonel James Baker.
Fisherville is the site of a former Gold Rush boomtown in the East Kootenay Named for Jack Fisher, who discovered the strike in the canyon of the Wild Horse River in 1863. Initially a thousand miners pushed into the canyon of that river and built Fisherville, which was soon moved a bit south and higher up than the original townsite had been when it was discovered rich gold deposits lay beneath the site. The new townsite was officially named Kootenai or Kootenay, and also Wild Horse, but remained commonly known as Fisherville. In its second winter (1864) saw only 100 white men and c.20 Chinese in residence; by 1866 the town's population was 300 Chinese and fewer than 100 whites.
In 1879 the HBC sold interests to Galbraith's firm, who operated a store at Fisherville. Fisherville was forgotten by the 1890s; all that remained by 1929 were a few remnants of log houses and a neglected cemetery, but... names on wooden boards at heads of graves have been long obliterated. One of those who died and was buried there was Mr. Boles Gaggin, the 2nd Gold Commission to serve on the creek..." (from History of the Cranbrook District by S.L. Thrupp, 1929; copy in Provincial Archives, accession 6 K84 T41.)


Uncle Sam (diamond)

Uncle Sam is the nickname for the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States. It was found in 1924 in Murfreesboro, Arkansas at the Prairie Creek pipe mine, which later became known as the Crater of Diamonds State Park. The diamond was named "Uncle Sam" after the nickname of its finder, Wesley Oley Basham, a worker at the Arkansas Diamond Corporation.
The rough diamond as originally discovered weighed 40.23 carats (8.046 g). It was faceted twice by Schenck & Van Haelen of New York, which specialized in Arkansas diamonds, handling over 14,000. The company described those diamonds as being so hard that they could only be cut using powder of other Arkansas diamonds. The final result was a 12.42-carat (2.484 g) emerald-cut gem. It was characterized as M on the diamond color scale; this nominally corresponds to a faint yellow color, but the visual impression of Uncle Sam has been variously described as white or slight pink. Judging from the color, the diamond is most likely of pure IIa diamond type meaning the amount of impurities it has is below a few parts per million. The clarity of the stone was assessed as VVS1, which stands for "Very Very Slightly Included" and means the stone has minute non-diamond inclusions that are difficult for a skilled grader to see under 10x magnification.
The diamond was owned by the Peikin Jewelers of Fifth Avenue, New York. It was lent by Peikin to the American Museum of Natural History for temporary display and storage. In 1971 it was acquired by a Boston dealer, Sidney de Young, and sold for $150,000 to an anonymous private collector.
The discovery of Uncle Sam arguably rescued the Arkansas Diamond Corporation, which had a debt over US$276,470 by that time and was going to be shut down in the winter of 1924. The number of diamonds found on the surface was decreasing, and the cost of digging operations was estimated as higher than the expected diamond recovery. Not that the value of the diamond was sufficient to cover the debts, but the discovery lifted the spirits enough to keep the surface operations. Currently, the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is the only public diamond mine in the world. Over 33,000 diamonds have been found there since the opening of the park in 1972. The place where Uncle Sam was discovered is marked, and many additional diamonds have been found there.


Joseph Williams (composer)

Joseph Williams (c. 1800–1834) was an English coal-miner and composer of sacred music, known today as West gallery music. Very little is known about his life, other than he lived in Watery Lane, Tipton, Staffordshire. During his short lifetime he published a collection of his compositions, "Sacred Music" (Tipton: for the Author, c. 1830), containing 20 hymn tunes.
He met an unfortunate death in a mining-related accident on the Himley Road, Dudley, on 14 April 1834. He was walking along the road near to a mine-pit, and an explosion taking place threw a large rock into the air which killed him instantly. The pit's owners, Messrs. Horton, were not penalised for the accident.
A second collection of his music, "The Celestial Chorister" (London: Joseph Hart, c. 1835), was published posthumously, as the title page states, to raise money for his widow and 6 children. The collection is unusual in that 12 of the hymns take their titles from the 12 signs of the Zodiac.


Campbell Field (Colorado)

Campbell Field, officially Marv Kay Stadium at Harry D. Campbell Field, is an American college football stadium located in Golden, Colorado. The stadium serves as the home field of the Colorado Mines Orediggers football team representing the Colorado School of Mines. Campbell Field is one of the oldest football fields in existence, the oldest west of the Mississippi River and the oldest in NCAA Division II. Originally it was a dirt surface all-purpose athletic field in exactly its current configuration, built within a clay pit, a fitting mined-out home for the Orediggers. Its first athletic contest, held on May 20, 1893, was the first annual Colorado Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association Field Day, featuring many athletic contests between the University of Colorado, Colorado A&M, Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Denver, in which Mines claimed the most medals. Its first football game took place on October 7, 1893, a 6-0 Mines victory over the University of Denver. It has been home to the football Orediggers through all but the first five seasons of their existence (their previous home were the now-destroyed grounds at the southeast corner of 19th and Illinois streets in Golden), and has been renovated several times throughout its existence. The field was originally called Athletic Park, renamed Brooks Field after Mines trustee and benefactor Ralph D. Brooks in 1922, and renamed Campbell Field after 1939 undefeated team member and benefactor Harry D. Campbell in 2010. Campbell Field is the oldest football field in the west, the oldest in NCAA Division II football and the 5th oldest college football field in the nation.
Renovations.
Historic photographs show Brooks Field as a dirt surface, without grandstands and surrounded by a board fence. Despite such conditions it is known to have hosted crowds of spectators, who could have used nearby slopes to view games from. Later early wooden grandstands were added to the park. In 1922 and 1924 the current grandstands were built by noted local builder William "Cement Bill" Williams. This featured wooden bench seats upon a steel superstructure, with home and visiting locker rooms, public restrooms and refreshment stand beneath. In 1922 the dirt surface was converted to natural grass, part of which was scraped back to dirt surface for a baseball diamond during season each year. Originally home also to the CSM baseball team, it became a primarily football facility in 1937 after baseball was moved to Darden Field just to the west. During the 1930s a Federal Emergency Relief Administration project scooped out the slopes at the west side of Brooks Field to make room to construct a track around the surface, and it has hosted track and field events since. Around the 1980s the grandstands were renovated to cover most wooden benches with metal surfaces and create a central concourse, along with steps down to the field level. In 2010, the field was converted to its third surface, synthetic turf. Plans are underway to replace the 90-year-old grandstands and update the historic field to a state-of-the-art Division II athletic facility, expanding its capacity to 5,000, to be rechristened Marv Kay Stadium at Campbell Field.
Notable Events.
Campbell Field has hosted many notable athletes and teams over its many years of play. Although missing out on the legendary 103-0 victory of the Orediggers over the University of Colorado in 1890 as well as their first Colorado Football Association championship in 1891, it has hosted 14 championship football teams and more:
Notable people.
Championship Football Teams.
The Orediggers have fielded 16 football champion teams within over a century of play:
1891 – Colorado Football Association Champions^

1892 – Colorado Football Association Champions^

1893 – Colorado Football Association Champions

1897 – State Inter-Collegiate League Champions

1898 – Colorado Football Association Champions

1904 – Colorado Football Association Champions

1906 – Colorado Football Association Champions

1907 – Colorado Football Association Champions

1912 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions

1914 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions

1918 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions

1939 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions

1942 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions

1951 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions

1958 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Co-Champions

2004 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions

2010 – Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Co-Champions
^Orediggers played at original grounds south of the Mines campus in these seasons


Copper Creek mine

The Copper Creek Mine is a large copper mine located in Arizona, in the southwestern part of the United States. Copper Creek represents one of the largest copper reserves in the United States and in the world, having estimated reserves of 983.5 million tonnes of ore grading 0.2% copper.


John Ross Bradfield

John Ross Bradfield, (1899–October 29, 1983) was a Canadian businessman who was involved in the development of the Canadian mining industry as President and CEO of Noranda.
Born in Morrisburg, Ontario, he graduated from McGill University in 1922 with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering. He was a field engineer on the construction of Yankee Stadium. He joined Noranda Mines in 1922. In 1927 he became a construction superintendent. Rising in the ranks of the company he became, in 1956, president and chief executive officer and chairman of the board and chief executive officer in 1962. He resigned as CEO in 1968 but remained as Chairman of the board until 1974.
In 1973 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada "for his many contributions to the development of the mining industry and to the growth of the Canadian business community". He is also an inductee of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.


Tom Morgan (rugby union)

Tom Morgan (14 November 1866 – 22 March 1899) was a Welsh international rugby union centre who played club rugby for Llanelli and international rugby for Wales. Morgan was a collier by profession.
Rugby career.
Although Morgan had little international success in rugby, he is more notable for being part of the Llanelli squad that hosted the touring New Zealand Natives on 19 December 1888. This was the first ever match played in Wales by a touring Southern Hemisphere team, and the Māori team had just come from wins over Broughton Rangers and Wigan. The match was decided by a single dropped goal, scored by Llanelli's Harry Bowen from near the halfway line, which Morgan had set up after he forced the New Zealanders to minor when his kick passed their line.
Morgan was one of a small group of players from Llanelli Rugby Club, who gained international caps in the late 1880s, but played little more than a handful of games. Morgan played just a single game for his country, a home match at St. Helen's in Swansea, against Ireland as part of the 1889 Home Nations Championship. Among the Welsh team on that day were four Llanelli players, though none had been selected for the opening game of the tournament against Scotland. Morgan's club team-mates for that match included Giotto Griffiths, Ned Roberts and Dan Griffiths. This would be the last international game for all four players. Ireland won the game by two tries to nil, both of the scores coming from Irish debuts. Morgan lost his place in the Welsh squad the next season to Penarth's Dickie Garrett, and didn't play for Wales again.
International matches played.
Wales