Wednesday 30 July 2014

There's Gold in Them Thar Hills!





A friend of my husband has a small claim somewhere in BC and every summer he spends months on end searching for gold. He gets small traces once in a while, enough to keep him going, but has yet to find the mother lode.

From Wikipedia:

"A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold deposits. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere."

The first substantial gold find was that of Conrad Reed in South Carolina in 1799.
In the days of the gold rushes, writers and publishers hurried to crank out books on everything from how to get there, how to test the gold, how to survive, etc... so there is a lot of books to choose from at Internet Archive and in your local libraries. Many wrote about their experiences and included what to bring, the climate, the best routes, the prices of things, and wages.



In Australia in 1882 there was a flooding disaster at the New Australasian No.2 Deep Lead Gold Mine in Creswick and 22 men died. In 1936 there was a collapse of the Moose River Gold Mine in Nova Scotia.

There are websites that advertise gold mine claims for sale.  Interested?

Do you have ancestors that caught Gold Fever?


Relevant Links:


Gold Rushes by Country and by Year

Report on the Geology & gold Fields of Otago, NZ 1875

Klondyke & Yukon Guide - Alaska and Northwest Territory Gold Fields - 1898

Ready Reference and Hand Book of the Klondyke and Alaskan Gold Fields 1897 

Yukon Archives - Gold Rush - books, newspapers, etc

Gold Prospecting and Treasure Hunting leads for British Columbia (*sound alert - turn off on video at bottom of page)

The Rossland Homestake Gold Mining Company, Ltd - BC

Facts and statistics relating to the Edmonton Gold Mine, California 1866

Collapse of the Moose River Gold Mine - Nova Scotia April 1936

List of Employees of Acadia Coal Ltd who worked at Moose River (hit next for more)

The New Australasian No 2 Deep Lead Gold Mine - Creswick 1882

Instructions for collecting, testing, melting and assaying gold - 1848

History of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851 - California Gold Rush

Mad Rush for Gold in the Frozen North (Dietz) 1914

Palm Sunday Avalanche - Klondike Gold Rush - April 1898

Women of the Klondyke 

Klondike Gold Miners - Alaska-Yukon-Klondike Gold Syndicate 1897

Bridgeton Evening News 1898

The National Gold Prospecting Association - photos and information 

Yukon Mining Claims Database

Irish Women of the Gold Rush (Ireland TV)










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