Hard-Rock Miners: The InterMountain West, 1860-1920

When the colorful western prospectors had made their strikes and moved on, they left behind them another, lesser known breed of men, the hard-rock miners. For six decades these working stiffs followed mining opportunities into the boom towns of the intermountain West and gouged from the depths other men’s wealth. In mines ranging from glorified prospect holes to underground extractories, they picked and blasted, sometimes in shifts of twelve hours, not only ore and minerals but also lung-de...