Mine to Make a Mine: Financing the Colorado Mining Industry, 1859-1902

Entranced by visions of instant wealth, the fabled prospector and his trusty burro combed the hills of the Rocky Mountain West for that one huge deposit of pay ore. Close behind the prospector--and drawn by the same vision--came the speculator. Capital, a scarce though essential commodity on the frontier, was supplied by the speculators and made possible the development of a hardrock mining industry that helped shape the early history of the region. Between the Civil War and the turn of the...