Rocky Mountain Mining Camps: The Urban Frontier

Traditionally the American frontier was the home of the self-sufficient individualist, a rural environment where settlers lived without the comforts of society. But from the first gold rush into the Rockies in 1859 until the 1890s, when most gold fields had been played out, the unsettled wilderness of the Rocky Mountains became the setting of a unique phenomenon—the Western mining camp. To be profitable, miners needed a community of support—including secure lines of transportation, farmers ...