Some of you may be interested in this book review which has just been
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Keith Ramsey
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Subject: Doti on Safford, _The Mechanics of Optimism: Mining
Companies,Technology, and the Hot Spring Gold Rush, Montana
Territory,1864-1868_
------------ EH.NET BOOK REVIEW --------------
Published by EH.NET (November 2005)
Jeffery J. Safford, _The Mechanics of Optimism: Mining Companies,
Technology, and the Hot Spring Gold Rush, Montana Territory,
1864-1868_. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2004. xii + 185
pp. $35 (hardcover), ISBN: 0-87081-782-5.
Reviewed for EH.NET by Lynne Pierson Doti, Department of Economics,
Chapman University.
A professor of history, now emeritus, at the University of Montana,
Jeffery Safford was always curious about the ruins in the nearby Hot
Spring Mining District. Over a score of years Safford, assisted by
family and students, did an extensive search of primary and secondary
sources to tell the story of a brief bonanza. With local newspapers,
mining company records and business and private correspondence,
Safford reveals the story behind the remains of buildings which once
housed the executives and equipment of the mining companies.
In May 1863, miners struck an unusually rich gold vein in Alder Gulch
in southern Montana, near what is now Virginia City. As miners
explored further, they struck gold in other nearby areas. The result
was the Hot Spring Mining District which, for a short time, seemed to
promise rich lodes. The area was near the Bozeman trail, so travelers
abandoned their wagon trains to prospect and news spread quickly with
those who continued on. By 1864, investors from New York and other
Eastern cities rushed to set up claims and bring in crushing mills to
process the ore. These mills were massive and apparently complicated
affairs. They cost $25,000 or more and had to be transported from
the east coast or San Francisco. One of the largest investors, the
New York and Montana Mining Company, spent $39,000 just to outfit a
wagon train to transport a mill. The companies also invested in
structures to house the machinery and employees.
Unfortunately, as the expenditures rose, the ore was already running
out. Thinking that the veins would thicken as they dug deeper,
investors at first remained oblivious to the problem. By 1866, these
investors were becoming alarmed. Some of the mills were having
technical problems. The low yield ore required upgrading the
machinery. The harsh Montana climate and remote location made mining
even more difficult. The streams that powered the mills ran dry
early in the summer and froze early in the winter. Miners and mill
workers tired of the cold weather and wanted to leave. Food and
other supplies could not be produced locally and were expensive to
obtain. Distant investors sent rapidly changing messages: focus on
the richest mine, buy more mines, dig deeper into existing mines, try
to lock up more surface placer ore, don't mine, just mill the gold
mined by others. None of this advice worked. By 1867, the mills
operating often processed tons of rock and recovered so little gold
it could not even cover cost. Small problems, like the illness of
key personnel, caused disaster. One mill was looted by employees
fearing they would not be paid while the manager was bedridden from
rheumatism. By 1868, the boom was clearly over. Mines were being
abandoned. One of the largest companies closed and put their
equipment up for sale. The manager went home to his family in New
York amidst criticism by the owners. The problem, however, was not
bad management, technical difficulties, or even the location or
climate. The problem was best summed up in the local newspaper: "We
have ascertained to a certainty, that the richness of our quartz was
greatly overestimated by the first discoverers" (p. 143).
This book tells a tale probably similar to many in the late
nineteenth century west. Now littered with ghost towns of these
brief interludes of optimism, even California and Colorado had
hundreds of short-lived mineral booms. As Safford points out, this
was the norm (p. xvi).
This book provides useful insights into the technical side of
extracting gold, although this could have been explained more
systematically. The details on the business arrangements are not
compete, but the quantity of detail is a valuable addition to the
literature. Those who have an interest in the mining business will
want to read the entire series, "Mining in the American West," of
which this book is an important part.
Lynne Pierson Doti is the David and Sandra Stone Professor of
Economics in the Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman
University. She is writing a financial history of California.
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Published by EH.Net (November 2005). All EH.Net reviews are archived
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