Discovery of Gold in Colorado - Essay Example

Since the days of Spanish exploration, the presence of gold in present-day Colorado has been rumored. However, it was only during the early 19th century that gold deposits were officially reported from the region while the land was still under the Kansas territory. This led to the gold rush or boom during which a large majority of the white population settled down in the Rocky mountain regions led to the formation of small towns such as Denver later as the population growth increased the Colorado territory was created in the year 1861 followed by the establishment of the Colorado state in 1876. Several explorers came in search of gold and the subsequent major discoveries of gold deposits contributed to the rise of the region’s economy as well as industrial growth (The History of Gold Mining).

The earliest reported discovery of the yellow metal was in the year 1803 when the explorer James Purcell found some nuggets of gold by the South Platte River (The History of Gold Mining). This was followed by other discoveries such as the 1820 expedition led by Lieutenant John. C Fremont during which members of his exploration party discovered gold in about six different places in and around present-day Colorado (A General History of Colorado). However, as the California gold rush happened during this period these findings did not gain much importance; nevertheless, it provided an opportunity for gold-seeking groups to pass through the rocky mountain region of Colorado. As these prospectors returned with very few findings of gold in California, they decided to explore gold along the South Platte River, Cherry Creek, and Clear Creek and were successful (Gold!Gold!Gold!). One such group from Georgia led by William Russell became the first to discover small quantities of placer gold. These people settled down in that region and collected gold deposits from the streams between the years 1858-59. However, rich deposits of gold were found by George Jackson in the year 1859 along the Clear Creek region. With this finding, he began to mine the placer gold deposited in the region near Idaho springs where Clear creek joins Chicago creek. In the same year another gold-seeking prospector from Georgia, John Gregory discovered a quartz vein made of gold resulting in the first discovery of consolidated or lode gold. This paved the way for the establishment of the Blackhawk-Central City mining region near the Creek. Following this find several deposits of gold were found in many locations around present-day Colorado leading to the formation of several mining sites including Boulder Creek, Leadville, and Cripple Creek. Out of the several regions the Cripple Creek district had a rich deposit of gold and has produced about half of the 45 million ounces of gold that came from the Colorado state. The hard rock and placer deposits were mined initially and as the supply became exhausted the surface deposits were mined later for gold production. However, by the year 1920 gold production was reduced due to a shortage of labor, problems with wages, and issues regarding the supply of water. Despite this decline in the production of gold the year 1933 witnessed a rise in the gold prices that caused a small mining boom in the state. This also was short-lived as the following World War II ordered the closure of non-essential mines which led to a dip in the gold prices. Gold production however rose from 1970 when the restrictions on the pricing of gold began to ease and with the establishment of the Cresson surface mine the gold production from the state has been accelerating constantly (Gold!Gold!Gold!).

At present the only large-scale gold mining company in Colorado is the Cripple Creek and Victor mining company which uses modern technology to extract gold from the ores. A previous report has predicted that the ore reserve deposit would enable the mining process to continue through 2012 (Gold!Gold!Gold!). Though there have been no major reports of new gold findings in the region and the production has become limited to a few mines the mining industry is thriving as a result of diversification into mining of silver, lead, zinc, and molybdenum (The History of Gold Mining).