Mining community: Difference between revisions

A mining town or mining camp is a settlement that houses miners. Mining towns are usually created around a mine or a quarry for the extraction or smeltering of ore.

History

United States

In the United States several different types of towns were established by Americans during the frontier period; mining towns, railroad towns, cow towns and farming towns were the primary settlements built. Throughout the continental United States and Alaska, valuable minerals were discovered and mining operations launched. The miners would usually settle a site and make home of tents and shacks, eventually different types of buildings for the mine would be constructed followed by cabins, stores, saloons and other buildings for the miners and their families. A town would naturally be born with the settling of women and children and existed as long as precious metal could be dug from the area. Sometimes the geograpghical location of a mining town or the various American railroads would ensure a town's existence after all the valuable minerals were gone. Many American mining towns became ghost towns and others have become prominent cities.

Historic Mining Towns

• Tombstone, Arizona
• Bisbee, Arizona
• Jerome, Arizona
• Contention City, Arizona
• Tumacacori, Arizona
• Ruby, Arizona
• Cerro Colorado, Arizona
• Silver City, New Mexico
• Pinos Altos, New Mexico
• Denver, Colorado
• Leadville, Colorado
• Deadwood, South Dakota

See also

• mission town
• boomtown

References

• Sherman, James E (1969). Ghost Towns of Arizona. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-0843-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Book features pg. 147 about what is necessary for a settlement to have in order to be considered a "mining town".