Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0396Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of two men shoveling rocks into a mine cart,, a house and several other buildings are seen on a hill in the distance. Above the image "51" is printed, below the image "V23255 - Nightingale Mine at Bull Hill In One of the World's Richest Gld Fields, Colo." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyrighted, Underwood & Underwoof Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Portland, Oregon, London, Eng., Sydney, Aus." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
V23255
NIGHTINGALE MINE, AT BULL HILL COLO.
Lat. 89 (Degrees) N.; Long. 104 (Degrees) W.
Colorado ranks among the first states in the Union in the mining of precious stones.
One of the richest gold fields in the state, in fact in the world, is located at Bull Hill, and is known as the Nightingale Mine. It is at Cripple Creek, not far from Pikes Peak, and about thirty miles northeast of Colorado Sprints. The Rocky Mountains were first prospected by miners from California about 1860, but it was not until 1890 that important discoveries of gold were made near Pikes Peak. Sinct that time, Cripple Creek has become the center of the richest gold producing region in the world.
There are two methods of gold mining, placer mining and quartz mining. The preocess of placer mining consists in digging out the sand with its gold deposits, and separating the gold by washing, or by combining with mercury, lead, silver or copper. The hydraulic methods, now practiced on a large scale, is the most important method of placer mining. Quartz mining is the mining of gold in the veins, and is an underground operation.
Quartz mining is much more expensive. The cost of getting it out from the earth is much more. It must be separated from the rock containing it. This ore is crushed to a fine poweder, then melted, and the gold separated from the other minerals which it contains. One method is to carry the crushed ore and water over tables covered with mercury or quicksilver. The gold sticks to the mercury and the sand is carried on by the water.
This picture shows the placer method. The men are handling the ore in the roguh. From it they wash the slime, to which the gold adheres. It is estimated that about one-fourth of all the gold produced is ued in coinage.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection