BLACK HAWK HISTORY – GOLD & SILVER
First by ore wagon, and later by train, tons of precious rock were sent to Black Hawk for various processes designed to extract the maximum amount of gold from the quartz ores.
- A standard gold bullion bar weighs nearly 70 pounds.
- Pure gold is 24 carat; 18 carat gold is three-quarters pure.
MINING RECORDS
“By the end of 1863, it was a weekly occurrence to add a new recording clerk to the office force. Work went on twenty-four hours a day as clerks recorded and filed the various legal instruments necessary to secure titles to mining property.”
RICH DEPOSITS
“[Gilpin]…its extending foothills possess veins and alluvial deposits rich in gold. The outlying mountain spurs, hills, and gulches are also ribbed with valuable veins, some producing silver and copper, others silver and lead, and others gold and silver, with one or both of the baser metals.”
Frank Fossett, Colorado Mines, 1859-1879
“The Original Claims were 50 feet wide by 100 feet in length. Since that time the size of the locations has been increased in this district to 150 feet in width by 1,500 feet on the vein by Federal law, to a total width of 300 feet.”
Wm A. Farish, Gathering Gold, 1900
ASSAYING
“The art and skill of the assayer is indispensable to the successful operation of a mine. Without an accurate determination of the values contained in the ore he produces, a mine operator is working blind, very well may be ‘going broke’ without being aware of that fact.”
Wm A. Farish, Gathering Gold, 1900