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Montana Gold Rush, Gold Miner

Walter S. Corwin, gold miner, photographed by E. H. Train, Helena, Montana. Montana's first period of growth was the rapid, boisterous, and unstable expansion brought on by a gold rush. The discovery of gold, made initially in 1852, brought many people to mushrooming mining camps such as those at Bannack (1862) and Virginia City (1864). Crude shantytowns were built, complete with saloons and dance halls as colorful as the earlier gold-rush camps in California and perhaps even more lawless. Walter S Corwin is one of 63,768 beneficiaries of a long-standing federal subsidy called "patenting" that allows mining interests to purchase public land for no more than $5 an acre. Since acquiring title to the land, he may have mined it, sold it, leased it, or passed it on to heirs or other corporate interests. Regardless of who owns the property now, the US public has lost all rights to metals, minerals, and title on land that was once public park or forest.
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Title:
Montana Gold Rush, Gold Miner
Caption:
Walter S. Corwin, gold miner, photographed by E. H. Train, Helena, Montana. Montana's first period of growth was the rapid, boisterous, and unstable expansion brought on by a gold rush. The discovery of gold, made initially in 1852, brought many people to mushrooming mining camps such as those at Bannack (1862) and Virginia City (1864). Crude shantytowns were built, complete with saloons and dance halls as colorful as the earlier gold-rush camps in California and perhaps even more lawless. Walter S Corwin is one of 63,768 beneficiaries of a long-standing federal subsidy called "patenting" that allows mining interests to purchase public land for no more than $5 an acre. Since acquiring title to the land, he may have mined it, sold it, leased it, or passed it on to heirs or other corporate interests. Regardless of who owns the property now, the US public has lost all rights to metals, minerals, and title on land that was once public park or forest.
Category:
History: United States
Credit:
Album / Science Source / New York Public Library
Releases:
? Model Release: No - ? Property Release: No
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Image size:
3600 x 3790 px | 39.0 MB
Print size:
30.5 x 32.1 cm | 12.0 x 12.6 in (300 dpi)
Keywords: