GOLD MINING IN THE UNITED STATES 183 



meantime the governments of America and Europe, fearing that silver 

 was becoming too common a metal, began to curtail its coinage; and 

 this action still further depreciated its value. 



Previous to this great output of silver the enormous quantity of 

 gold from California and Australia had discredited the stability of 

 the value of the latter metal, and silver was considered by many to be 

 the safer of the two for coinage. In fact, Holland had actually adopted 

 a silver standard for coinage in order to avoid the dangers of the de- 

 preciation of gold, but from the day the output of the western mines 

 made people realize the possibility of an enormous production of silver, 

 that metal fell into disrepute. In 1886 the price fell for the first time 

 to less than $1 per ounce, and after that it continued downward, with 

 occasionally slight fluctuations upward, until it went below 50 cents 

 per ounce. In late years, with the curtailment of production, silver has 

 risen somewhat and has ranged a few cents above fifty cents an ounce. 

 At the present time most of the great mines that were once worked 

 entirely or mostly for silver are closed, and the production of that metal 

 in the United States, though still large, is derived principally from 

 ores containing both gold and silver, and as a by-product from copper 

 and lead ores, with a little from zinc ores. 



With the closing of the silver mines many men were thrown out of 

 employment, and thousands of them started into the mountains to find 

 something more desirable to work than the discredited silver. The 

 long-neglected search for gold attracted many of them, for in gold they 

 saw a metal that was not falling in value day by day. The result was 

 remarkable, and in an incredibly short time many new discoveries of 

 gold began to be made. 



Period prom 1890-1911 



The Cripple Creek district in Colorado was the most noted of the 

 early gold discoveries following in the wake of the fall of silver, but so 

 little confidence was put in it at first that those working there were 

 scoffed at and called " alfalfa " miners by the old-time silver men ; yet 

 in a few years it was producing many millions annually and Colorado 

 had risen to the foremost ranks as a gold producer. The gold of Cripple 

 Creek was discovered in 1890 by Eobert Womack, but was first actively 

 worked in 1891 by E. C. Frisbee and E. M. De La Vergne; and in 1892 

 and 1893 the rush began which brought many thousands to this new 

 El Dorado, where they hoped to recuperate fortunes lost in silver min- 

 ing and in the financial panics of that time. The town of Cripple Creek 

 suddenly sprang into existence high up on the mountains just west of 

 Pikes Peak, and soon had a population of over 10,000 people, while the 

 surrounding district contained several times that number. Many mil- 

 lions were produced yearly, and though the output is now less than 



