Old Picture Postcard Mining Scenes

I came upon several scenes of hydraulic mining from the 1910s -- essentially blasting down a hillside with a high pressure hose in order to sluice the rubble for gold. This would never fly today for the obvious environmentally destructive reasons, but it was looked on as a fascinating process back in the day, as the back of one card attests.





Anyone have cards with mining themes?

One card is labelled Oregon. The other two are not label but a search may reveal a location by the name. They are not in California.



Two years after a lawsuit was filled, hydrolic mining was outlawed in California January 7, 1884. Yet even years later post cards were made for California showing the practice stopped decades prior.

There is a Silver Bow Basin in Alaska.

Long before picture postcards, there were illustrated miner covers. These were mostly used in the mid-1850s from San Francisco and the gold fields. This design is "Rocking the Cradle" and illustrates placer mining using a "cradle" to sift through sediment faster than hand panning for gold.

I've had the pleasure of exploring and collecting in some mines and I like seeing the old images. Thanks for posting those and SPQR for posting that great cover. I've a small collection of postcards showing mines. Here are a couple. My apologies for the low resolution scans.

Mt. Mica in Paris, Maine is a well known locality for beryl, tourmaline, and lithium minerals.


The old Rockport Granite Co. quarry in Rockport, Massachusetts closed in 1929 and the quarry was allowed to fill with water. It is immediately next to the ocean and is now part of the beautiful Halibut Point State Park.

I have a similar vignette on a gold rush era check from Adams & Co.