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The Alder Gulch find became one of the largest placer mining gold fields in the western U.S. [4] The mining settlements of Virginia City and Nevada City, Montana, which sprang up in Alder Gulch, boasted thousands of prospectors and fortune seekers by the end of 1863.
Designated in 1966, the district includes over two hundred nineteenth-century buildings, representing the site of a major gold strike and the capital of Montana for ten years. [2] Virginia City was founded in the early 1860s, in the wake of a major gold find in Alder Gulch, which ascends into the mountains to the south.
Virginia City's population dwindled starting in the 1880s as the easily-extracted placer gold played out and miners moved away. Federal monetary policy in the 1930s reduced the gold content of the U.S. dollar, making gold relatively more valuable, which led to some gold mining revival across the west.
Jan. 21—A sign above Montana History teacher Kris Schreiner's classroom alerts Kalispell Middle School eighth graders that they are entering Alder Gulch to mine for gold and garnets. Alder Gulch ...
Swedish gold panners in 1860s Montana. Gold was first discovered in Montana in 1852, but mining did not begin until 1862, when gold placers were discovered at Bannack, Montana in 1862. The resulting gold rush resulted in more placer discoveries, including those at Virginia City in 1863, and at Helena and Butte in 1864. [32]
The measure passed with 52.3% in support, making Montana the first state to prohibit such a mining practice. [3] In 2005, the Montana Supreme Court unanimously upheld the initiative. [4] The Montana State Legislature passed a bill in 2011 to amend the law, but it was vetoed by Governor Brian Schweitzer using a branding iron. [5]
According to a 1904 dictionary of U.S. statutory language, "a mining district is a section of country usually designated by name and described or understood as being confined in certain boundaries, in which gold or silver or both are found in paying quantities, and which is worked therefor, under rules and regulations prescribed by the miners."
Gold mining in Montana began during the Civil War; gold placer deposits were discovered at Bannack in 1862. The resulting gold rush resulted in more placer discoveries, including those at Virginia City in 1863 and at Helena and Butte in 1864. [4] Gold from the Montana gold mines went to both sides of the conflict. [5]