Extraction

2007-06-18 10.46.04 — 0.6 MB — map

Ore Wagon Detail, South Pass City, WY It's a fact that the fur companies considered their business to be extractive south of the Missouri River because there it was a zero-sum game: Whatever they managed to win they had to take away from their competition. Similarly today some people think cropping under irrigation is extractive because it depletes sources of water that ought to be kept available for other purposes. However, there is no doubt that mining was and is extractive since what's dug up and used up is gone forever. This is the usual sense of the word.

2007-06-18 11.29.10 — 0.4 MB — map

Main Street, South Pass City, WY In its early days South Pass City was nothing much, but it was at least a little bit of a settlement on the California Trail. Mark Twain happened by in 1861 and wrote about it a decade later. His memoirs and those of Sir Richard Burton describe the mountains in Alpine terms. These viewpoints are not so evident today from the way modern highways have been situated since World War II.

2007-06-16 17.37.10 — 0.4 MB — map

Pepperbox Pistol, Scotts Bluff National Monument The reference to "Allen's revolver" in Twain's description requires amplification. Earlier in his account he had provided the following definition. The Allen figures in one or two other droll anecdotes as well.

2007-06-18 10.48.02 — 0.6 MB — map

Air Compressor, South Pass City, WY South Pass City sits in the high, dry, cold sage desert just east of the crest of the Continental Divide. The otherwise generally level terrain is crisscrossed with shallow ravines and gulches, many of which contain small streams. South Pass City is concealed by the banks of Willow Creek.

Salt Lake papers of July 1, received here, give accounts of rich gold discoveries in the mines of that territory. Three men brought in 40 ounces of quartz dust, which assayed over $700. These mines are located in Green river country, 200 miles distant from Salt Lake.

2007-06-18 10.56.06 — 0.5 MB — map	South Pass City, WY Today the east side of town is owned by the state of Wyoming and operated as a museum campus. A few people still live on the west side. The historic site is billed as a ghost town but in fact was never wholly abandoned. Population figures have always been notoriously inflated, though. There are supposed nowadays to be about as many people in the area as there have ever been — from several hundred during the peak boom to around a hundred now. I must interject just one personal observation about desert road building in Wyoming. Engineers seem to revel in their freedom to lay out the most direct routes without regard to providing for rain runoff by introducing ditches along the right of way shoulders. Consequently streets will often start straight up a hill without displaying any interest in availing themselves of easier grades. The surface is gravel, not crushed stone, and in dry weather is prone to rolling up into washboard from edge to edge and top to bottom. I can only imagine what it must be like during a spring thaw. Those who ride heavy touring motorcycles with skinny front tires and yet harbor the least trepidation about falling down on dirt should seek their amusements closer to macadam highways.
2007-06-18 11.23.40 — 0.3 MB — map	Hotel Room, South Pass City, WY The 19th century splendor of buildings inside the historic site has been restored. $4 admission is charged. Be considerate of yourself at these altitudes. Don't exercise heavily or for extended durations, and drink plenty of caffeine.
2007-06-18 11.46.12 — 0.2 MB — map	Saloon Interior Detail, South Pass City, WY Plexiglas sheets block the doorways through which exhibits may be dimly viewed, like those at Buffalo Bill State Historical Park, Fort Laramie National Historic Site, and Fort Bridger State Historic Site. Such obstructions keep out the dust but negatively impact the photographer's appreciation of the restorer's art.
• Boucher, Jack E. "The Carissa Mine, South Pass City Vicinity, South Pass City, Fremont County, WY." Photograph. American Memory. John Poppeliers, gen. super. Washington, DC: Historic American Buildings Survey, 1973. Library of Congress. 27 Aug. 2007 <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.wy0072>. 0.6 MB — map	The Carissa Mine The Carissa Mine at South Pass City was developed around 1868 and worked until 1873. It was reopened and expanded in 1901 and worked until 1906. Again it was reopened and worked briefly after World War II. Some sources claim the present buildings were moved to the spot from a nearby mine in the 1920s. The state of Wyoming is fencing in, boarding up, and blocking off the mine shafts in the vicinity. They have removed hazardous material from the site, replaced roofs, and reglazed windows to stabilize the structures that exist. Safety railings will be installed within a couple of years to make the buildings tourist- if not handicapped-accessible.
2007-06-18 09.28.14 — 0.5 MB — map	Red Canyon, WY The transcontinental railroad opened in 1869 and put the quietus to overland traffic along the California Trail. I find it ironic that twenty years earlier all those forty-niners had trudged up the Continental Divide right past the spot where the gold they were after was waiting for them. While South Pass City was expanding, residents found they could grow a little food in the valleys downslope toward Lander, WY, such as here on the floor of Red Canyon.

2007-06-24 20.44.26 — 0.3 MB — map

Sunset, Lusk, WY Extraction has always been about getting the firmest possible handle on costs. Although the hard-rock mines are closed now, rest assured their owners know to the penny at present-day prices how much it costs to process a ton of ore from them and what the yield is. The price commanded by the refined metal is the real uncertainty. The possibility of falling into an abandoned mine shaft is a good reason not to go traipsing cross-country around here. The probability of encountering an irate proprietor is another. Panning the streams still goes on though. You can purchase the necessary equipment at the South Pass City Mercantile. You can even buy a little five-pound sack of dirt to sift through, which is guaranteed to have a 60% possibility of containing gold. Placer mining has been tried in these parts, and residents seriously consider how to circumvent current environmental barriers. A bigger impediment is lack of water. What I said isn't precisely true about extraction spelling the doom of a resource. An industrial scale operation leaves crumbs for gleaners, so there's more where that came from, and thus always more gold in them there hills.