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Reviews
| Riches to Rust: A Guide to Mining in the Old West. By Eric Twitty. Montrose, Colo.: Western Reflections Publishing Co., 2002. 383 pp., numerous illus. and diags., tables, notes, bibl., index. $19.95 pb (ISBN 1-890437-60-3).
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Many who have visited one of the thousands of abandoned mines in the western U.S. have likely wondered what the scattered foundations, fragments of machinery, and other debris tell us about the history of the site. In Riches to Rust, Eric Twitty draws on his observations of more than 300 mines in some 50 Western mining districts and a thorough study of period mining literature to give us the first practical guide to interpreting historic mine sites. Other guides are available: Beth and Bill Sagstetter's The Mining Camps Speak: A New Way to Explore the Ghost Towns of the American West (Denver, Colo.: Bench Mark Publishing, 1998) is an excellent introductory overview of historic mining operations, profusely illustrated with examples of commonly found artifacts; and Will Meyerriecks's Drills and Mills: Precious Metal Mining and Milling Methods of the Frontier West (Tampa, Fla.: published by the author, 2001) is an almost exhaustive review of historic mining technology drawn from old mining textbooks and more recent sources. Riches to Rust, however, concentrates on foundations and other remains at historic mine sites, what they tell us about the machinery used, and, ultimately, what the miners were really doing.
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Riches to Rust deals exclusively with the artifacts of hard rock mining, namely adits and shafts and their associated surface plants. There is no discussion of the remains of concentrators, smelters, or other facilities used to process ores. Nor is there any discussion of placer mining. Although old placer mines and processing facilities abound in the West, their proper treatment would require further volumes.
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The book is logically organized into two main sections, describing and interpreting the remains of surface plants found at adits and at shafts, respectively. An introductory chapter gives an overview of finding, developing, and equipping a mine, making a careful distinction between poorly funded prospect operations, better but not lavishly funded small- and medium-sized mines, and well funded and fully equipped large producers. A subsequent chapter examines remains of mines reactivated during the Great Depression, when many formerly important mines were reopened by miners starved for capital. The book concludes with a review of the interpretation of historic mine sites. A 19-page appendix contains 38 tables of information useful to dating and interpreting artifacts, followed by a topical bibliography and a short index.
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The chief value of this work is the discussion of foundations for mining machinery, such as air compressors, boilers, head frames, and hoist engines. Twitty has done an excellent job relating foundations he has seen, drawings of which illustrate much of the text, to the machinery they supported. He shows how one may often infer the type, specifications, and age of machinery from foundations and other remains and may use this data within an overall site interpretation to determine the nature, scale, and date of mining activity at the site. Twitty carries this line of thinking rigorously throughout the book. Whether dealing with ventilation apparatus, track for mine rail cars, or head frames, he shows us how to use these artifacts to determine what happened at the site and when.
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The book is profusely illustrated with photographs and line drawings of mine equipment when it was new and of its weathered remains. Particularly helpful are plans of typical and observed layouts for the more important mine structures, such as hoist houses and workshops, as well as detailed drawings of the kinds of foundations used for different machinery. The nature and evolution of the technologies represented are amply described, always with an eye toward useful interpretation.
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Not covered, however, are dewatering pumps, which had their own unique foundations, and the buildings that housed them. Although blacksmith and machine shops get extensive treatment, more could have been said about sawmills. The author correctly advises the reader of the importance of researching a site through the mining and geological literature but, aside from a useful bibliography, provides little guidance. These omissions do not detract from the value of the information provided but do limit the book's overall usefulness.
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I am not an archaeologist but do examine old mines for environmental and safety hazards, as well as for exploration potential, and I find Rust to Riches invaluable in this work. Others who may find this book useful include park rangers and local historians interpreting old mines for the general public, mining historians, land managers, property owners, industrial archaeologists, and anyone else who wants to know what went on at an old mine.
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| Rust to Riches suffers from occasional awkward prose and too few subheadings to help the reader navigate the text. The illustrations of underground mine workings do not adequately portray the difference between crosscuts and drifts, nor is the reader adequately apprised of the loose use of the word tunnel in lieu of adit by miners and non-miners alike. Otherwise, the book is reasonably well crafted and deserves ample credit for bringing together field observations and a thorough understanding of historic mining technology to create a highly useful handbook for interpreting historic mines. |
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