Miner's Delight, Wyoming
Encyclopedia
Hamilton City, or Miner's Delight as it was commonly known, was a town in Fremont County, Wyoming
, United States
, during the mining boom in the 19th century. Today a few buildings stand as a reminder of an era gone past in Wyoming history.
. The town was inhabited as late as 1960. In 1870, at the height of the mine's operation the population in Hamilton City was 75, 40 of which were miners.
Miner's Delight was among the state of Wyoming's first communities. Gold was discovered there in 1868 and with that discovery came an era of gold mining and the establishment of the town of Hamilton City. The Miner's Delight mine was located about a quarter mile west of the town. Boom and bust periods followed the operation of the mine. In March 1882 the mine was completely shut down and not used again until after the turn of the 20th century. The two brief boom periods, 1907 and 1910, were in relation to mining operations.
Today, through historic preservation by the Bureau of Land Management
and various university programs and courses, the ghost town
at Miner's Delight stands as a testament to the passage of time and provides historians with a peek at early Wyoming life and the gold mining culture. On the townsite are seventeen structures including seven cabins, one saloon, one meat house, one shop or barn, one shaft house, one pantry, one cellar, three privies, and a corral. All of the buildings are constructed of logs or unfinished lumber.
Miner's Delight was added to the National Register of Historic Places
on June 4, 1980.
, a miner's delight, on the ridge above town.
The first story goes, in 1869 a man named William Jones, while chasing his cows about pasture, stumbled across some quartz with gold flecks dotting it. The site was so remote and so far above town that he erroneously assumed no one else would ever find it. Contented, he continued on his way, gathering his stray cattle. When he returned to the site of the gold
lode he found others working the claim. He tried to relate his tale of the discovery to the other miners but they would have none of it and they ran him off.
The other story does not have quite the same Old West flair as the tale of Jones' would-be discovery. A man named Johnathan Pugh, who incidentally is listed as one of the original founders of the lode, claimed to have discovered the gold. He even described the quartz ridge above town, down to the gold nuggets embedded in it.
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, during the mining boom in the 19th century. Today a few buildings stand as a reminder of an era gone past in Wyoming history.
Demographics
Miner's Delight went through boom-bust periods, like many of the western mining towns did. The original mining activity "busted" from 1872 to 1874 but by the 1880s a new era of economic prosperity had dawned. Smaller booms occurred in 1907 and 1910 and then again during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The town was inhabited as late as 1960. In 1870, at the height of the mine's operation the population in Hamilton City was 75, 40 of which were miners.
History
Today, through historic preservation by the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
and various university programs and courses, the ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
at Miner's Delight stands as a testament to the passage of time and provides historians with a peek at early Wyoming life and the gold mining culture. On the townsite are seventeen structures including seven cabins, one saloon, one meat house, one shop or barn, one shaft house, one pantry, one cellar, three privies, and a corral. All of the buildings are constructed of logs or unfinished lumber.
Miner's Delight was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on June 4, 1980.
Name history
The town's nomenclature and how it ended up being called Miner's Delight over Hamilton City is a topic of historical debate. There are generally two stories associated with the changing of the town's name. Both stories involve the discovery of a golden lodeLode
In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock....
, a miner's delight, on the ridge above town.
The first story goes, in 1869 a man named William Jones, while chasing his cows about pasture, stumbled across some quartz with gold flecks dotting it. The site was so remote and so far above town that he erroneously assumed no one else would ever find it. Contented, he continued on his way, gathering his stray cattle. When he returned to the site of the gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
lode he found others working the claim. He tried to relate his tale of the discovery to the other miners but they would have none of it and they ran him off.
The other story does not have quite the same Old West flair as the tale of Jones' would-be discovery. A man named Johnathan Pugh, who incidentally is listed as one of the original founders of the lode, claimed to have discovered the gold. He even described the quartz ridge above town, down to the gold nuggets embedded in it.
External links
- Miner's Delight on Ghosttowns.com
- Landers Field Office: Bureau of Land Management
- http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/NationalRegister/Site.aspx?ID=160: Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources