Folks, it upsets me that there are so many old ornery people out there who seem to hate mining with such passion that they say everything to discourage new prospectors, and to perpetuate the myth that mining is bad for the world. They use blatant lies to achieve their end goals, which I am here to set the record straight as best as I can.
The right to be able to prospect for gold and silver and other resources, and develop those resources, are an important fundamental right given to us. Do you know that there are many countries where the people are so dirt poor they can't even clothe themselves, yet those same villages in which they live in some cases sit upon massive Gold deposits that if their government would let them keep the fruits of their labors and allow them to dig for it, they could feed and care for themselves beyond that which even the most generous welfare state could provide? The very thing that has allowed America to prosper, is denied to citizens of third world countries, and you can see the difference, though it is not often talked about, and it is never compared and contrasted. However, there is a movement which seeks to destroy our mining laws, and make regulations so costly to comply with that we will eventually be driven out of business.
Every person that is convinced of the lies told about mining will more than likely become a pawn in the war against mining. There are so many things taught to me in elementary school that I go back and think about them and go wow, was I really that gullible? My own observations disprove much of what I was taught. One big example of disinformation if ever there was one, is when they teach that clearcutting is so bad for the environment that the forest can never recover. You know, I almost believed it had my own grandpa not shown me sections of land that he clear cut himself decades ago, that are now thickly wooded with nice healthy younger growth timber?! To do it excessively would perhaps be bad overall, but in cases where there are certain kinds of timber, or defects found, it is necessary and healthy to clearcut, but the point I am making, it is disinformation to say that the forest cannot recover from clearcutting. In a similar manner, disinformation is spread about Mining.
I recently watched a show in which an old guy was saying "If there were anything left in the old mines, the old timers wouldn't have left them so there is no need to go back in them, because you will find nothing but trouble." Hmmm... It would take someone truly ignorant to say something like this. No, I don't advise going back into the mines. But what I am saying is a VERY slim minority of mines were shut down due to lack of minerals. WWII shut down a great many gold and silver mines because they were not essential resources for the war effort. They were not shut down becuase they were played out. There are many hundreds of such mines. Many were long abandoned and not reopened, because after years of rationing during the war, and with the prosperity this country seen in the 50's, there wasn't that need to toil under ground, because a lot of people saved up a lot of money from the war years.
Also one must take into account the fact that odds were pretty good that most of the guys knowing where these old gold mines were, could have been killed during the war. Another reason mines were left, was because costs sometimes went up, ore grades sometimes dropped, for whatever reason a mine might be unprofitable to operate for a given time because of market conditions. Also, you have another matter of permits... I know of a large mine not far away that has been shut down for a long time because the Forest Service refuses to let them use the road for hauling or something of that nature.
It is true a lot of small mines were opened up by either small companies that sometimes went bust due to poor planning and lack of proper financing and had to give it up, and it is also true that individuals mined on a small scale basis, when they either got too old or crippled to work, they'd move on and retire, else they died before they could exhaust their mine. Sometimes, people weren't so greedy, and would mine enough to satisfy their needs for the rest of their life and move on.
Government regulation has caused the destruction of much of our mining sector. When they made all kinds of national parks, there were even mining towns smack dab in the middle of them that were evacuated and the mines shut down, and no one is none the wiser. Take Glacier National Park for instance, in the very early 1900's, there was a mining town up there! The town was called Altyn. There is no telling the true extent of the minerals under that park, but observation has shown any area that MIGHT have economically vital amounts of resources, are quickly glombed onto by the Federal Government. Even the area thought to contain the "Lost Dutchman's Mine" is inside a national park or something along those lines!
So the reason I want to inform everyone and motivate everyone that there is good opportunities for prospecting is, because the more of us who are enlightened and aware of these facts, the greater our power in fighting the government's unjust legislations and encroachment upon our land rights. If no one complains, and if no one writes to our representatives and our senators, our mining heritage and rights are essentially lost. Prospecting and mining are things I do not want to have to experience through history books alone, but I wish to enjoy them for as long as I live, and to know that my children if I ever have any, will be able to enjoy it as well. If you ignore your rights, they will go away! Especially when you have a large group of people who are so dedicated to spreading lies and disinformation.
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