At Work in the Congress Gold Mine Near Wickenburg, Arizona in 1890
Originally uploaded by The Nite Tripper
This is a photo that I took of an old photograph of four miners hard at work in the Congress Gold Mine near the town of Wickenburg in the Arizona Territory in 1890. Mining in the late 19th century was one of the most dangerous occupations in existence.
Miners usually worked 12 hour shifts in dark and dangerous conditions. Gold and silver deposits lie in angular positions unlike coal that lies in generally flat deposits. Gold miners spent the majority of their time tunneling down and then up underneath the vein. This involved the use of hammering metal spikes into the solid rock to place dynamite for blasting. However, before dynamite was placed, the miners used a type of jack hammer that was powered by compressed air and was known as the "widow maker." This machine was not only deafening, it also created huge clouds of rock dust and sent millions of tiny shards of broken rock into the air that was breathed in by the miners. These tiny shards scraped the insides of the miners' lungs; causing them to hemorrhage and cough up blood....this was known as "miner's consumption."
Once the holes were ready, the dynamite was placed and the miners got about 50 feet away (they thought this was a safe distance). When the dynamite was lit, someone yelled "Fire in the hole!!" Once most of the smoke cleared, they picked up the rubble and started all over again. These miners were plagued with deafness, miner's consumption, missing fingers, sore backs, and headaches from the smoke and darkness (they were given only four small tallow candles per shift.....once these were done, they had to work in darkness).
When their 12 hour shift was over, they passed through a room where sat a mining official and a man armed with a shotgun.....the miners were strip searched to see if they were sneaking gold out.....if they were found to not be carrying gold, they could go home and rest up for the next 12 hour shift, if they were found to have gold, they were taken to the town square and promptly hanged.......the average lifespan for a miner in the Old West was 34 years.
There were hundreds of mines such as this in the Arizona Territory.....many produced huge amounts of gold and personal tragedy.
