Oral Histories
The mining boom attracted people from around the world who established themselves as some of the earliest non-native settlers in Park County. To this day, many of the residents have their own stories, and those of family members, involved in the mining industry. Many recall working in placer, hard rock (lode), or uranium mines, often moving from one to the other dependent on sucess. The Park County Local History Archives has been able to record and transcribe many of these oral histories which piece together the larger narrative on how mining shaped the lives of these people and the communities they created.
"Sometimes you’d make good money and the next time, hardly anything…it was in the black sand! Where it was coming over a little (inaudible) deal and you get clear water boiling up the black sand and you could see the gold in it. So…that’s where I found it."
-Robert "Shorty" Robeson [1]
"The first gold that I can remember seeing - other than what people bring to me - placer gold."
-Maurice Reiber [2]
