Gold was first discovered in what is now Fremont County, Wyoming in 1842. But it wasn’t until the 1860s and the completion of the Union Pacific railroad, that serious efforts were made exploit the natural resources of the Sweetwater Gold Mining District.
Prospectors flocked to the area and money poured in from as far away as London. Most of the gold was embedded in veins of quartz. Mining typically involved digging shafts to access the rich seams, although placer mining of streams in the area was also common.
Towns sprung up to cater to the needs of the miners. By 1869, South Pass City had become one of the Wyoming Territory’s larger towns with a population of two thousand.
An area of development, known as Miners’ Delight, is said to have produced a million dollars in gold by 1903. Gold bars from the area were shipped to the Denver mint.
See the Harold A. Titcomb papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more about the Sweetwater Gold Mining District in the Wind River region.
For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.