Mercury and the Making of California: Mining, Landscape, and

Mercury and the Making of California: Mining, Landscape, and Race, 1840–1890 (Mining the American West)
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Mercury and the Making of California, Andrew Johnstonâ€™s multidisciplinary examination of the history and cultural landscapes of Californiaâ€™s mercury-mining industry, raises mercury to its rightful place alongside gold and silver in the development of the American West.

Gold and silver could not be refined without mercury; therefore, its production and use were vital to securing power and wealth in the West. The first industrialized mining in California, mercury mining had its own particular organization, structure, and built environments. These were formed within the Spanish Empire, subsequently transformed by British imperial ambitions, and eventually manipulated by American bankers and investors. In California mercury mining also depended on a workforce differentiated by race and ethnicity. The landscapes of work and camp and the relations among the many groups involved in the industryâ€”Mexicans, Chileans, Spanish, English, Irish, Cornish, American, and Chineseâ€”form a crucial chapter in the complex history of race and ethnicity in the American West.

This pioneering study explicates the mutual structuring of the built environments of the mercury-mining industry and the emergence of Californiaâ€™s ethnic communities. Combining rich documentary sources with a close examination of the existing physical landscape, Johnston explores both the detail of everyday work and life in the mines and the larger economic and social structures in which mercury mining was enmeshed, revealing the significance of mercury mining for Western history.

Country	USA
Brand	University Press of Colorado
Manufacturer	University Press of Colorado
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	66 B&W photographs, 23 line drawings, 12
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9781607322429
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Mercury and the Making of California: Mining, Landscape, and Race, 1840–1890 (Mining the American West)

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