Yosemite vs. Cyanide

[Drew Wiley]

Gold miners can certainly be rugged individualists. We had one down the road. My dad felt sorry for him and did quite a few things to help him get through life. But
the guy wouldn't move out of a tiny shack full of holes in the wall, infested with packrats. He slept on a rotting mattress with a single unwashed blanket and drove a
dilapidated old hearse. He'd only work his mine a day or two a month, basically
just enough to buy a few cans of beans, rotgut wine, and to make enough money
to pay property taxes. When his liver finally failed and he passed away, his estranged son not only inherited the mine but the forty thousand acres surrounding
it. The old guy lived worse than most homeless people, but wouldn't sell off even
a single acre to support himself.

[Drew Wiley]

Michael - I don't know the specifics in this case, so won't pass judgment, but the
economic lifeblood of the Eastern Sierra is unquestionably tourism. It's not just
Yosemite, but the whole stretch of Hwy 395 along the range. Nearly every other
occupation is subservient to this, whether this involves keeping the highways open,
operating gas stations, restaurants, motels, ski resorts, and even galleries and gift
shops. It's hard to envision any contemporary mining operation employing enough
people or brining in enough tax revenue to offset the potential losses if people start avoiding a certain neighborhood because of it. Back in those hills people not only
visit Bodie, but 4-wheel here and there exploring other former mining sites. Then
there backpacker/photographer types like me who stagger out of the backcounty
looking for a big hot meal and a full tank of gas. Some of these town have pretty
lean times through the winter, unless they have a ski resort, and any serious
disruption to a good summer can potentially sink local businesses. And fortunately,
so far most of them have been able to fend of the subdivision and stereotypical
Californication which would ruin their scenic appeal.

[Merg Ross]

My newly married folks got a "job" in the depression depths goldmining at Aurora, Nevada. The ore was driven over Lucky Boy Pass to the RR in reverse account that gear was lower than first. Starvation was avoided using $5 for gas [to escape to So. Calif] that my grammaw slipped my mother when the grandfolks visited. Before that, the entertainment was the Saturday night dance in Bodie.

Sad, the demise of Aurora. I first visited as a youngster in 1950. The town was already being pillaged for the brick, which was used in new home construction in southern California. A few buildings were still in pretty good shape, enough to provide shelter from the elements. Returning not too many years later, there was little evidence of the once vital town.

I bet those Saturday night dances in Bodie were lively events!

[tgtaylor]

Mark Twain's camp was near Aurora during his prospecting days which he wrote about in Roughing It. The road between Bodie and Aurora (and beyond) is still there although definitely high clearance and 4WD. I tried it in my little Toyota Echo but had to turn around within 1/4 mile from Bodie. I'd love to be able to explore that region one day.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

The area drains into the Walker River, so any potential impacts on the watershed
can be legally regulated by Calif Fish and Game, which has put the brakes on a
number of potentially polluting projects in the past.

[EdWorkman]

The idea that there are really cyanide and acid sites in the Yosemite area is absurd, yet the website tries to give that impression.
I wish Frank Petronio would weigh in on the subject of environazis :>)
If the DBs really want to accomplish something, get rid of the Hetch-Hetchy dam and reservoir- go ahead, take on San Francisco and let them know that their water source is "incorrect".

[JC Kuba]

Grew up in a mining town (Butte, Montana) and went to a college that had mining engineering and mineral processing on the curriculum. I learned at an early age that extracting minerals from the earth is a necessary evil for which we need to intelligently strike a reasonable compromise that takes into consideration balancing the environment and creating an economy. The fact of the matter is that without mining in some form or another we would not have the lifestyle we enjoy. Going into denial about certain industries is not a good option. Promoting sensible development of these natural resources is a sensible career path.

Growing up in Butte, who's Berkeley Pit is the country's biggest superfund site(do they still have to use loudspeakers to keep birds from landing in the polluted water and dying?), I'm sure you're well aware of what happens, when due to greed or ignorance, miners destroy the environment around their mines for generations. Libby would be another good example.
I would argue that the lifestyle that the last few generations have enjoyed didn't leave future generations with resources that are as easy to extract without much greater cost and environmental devastation.

- JC

[Drew Wiley]

The typical modern method of extracting gold in the Sierra certainly didn't need cyanide. The terrible pollutant from the Gold Rush of earlier fame was mercury.
The New Almaden mercury mines down toward what is now Silicon Valley still result
in some mercury flowing into the Bay, but the far worse source is all the mercury
that slowly worked its way down the rivers from the Mother Lode country way to the
west. That's why fish resident in the Bay and major rivers here are not supposed to
be frequently eaten. I explored many old mines in my youth, which probably wasn't
the smartest thing to do.

[Chauncey Walden]

I'm sure the glut of people in California has done a lot more environmental damage in California than mining ever did.

[Drew Wiley]

Chauncey - you might be right about some parts of Calif, but Inyo County and most
of the eastern Sierra is sparsely populated, and this is a big state. Other than the
Reno and Carson City area just over the border, there aren't any big cities anywhere.
The Tahoe basin is rather crowded for my taste, and Bishop and Mammoth are
conspicuous towns, but what lies between there and the rest of Calif are three National Park and at least six sizable Wilderness areas, all under snow much of the
year.