Between 19, total domestic gold production never once exceeded 75,000 ounces, at a time where global gold production was soaring in the 1940s, global gold production increased by 30% over the previous decade, growing again by 17% in the 1950s and 3% in the 1960s. Still, this value set a de facto cap on the value of US gold, and domestic production suffered accordingly. The Bretton Woods system, implemented in 1945 to create the International Monetary Fund and serve as a precursor to the World Bank, set the price of gold at $35 per ounce, which remained in place until 1971. This inflexibility made it more difficult for gold miners to turn a profit on their products, a situation further harmed by the broader economic decline of the 1930s, which saw the relative value of gold fall to 70% of 1926 levels by 1934.Īfter the Second World War, the value of gold rebounded slightly. In 1913, the US Federal Reserve built the gold standard into its framework, setting the price for an ounce of pure gold at $20.67, and causing the rest of the world to follow suit. ![]() ![]() Larger economic factors also made gold mining less financially viable. One significant issue for many miners was the growing number of miners in the area, and the simultaneous decline in available and high-quality gold ore, which led to decades of increasingly desperate miners searching for increasingly sparse resources, helping no-one. While some mines ceased production on their own – the Lost Horse Mine, for example, suffered from collapses and unstable infrastructure – others had production derailed by larger-scale challenges. The NPS estimates that the value of the minerals would be around $5m today since the end of operations in 1936, the mine has become a popular tourist destination for travellers to the area. One of the best-preserved mines in the park is the Lost Horse Mine, which was established in 1890 and produced around 10,000 ounces of gold, and 16,000 ounces of silver, between 18. The US National Park Service (NPS) reports that in the area that is now Joshua Tree National Park, 300 individual mines were established across the 3,200 km² region. In 1853, miners from as far afield as South America, Europe, and China are all reported to have made their way to the state, and the total value of the mining industry in the area is said to have reached half a million dollars between 18. Production peaked in the decades following the discovery. ![]() By the end of 1849, around 80,000 people had travelled to the area in search of gold, and the nascent industry helped merchant Sam Brannan establish himself as California’s first millionaire, selling mining supplies to the thousands of miners who flowed into the state. Marshall in January 1848, and word spread quickly of the discovery. Gold was first discovered on the banks of the American River in California by carpenter James W. 1848: first discovery and peak production
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