In this mad rush of greed and excitement, other blunders besides those of investing in unprofitable lands were made. Furnaces for smelting were located without due regard for getting fuel; costly machinery for crushing ore was bought and forwarded to the scene of action, without knowing whether ore would be found at all, or whether the apparatus was suited to the kind of ore discovered; new processes for extracting metal were resorted to, without reliable information as to their value; and other such ruinous mistakes were committed by frenzied speculators.

 

There was also an enormous waste of valuable minerals in consequence of this same impetuous desire for wealth. In the lead regions of the Mississippi Valley, argentiferous galena was quite common, and often the lead was entirely wasted in the extraction of the little silver. In the coal regions, especially before the organization of the large companies and their combination in monopoly, only the richer measures would be worked, leaving a large quantity of inferior, yet valuable coal on higher levels to be lost by caving.

 

Such recklessness in handling was practiced, that from a third to a half of the product was lost. The same state of things was found in the silver country. Mines were neglected as soon as the rich surface deposits were procured, and the accumulation of water and rubbish made it next to impossible to work what were really paying shafts. But, by the latter half of the 19th century, a reaction set in in these regards and the extravagances steadily began to decline.

 

The two great causes, which, after the discovery of our great resources and the passion for wealth, have stimulated American mining, are the government's general policy of encouragement, and the advancement in mechanic and natural science. Under the old English laws, the crown was entitled to the gold and silver found on government lands, and a certain proportion of other minerals. But, in this country, although legislation was very slight until the late 1800's, the gold and silver miners of the Pacific Coast were ruled only by self-made regulations, the government has favored the free occupation and investigation of the rocks for minerals, and facilitated the cheap purchase and lease of mining lands. There has been a protective tariff, too, on foreign metals at times, the heaviest having been since 1861; and this has greatly promoted the development of our iron, copper, coal, and other minerals.

 

Among the most serviceable inventions in practical mining and metallurgy in the late 19th century were the California stamp mill for crushing quartz, the mercury amalgamation process for gold, the pan process for silver, the hydraulic process of gold mining in alluvial regions, the application of new explosives to rocks, new methods of drilling, new blast-furnaces, and new methods of converting iron into steel.