Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Deadwood
Answer: South DakotaDeadwood came into being when Colonel George Armstrong Custer violated a treaty and led an expedition into the Black Hills of South Dakota, discovering gold near what would become the town. Among those who came to the Black Hills Gold Rush were Charlie and Steve Utter, who brought a wagon train of what they considered needed supplies for the new town: gamblers and prostitutes.
When the gold ran out so did most of the residents.
2. Virginia City
Answer: NevadaThe Comstock Lode, the single richest deposit of silver and gold ever struck in the continental U.S. was discovered in 1859 near what would become Virginia City. It quickly became a boomtown and so much silver was taken from its mines that in 1873 silver was demonetized by the U.S. government because too much supply lowered its value.
A fire in 1875 destroyed about 90 percent of the city of 25,000 people.
3. Tombstone
Answer: ArizonaTombstone is one of the most famous Old West towns due to a gunfight between The Earp brothers and Doc Holliday and the Clanton and McLaury gang at the OK Corral. Tombstone's name came from a nearby mine named by prospector Ed Schieffelin, who filed the claim in 1877.
He was told by a soldier "All you'll find in those hills is your tombstone." Schieffelin went anyway and named his mine the Tombstone; the name of the town soon followed.
4. Cripple Creek
Answer: ColoradoAt 9,494 ft. (2893 m) above sea level in the Rocky Mountains stands Cripple Creek, Colorado. Most 19th century miners avoided the area because of the Mount Pisgah Hoax, a case of 'salting' a worthless mine with a little gold dust. But then - in 1890, Robert Womack discovered what became known as the Independence lode.
By the time the vein played out over 1,300,000 pounds of gold were mined there, more than in California and Alaska combined. But, wouldn't you know it, in 1909, Womack died penniless.
5. Dodge City
Answer: KansasTo this day a synonym for evil and danger, Dodge City was one of the wildest of the Old West towns. Originally created as a fort to provide protection for white people following the Santa Fe Trail through Cheyenne Indian land, in the 1870s the rough-and-ready cowtown saw some frontier justice served by Wyatt Earp and his deputy, Bat Masterson. Earp moved to Tombstone, Arizona for his rendezvous with destiny at the OK Corral.
A still-used American euphemism for escaping trouble is to "Get the [heck] out of Dodge!"
6. Silver City
Answer: New MexicoWhen silver was found at Chloride Flat, New Mexico in 1870, Captain John Bullard laid out a grid for what would become Silver City; most boomtowns of the day sprang up and spread without much planning. But that didn't stop the violence which followed all ore discoveries of the time.
In 1875, Sheriff Harvey Whitehill became the first man to arrest William Bonney, later known as Billy the Kid, on the charge of theft. There is another Silver City, in Nevada, which was near the Comstock lode.
7. Fort Laramie
Answer: WyomingThe U.S. National Park Service has classified Fort Laramie as a National Historic Site. Located in southeastern Wyoming, it was an important stop on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. Originally a fur trading post it became an economic hub of the region. Various military campaigns originated there and many treaties were signed there.
8. Durango
Answer: ColoradoDurango was formed in 1871 by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad to support mining operations in the San Juan mountains of Colorado. A narrow-gauge railway was developed because standard gauge trains were too big for the steep mountain switchbacks required in the Animas River Canyon. Durango apparently had more going for it than most gold rush towns because it is still a thriving small city.
9. Yuma
Answer: ArizonaYuma is situated on the Colorado River at a natural crossing point between Arizona and California, as a Spanish expedition discovered in 1540. When the U.S. acquired the area after the Mexican-American war of 1846-48, Yuma was part of the California Territory.
It became part of the Arizona Territory in 1854. During the California Gold Rush of 1849, over 60,000 people passed through Yuma, which was then known as Colorado City.
10. Sheridan
Answer: WyomingSheridan, Wyoming sits in the middle of traditional Sioux and Crow hunting grounds on the Bozeman Trail from Montana to Oregon. Indian chiefs Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse lived in the area and really, really didn't like white people tromping through their ancestral lands.
As a result, there are a large number of battle sites from the Indian Wars in the area. Sheridan was a staging area for the U.S. Army to force the Indians into reservations. The town's prosperity came, not from gold or sliver, but the arrival of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad in 1892, making it the economic center of the region.
Source: Author CmdrK
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