Austin and the Reese River Mining District: Nevada's forgotten frontier

Date

1982-12

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

This study will follow the example set by Treasure Hill in order to present as broad and complete a picture of the history of the Reese River Mining District as possible, while also analyzing the relationship of Austin and the Reese River Mining District to western mining development as a whole. In this sense, 15 this work will be much more complete in its coverage than most of the works which it is meant to complement.

A thorough examination of the history of Austin and the Reese River Mining District will eliminate a large void in Nevada's frontier and mining history. Only a handful of authors have dealt with the history of Austin or Reese River. The most notable work, Oscar Lewis' The Town that Died Laughing; The Story of Austin, Nevada, Rambunctious Early-Days Mining Camp, and of Its Renowned Newspaper, The Reese River Reveille, is a lighthearted look at Austin's early days, centering on the antics of the local residents and the frontier mining-camp journalism of the Reese River Reveille. Lewis' work consists mainly of bits and pieces of social history and humorous tales extracted from the original copies of the Reese River Reveille. While entertaining, these vignettes of Austin's past are barely woven together by a skeletal historical narrative at the beginning of the book. The book is well written and fun to read, but not very informative.

Description

Keywords

Silver mines and mining, Austin (Nev.)

Citation