Scraping the Rocks Clean
Mining Activities at Columbia
Armed with pickaxes,shovels and powerful jets of water miners, removed massive amounts of dirt and gravel to expose the marble limestone formations you see here today. Deep open-pit mines once extended for miles east and south of Columbia.
As gold grew scarce, the search moved closer, into the community. Townspeople’s lives were upset and many buildings torn down to get to the shiny metal underneath the ground.
Long after the mining in this area stopped, the devastation remained. It will be many years before anything substantial grows again in the boulder-strewn fields that border the town. Today this limestone serves as a permanent reminder of the relentless search for gold.
Marker is on Columbia Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
