"Discoveries of gold, silver, and copper in northern New Mexico between the 1860s and the 1920s kept alive the hope that unimaginable riches would one day come from the mountains and streams of that region. Each decade, however, saw the same frustrating cycle repeated: a sudden strike followed by a mining boom that turned to bust when the lode was quickly exhausted. Mining entrepreneurs and solitary prospectors came to the Rio Hondo, Elizabethtown, and Red River area as each new strike was recorded, ad when it played out they moved on to the next valley. Their settlements and migrations are a major part of this history of mining and its aftermath in New Mexico's Red River country. Covered also are the technical aspects of life in the mine fields -- entrepreneurial gambles, technological developments, and innovations in transportation -- as well as the daily activities that gave a distinctive human stamp to these frontier mining communities. During the 1930s these settlements were transformed from mining cams into tourist retreats, and Pearson end his history with a fine case study of the origins of tourism in Red River valley. Drawing upon previously unpublished archival documents, newspaper accounts from the period, and interviews with surviving old-timers, Pearson has created an immensely readable book on the northeast of Taos. It will become both the standard work on the Red River area as well as a treasure of memories as rich as any of the ore taken from the region."--back cover.