What is the Pioneering Spirit? The best description we have found was written by William Greever in his book The Bonanza West: The Story of the Western Mining Rushes-1848-1900. In it, he describes Mark Twain (one of the many men who lived and worked around the Comstock in Nevada) as having gained the following traits as a result of his time on the mining frontier:

Individualism, almost to the point of being antisocial; a bit of lawlessness; an antipathy to direct control; a keen sense of justice; a strong hatred of those who betrayed their trust; a lively sympathy for the debtor and the laborer; a love of democracy in government; a buoyancy in outlook; and restlessness.

Global Migrations Project believes that these personal traits made the people who explored the American Mining Frontier worthy of our reverence and efforts to preserve their work. Looking at the past and idealizing a way of living we cannot experience is easy. Living in the present is not. However, we believe much can be learned from these miners’ Pioneering spirit that can help shape how we live in the world now. We must foster the Pioneering Spirit in those who are open to it. These old mining areas and the stories of the people who lived in them can do just that.