ABSTRACT
Introduction PERHAPS of all towns those which arc built in response to mineral deposits are created with the least regard for environmental advantages. Gold is where you find it: usually in lands where the earth's crust is formed of old rocks, and in general in hilly areas where the outcrops are more readily discovered. Regions of close settlement, where soils are deep or where forests are extensive, are precisely those where minerals are not readily visible to the prospector. Often enough mining towns are extremely badly situated from the point of view of food, water, and timber supplies. Transport is often quite difficult, and the mines arc often long distances from any other settlement, so that loneliness is a frequent feature in such towns. For all of these reasons the study of mining towns is of special interest, if only because they contravene some of the general rules of urban settlement.
