In 1849, the California Gold Rush brought a flood of people west for the chance to get rich. Transporting the gold east all the way to the Philadelphia Mint was time-consuming and risky. In 1854, a branch Mint opened in San Francisco to convert the miners’ gold into coins. By the end of that year, the San Francisco Mint produced $4,084,207 in gold coins.
Gold fever spread to Colorado in 1858, bringing hundreds of people to settle around the new city of Denver. In 1862, Congress approved a branch Mint in Denver and bought the building of Clark, Gruber and Company, a private mint. The following year, the Denver facility opened as an assay office for miners to bring gold to be melted, assayed, and cast into bars. It didn’t produce any gold coins, as was originally intended. In 1895, Congress converted the Denver facility back to a Mint, and in 1906 it produced its first gold and silver coins.
In 1864, in response to Oregon’s own gold rush, Congress authorized a branch Mint in Dalles City, Oregon and constructed a building. However, no minting or assaying duties were ever performed. Congress gave the building to the state in 1875 to use for educational purposes.
The country’s largest silver strike, referred to as the Comstock Lode, started in Nevada in 1859. Congress authorized a branch Mint in nearby Carson City. The Carson City Mint opened in 1870 to accept deposits from the Comstock Lode and to mint coins. During its operation, it produced eight different coin denominations. Congress withdrew its mint status in 1899 when the Comstock’s ore declined, but it continued as an assay office until 1933. Source
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