Explore / North America / Arkansas
Arkansas
Bear City gold-scam boomtown
Ghost town Documented siteGray area
What you could find
Reported finds from this ground.
Coins and tokens
Buttons and buckles
Old bottlesAlso reported: Indian Head cents, mining tools, assay and mining company items.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service, Amy Downes, (CC BY-SA 2.0), Unknown (Public domain), Sheila Sund (CC BY 2.0).
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Why this spot
1880s gold rush boomtown
Gold rumors in 1884 turned Bear City into a boomtown of 1,200 to 5,000 people with 35 mining companies and two newspapers by 1887. When state geologist John Casper Branner exposed the gold claims as scams, most people left; a small community with very few inhabitants remains.View source →
Before you go
Hazards noted for this site.
old prospect pits, remote
Keep exploring nearby
More spots in this area.