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J. W. Pringle Silver Ingot. Rosita, Colorado. Circa 187

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1,750.00 USD Estimated At:7,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
J. W. Pringle Silver Ingot. Rosita, Colorado. Circa 187
<B>J. W. Pringle Silver Ingot.</B></I> Rosita, Colorado. Circa 1873. James William Pringle was born in Scotland in 1838. Many members of the Pringle family emigrated to America for the various mining rushes. James, along with other family members, first settled in New York. In 1857 he was off to California to seek a fortune in gold. According to his biography, he was "fairly successful" in California, remaining there until 1864. Learning placer mining in California, Pringle took his trade to the gulches of eastern Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. By 1870, Colorado got his attention, and he was one of the early prospectors into the San Juan Mountains, which later became an area of intense prospecting and metal production.<BR> Pringle found silver in Rosita, and there made his home, as well as a name for himself. Silver was discovered there in 1870. It was reported that Pringle, along with two partners Dick Irwin and a man named Robinson, found some of the first rich silver lodes. Colorado mining man Frank Fossett reported the trio discovered the Senator Lode, one of the best of the early mines there. The Hardscrabble Mining District was formed in 1872, and Pringle was so popular that a local hill was named in his honor. A neighboring hill was named after Robinson, and Hungry Gulch bisected the hills. The town was formed in 1873, and the best of the lodes were ultimately discovered in 1874.<BR> Production in Rosita was at its best in the 1870s, and by 1882 things had pretty much come to a standstill. By 1879, though, Pringle's name was not to be found. A search of the 1879 <I>Colorado Mining Directory</B></I> yielded no hits for his name in the Rosita area.<BR> In later years, Pringle was reported to have worked for British owned mines north of Idaho, and then went to the Klondike rush of 1898. He was back in Colorado within a year, thinking the difficulties of the San Juan range w