SNIPPET: The Irish were heavily represented in mining for most of the 19th century. As with so many other occupations which they dominated, mining was appealing because it required few prerequisite skills, besides strength and bravery. Thousands of Irish joined the national frenzy when gold was discovered in CA in 1848, leaving eastern cities aboard ships headed for San Francisco. Still more joined the rush for silver and gold in British Columbia, NV, and CO in the 1850s and 1860s, and on to the Klondike in the 1890s. Among the latter was one Michael MacGOWAN who wrote a wonderful memoir of his adventures in Irish entitled "Rotha Mor an tSaoil" (The Hard Road to Klondike). Another notable personality from the mining camps out west was Nellie CASHMAN. Born Ellen O'KISSANE in Ireland, her work as a nurse and cook in mining camps from Tombstone to the Yukon earned her the nickname "angel of the mines." While most labored as employees of large mining companies, a few notables struck it rich, most notably the so-called Irish Four who made millions mining the Comstock Lode. Gold, and later silver and copper strikes in MT, also drew many Irish, including Cavan-born Marcus DALY whose Anaconda Copper Mine made him one of the richest men in America. Similarly, William H. BROPHY struck it rich in the silver mines of AZ, Thomas KEARNS in those of UT. Other Irishmen headed for the mining districts and made their fortunes selling food, tents, tools, and clothing to eager miners. Peter DONAHUE arrived in San Francisco during the rush and tried his hand at panning for gold but soon opened a blacksmith shop. It later developed into the massive Union Iron Works. Irish Mormon Sam BRANNAN arrived several years before the gold rush and established a dry-goods store. At the peak of the gold rush fever in 1849-50, he pulled in more than $100,000 a month! San Francisco real estate tyc! oon Patrick PHELAN made his initial fortune selling goods to miners. Far less glamorous, but arguably more important to America's industrial development, was the huge coal mining industry. Here, too, the Irish played a significant role, both as miners and occasionally as mine owners. In PA's anthracite region thousands of Irish miners toiled for meager wages in dangerous conditions. One of the wealthiest mine owners was Franklin GOWAN, President of the Philadelphia & Reading RR and the man who eventually saw to it that 20 Irishmen were hanged for their alleged role in violence and murder linked to the Molly Maguires. One area of particularly bitter conflict was the coal-mining region of PA. It was there in the 1860s that Irish miners formed a union called the Workingmen's Benevolent Association (WBA) to resist the abusive labor policies of mine bosses and the Philadelphia & Reading RR, headed, interestingly, by Irishman Franklin GOWAN. Some of its members also formed a clandestine labor organization known as the Molly Maguires that employed intimidation, vandalism, violence, and murder. In 1874 GOWAN set out to destroy the WBA by linking it with the Mollies. Within a year, his stoking of anti-Molly sentiment resulted in more than fifty arrests and many convictions. In all, 20 alleged Molly Maguires were hanged for murder, including ten on a single day, June 21, 1877. Given the fact that many were convicted on specious evidence, it was clear that they were executed not simply for their alleged role in the murders, but also because they were opponents of big business and Irish. Excerpt, "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Irish American History," E. T. O'Donnell (2002).