This is the history of Death Valley, where that bitter stream the Amargosa dies. It embraces the whole basin of the Amargosa from the Panamints to the Spring Mountains, from the Palmettos to the Avawatz. And it spans a century from the earliest recollections and the oldest records to that day in 1933 when much of the valley was finally set aside as a National Monument. This is the story of an illusory land, of the people it attracted and of the dreams and delusions they pursued-the story of the metals in its mountains and the salts in its sinks, of its desiccating heat and its revitalizing springs, and of all the riches of its scenery and lore-the story of Indians and horse thieves, lost argonauts and lost mine hunters, prospectors and promoters, miners and millionaires, stockholders and stock sharps, homesteaders and hermits, writers and tourists. But mostly this is the story of the illusions-the illusions of a shortcut to the gold diggings that lured the forty-niners, of inescapable deadliness that hung in the name they left behind, of lost bonanzas that grew out of the few nuggets they found, of immeasurable riches spread by hopeful prospectors and calculating con men, and of impenetrable mysteries concocted by the likes of Scotty. These and many lesser illusions are the heart of its history.

The Tasmania Reef was the richest gold discovery anywhere in Australia in the 1870s and 1880s, and Beaconsfield grew to become Tasmania’s third biggest town. In today’s money, some $3 Billion came out of Beaconsfield over the life of the Tasmania mine. This book is a first-hand account of the discovery of gold and how the town was established. The narrator is a composite of the writings of around a dozen miners who were there – and describes the mines, the people and the events of the early years, as Beaconsfield grew and changed from a tent city to become a proud, innovative and community-conscious urban society.