9781422285565

and melted into coins. Both are excellent conductors of electricity, which makes each valuable in industry. Both gold and silver have had a huge impact on humanity. Since the mid-19th century, people have been seduced by the possibility of “striking it rich” in the mines of the western United States. For example, George Hearst became one of the wealthiest men in America thanks to the gold and silver he found in Missouri, California, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and in Nevada. Hearst didn’t just find ore, he developed new ways to remove the minerals from inside it. In this way, he amassed a great fortune and went on to become a U.S. Senator. (His son grew up to be William Randolph Hearst, the powerful newspaper magnate.) Gold, more than any other mineral or gem, still has a mystical grip on us. “Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!” the poet Thomas Hood wrote. “Bright and yellow, hard and cold / Molten, graven, hammered and rolled / Heavy to get and light to hold / Hoarded, bartered, bought and sold / Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled . . .” Gold!

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