In films about gold seekers there will be no sensitive romantic or uplifting stories - here the ball is ruled by greed and the thirst for quick enrichment. Basically, of course, representatives of the stronger half of humanity die for the yellow metal. Men may not have access to childbed fever, but they do have access to gold fever, which also has countless victims. We offer a selection of action-packed movies, where among the scoundrel characters there are real heroes, and occasionally heroines will rustle their skirts in search of easy money.
Luminaries (mini-series, 2020)
The new TV show is based on the novel of the same name by Eleanor Catton, who won the Booker Prize for the book. The detective drama promises to be exciting, as the film takes place in New Zealand at the height of the gold rush. Anna leaves London and goes to the Land of the Long White Cloud to start a new life. Soon the girl finds herself in a cycle of mysterious events - she meets her astral twin, and then becomes a suspect in the murder of a gold miner.
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original name: The Luminaries Genre: Drama, detective, adventure ActorsStars: Eve Hewson, Eva Green, Himesh Patel... A country: UK, New Zealand Rating: Kinopoisk – 6.4, IMDb – 6.4 Age restrictions: 18+
Sisters Brothers (2018)
The heroes of the adventure feature film about gold miners - two cowboy brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters - embark on a dangerous criminal journey. Bounty hunters have to catch and kill a gold prospecting scientist who discovered the chemical formula for searching for gold. However, everything will not go according to plan because of the third participant in the chase - intelligence officer John Morris, who shared the utopian ideas of the chemist-philosopher.
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Original title : Les frères Sisters Genre : Drama, crime, western Actors : John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal... Country : France, Spain, Romania, Belgium, USA Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.0, IMDb – 6.9 Age restrictions : 18 +
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
The film almanac, charged with black humor, consists of six short stories in the Western genre. The characters will be a sharp shooter, an unlucky robber, a homeless artist profiting from the misfortune of others, an old gold miner, a girl in love, and five fellow travelers talking about the inevitability of death. First of all, fans of the Coen brothers, creators of the cult comedy “The Big Lebowski,” should watch the original movie.
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Original title : The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Genre : Musical, drama, romance, comedy, detective, western Actors : Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Harry Melling... Country : USA Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.3, IMDb – 7.3 Age restrictions : 18 +
Gold (2016)
The next participant in our top is an American film about the search for gold, based on real events. For his role in this thriller, Matthew McConaughey gained 20 kilograms, shaved his head and wore false teeth to make his character less attractive. Modern prospector Kenny Wells is going through hard times - money is running out, and meetings with investors require more and more tricks. One day he takes the unlucky geologist Michael as his partner and gets the idea to find huge deposits of gold on an island in Indonesia.
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Original title : Gold Genre : Thriller, drama, adventure Actors : Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard... Country : USA Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.0, IMDb – 6.7 Age restrictions : 18+
Gold (TV series, 2016 – 2018)
A geology student faces expulsion. But there is an alternative - go for an internship at a gold mining company in Latin America. At first, the future scientist is delighted with the unexpected adventure, exotic plants and unprecedented animals. But the guy’s mentor, the seasoned resourceful and unscrupulous Merlot, does not inspire confidence. For a French student, gold mining turns into a death trap and it will not be easy to get out of it.
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Original title : Guyane Genre : Drama, adventure Actors : Matthew Spinosi, Olivier Rabourdin, Anna Suarez... Country : France Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.2, IMDb – 7.4 Age restrictions : 16+
Everything must be according to the law
On the territory of the Russian Federation there are many laws relating to the development of mineral resources, including the extraction of precious metals. Here are just a small part of them:
- “Rules for the extraction, production, use, circulation, receipt, accounting and storage of precious metals and stones.”
- Law “On Environmental Protection”.
- Federal Law “On Precious Metals and Stones”.
- Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. "Illegal entrepreneurship."
- Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. “Violation of the rules for the delivery of precious metals and stones to the state.”
- Federal Law “On Subsoil”.
But it all comes down to one thing: it is legally prohibited for individuals to wash gold in Russia. A license to develop a site can only be acquired by a legal entity that, having won the tender for 20–25 years, develops the deposit and pays taxes to the state budget.
They have been trying to enshrine the right to such work for individuals in legislation for 15 years, but so far to no avail.
Territory (2014)
An adventure film about gold mining and the hard work of geologists, it captures grandiose scenes of northern Russian nature and the selfless feat of people obsessed with what they love. The story unfolds in the vastness of the harshest territory of Russia. The unexplored area with inaccessible cliffs and icy desert could only attract true daredevils and romantics. It is there – to the Far North – that a group of geologists led by Ilya Chinkov is sent to search for gold.
10 Russian films about the taiga and the search for gold
Trailer
Genre : Drama, adventure Actors : Konstantin Lavronenko, Grigory Dobrygin, Egor Beroev... Country : Russia Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.0, IMDb – 6.4 Age restrictions : 12+
Where to look?
How to find gold and where to start searching? You need to start by researching the relevant literature and maps. Studying the area will help identify regions that are considered favorable for the formation of precious metal deposits. And the literature will tell you about the necessary equipment and possible difficulties that may await an inexperienced prospector.
Where to look for gold, what will specialized literature tell you?
- The search for precious metal can begin by exploring the coastal zone. Often, in the sand or mountain ranges that are located around the reservoir, you can find grains of sand of the noble metal.
- Au is also found in areas of previously abandoned deposits.
- A metal detector is used to search for gold in a river, using it to examine the riverbed for the presence of the precious metal.
- Gold in streams, rivers and other bodies of water will help detect the dredge or pan used for flushing.
Often the noble metal is found in the coastal zone; the deposit can be discovered simply by examining the river in the area of the spill. It is considered possible to find Au by examining the rock using metal detectors.
In search of gold, you can use information about those deposits that are considered closed today. In geology there is such a thing as a residual deposit. The vein has several branches and often, when exploring a previously abandoned deposit, you can find a decent amount of Au. For this reason, some prospectors search for precious metals by exploring exclusively abandoned deposits, because where gold was previously found, the chances of finding at least a little Au are much greater.
However, there is one nuance here: some fields ceased to function because their further development was considered unprofitable. Now the situation has changed a little; thanks to modern technology, it has been possible to resume the work of many deposits that still contain gold, but which were previously closed due to low profitability.
The search for gold in streams begins with examining the bottom. A detector is used to examine the riverbed to locate a deposit of precious metal. If you're lucky, you can find a terrace - this is the name for Au deposits that are hidden under the rock. If the terrace is several decades old, it may contain several kg of gold.
It is also worth exploring large stones, grooves and other irregularities. In these places the chance of finding Au is higher. Moving with the flow of water, metal particles settle on the surface of the stones, sink into irregularities, thereby forming Au deposits. Since gold is a heavy metal, it does not move along the bottom, but crawls under the influence of the current. Stones, holes and other obstacles inhibit Au particles, and deposits form in such places over several years.
You can use a pan or dredge to search for gold. The tray has been known to mankind since time immemorial; naturally, modern trays are significantly different from those used by our ancestors.
As for the dredge, this is a special device, which is a series of trays; using a dredge will certainly help detect Au. But after the work, the river bed will remain in a deplorable state; this method of extraction, from an environmental point of view, is harmful to nature.
A mini-dredge, a device that resembles a vacuum cleaner, will help you find gold. The mechanism is designed in such a way that it draws in everything it finds at the bottom. If gold is found, the dredge will filter it and send it to a special compartment. Some gold panning machines are so powerful that they can process about 100 liters of water at a time.
Local residents can tell you where to find gold and where to start searching. If you ask people about where precious metal mining sites are located and how long ago the last discoveries were made there, you can collect valuable information. This information will be useful not only to novice prospectors, but also to those who professionally search for precious metals.
Where there is gold, there are always many problems and disappointments. It often takes a year to find a deposit, so as not to be left with nothing, it is worth thinking about the fact that you can work under the guidance of a company. Some organizations hire prospectors, they simply recruit a group and bring people to the work site. Working conditions, equipment and places of work are determined by the organization.
When searching for gold, it is not enough to have experience, skills, equipment and information about deposits of the precious metal. A production license is also required. Without this document, the search for precious metals and its extraction is considered an illegal activity.
Klondike (mini-series, 2014)
The three-part miniseries was Discovery Channel's first feature film project. Two friends, having learned about the Klondike Gold Rush, come to the town of Dawson in 1897. A hard life awaits them - harsh weather conditions, unfriendly Indians, greedy miners ready to kill each other, dangerous diseases and hard labor. This was the price paid by thousands of gold miners for the ghostly and real riches hidden in the Yukon River Valley.
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Trailer
Original title : Klondike Genre : Drama Actors : Abbie Cornish, Marton Csokas, Ian Hart... Country : Canada, USA Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.3, IMDb – 7.4 Age restrictions : 16+
Is it possible to decode legends about treasures?
Fairy tales do not arise out of nowhere; they always bear the imprints of the thoughts, feelings and actions of the storytellers. Legends about treasures are no exception: they trace the experiences of peasants and beggars. It is not for nothing that treasures are revealed only to them - mythical stories about treasures belong to folk utopian legends and express the dreams of the masses about monetary well-being, a time when there will be plenty of everything. There was no hope of getting rich through honest work, so the people waited for help from the bowels of the earth.
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The evil spirit guarding the treasure was born of an unsightly reality, in which the overwhelming number of finds were of no value. To match the church, unlucky treasure hunters composed fables about demonic guards and devilish traps. The legend about jewelry crumbling into dust and shards has the same origin: once again, having found fragments of dishes and pennies turned green by time, long gone out of circulation, treasure hunters preferred to blame it all on a curse. It is not entirely clear whether the rituals and ceremonies described in the legends were actually performed. This is possible if we assume that many peasants were religious and sincerely believed in evil spirits.
Source
The appearance of castles in legends about treasures is also no coincidence. Since ancient times in Rus' they have been used in ritual practice. On St. George's Day, before grazing, peasants walked around their cattle with a lock or placed a lock at the entrance to the barn to protect the animals from disease and attacks from predators. At a wedding, the lock was locked and placed under the threshold immediately after the groom arrived at the house to strengthen the marriage.
From this “ritual family” is the locking of treasures. Locks have been discovered in many treasures from the 11th to 13th centuries. In 1885, in Kyiv, archaeologists found a treasure from the pre-Mongol era, in which, among silver ingots, gold pendants, bracelets and thirty gold earrings, lay two very ordinary iron locks. Apparently, the owner of the jewelry decided to play it safe and put double magical protection on the treasure.
Gold (2013)
A foreign film about the gold rush will take the viewer back to 1898. A group of German emigrants travels to northern Canada. The settlers want to get rich by mining gold. But three of this team dream of more than just a gold mine. Journalist Gustav dreams of fame, cowboy Karl seeks salvation from bandits, and brave Emily hides the secret of her escape from her home. However, the path to the fulfillment of desires is full of obstacles - these include cold weather, robbers, pursuers, lack of provisions and other misadventures.
Trailer
Original title : Gold Genre : Drama, adventure, western Actors : Nina Hoss, Marko Mandich, Peter Kurt... Country : Germany, Canada Rating : Kinopoisk – 5.5, IMDb – 6.2 Age restrictions : 16+
James Hurst
Gold mines made James Hearst the personification of the American dream: born into a rather poor family, by the end of his life he was able to amass a huge fortune and died one of the richest and most famous people of his time. Contemporaries said that Hirst had a “nose” for wealth-generating veins. The fact that he began mining gold as a boy also helped the future prospector achieve success. Hearst, forced to drop out of school, and his friends helped local miners, and when the gold rush hit California, he was ready for hard work.
Hearst went to the mines in the company of two cousins. At first, luck turned away from the young people: at the end of a year of searching, they had only $40 left for three of them. Then the brothers moved to Grass Valley and there they finally discovered a gold mine that changed their lives. Soon Hearst opened his first mine, which he sold at a profit a couple of years later. Since then, the Californian’s business has been built according to the same pattern: Hirst acquired a potentially profitable plot, found gold on it and resold it for much more.
Gold Hunter, California. (wikimedia.org)
Having become rich, Hearst began investing in real estate, cattle breeding and horse breeding. However, his main source of income remained the mines, not only in California, but also in Utah, Montana and South Dakota. At the time of the tycoon's death, his fortune was estimated at between 200 and 400 thousand dollars.
Gold (2012)
The film based on the novel “Wild Happiness” by Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak is a dynamic, juicy story about human character, filmed in the format of a comedy drama. The simple Ural peasant Gordey was never evil or greedy. However, trouble still came to his house - in the form of a gambling brother who lost his entire fortune at cards. And now the family is in debt. To pay, Gordey had to go to the gold mines. He became a rich man, but money did not bring him happiness, completely capturing the man’s heart and mind.
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Genre : Drama, Comedy Actors : Sergey Bezrukov, Irina Skobtseva, Andrey Merzlikin, Mikhail Porechenkov... Country : Russia Rating : Kinopoisk – 6.9, IMDb – 6.0 Age restrictions : 16+
Fart (2005)
In the Siberian taiga, a cooperative of prospectors is engaged in gold mining. At the same time, former officer Peter is looking for a gold mine in a neighboring area. After the end of the season, the man is going to the mainland. But on the night before departure, bandits attack the cooperative, a shootout ensues, and the villains take the chairman’s daughter Vika hostage. Peter and the artel worker in love with the girl set off in pursuit of the retreating criminals.
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Genre : Action Actors : Evgeniy Tsyganov, Yana Esipovich, Sergei Tsepov... Country : Russia Rating : Kinopoisk – 5.9, IMDb – 6.2 Age restrictions : 16+
Who buried treasures in Rus' and why?
For the first time, the Byzantine historian of the 6th century Mauritius mentioned the custom of the Slavs to make treasures: “They hide necessary things underground, without having anything extra on the outside.” The 12th-century chronicler Helmold of Bossau wrote that the Pomeranian Slavs kept everything precious in the ground - in treasures and hiding places. In the story of the baptism of Vladimir, dating from the end of the 11th century, earthly treasures are contrasted with heavenly ones:
“Do not hide for yourself a treasure on earth, where aphids can smolder and thiefs can be undermined, but hide for yourself a treasure in heaven, where aphids can neither smolder nor thief steal.”
At the beginning of the 12th century, the ancient Russian prince Vladimir Monomakh warned in his “Teaching”: “And do not hide [riches] in the ground, then it is a great sin for us.”
It is difficult to say why burying treasures in Ancient Rus' was prohibited. Perhaps this is a consequence of the church’s struggle against money-grubbing or sincere concern for the common people, whose luggage is being “undermined” and stolen by thieves. In any case, mentioning them in this way indicates the prevalence of treasures in ancient Russian society.
A fragment of a golden diadem from a 12th-century treasure found in Kyiv in 1889. Source
In the pre-Mongol period, 10th–12th centuries, treasures were made mainly due to constant internecine wars. Residents of cities and villages hid their property, fearing the arbitrariness of enemy princes and their “sanctions” against the inhabitants of the occupied territories. A serious threat was posed by the predatory raids of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians, who often reached Kyiv and devastated everything in their path.
Deadwood (TV series, 2004 – 2006)
The crime series about gold miners is based on biographical facts from the lives of historical figures who lived in Deadwood, and is complemented by free interpretations of individual events. The plot of the highly rated serial film will unfold at the height of the gold rush, in a US city that has become a haven for murderers, robbers, rapists and swindlers. The icing on the poisoned cake will be the saloon owner, Al Swearengen, who runs all the local crime. He will be confronted by the sheriff and his friend, who have decided to restore order at all costs.
Trailer
Original title : Deadwood Genre : Drama, crime, western, history Actors : Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker... Country : USA Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.9, IMDb – 8.6 Age restrictions : 16+
Breed (2002)
The action-packed action film tells the story of the search for treasures from the Civil War, rumored to be lost in the taiga. Two students Anya and Vera, having found out about this legend, go to a distant land in search of treasure. This journey sets off a series of terrible events from which it will be difficult for the girls to get out alive. They will have to face the sudden cruelty and greed that has taken possession of the souls of the local residents.
Trailer
Genre : Action Actors : Alice Bogart, Ekaterina Stulova, Valery Barinov, Alexey Gorbunov, Alexander Robak... Country : Russia Rating : Kinopoisk – 5.9 Age restrictions : 12+
Treasure hunting - Russian folk craft
Along with the treasures, treasure hunters also appeared. Who would refuse the untold riches buried right under their feet? The most severe hoarding mania affected the peasants, who lived from hand to mouth under the weight of state and master's exactions. The servitude, which lasted for centuries, instilled in them the belief in the impossibility of getting rich through honest labor: “from the labors of the righteous you will not earn stone chambers.”
It is known that treasures have been made in Rus' since the early Middle Ages. This is evidenced by both written sources and real finds of archaeologists. With treasure hunting, everything is more complicated - from the 11th–15th centuries we only have chronicles and lives of saints. Mentions of treasure hunters in them are fragmentary.
The veil of secrecy is lifted by the 17th century, when governors - the king's governors - began catching treasure hunters. They combined military functions with administrative ones and helped the sovereign manage vast lands. It is thanks to the protocols that the governors drew up for treasure hunters and sent to the Discharge Order in Moscow that we know a little more about treasure hunters.
In 1626, in Putivl, the peasant Roman Gavrilov found in an ancient mound “two rods of gold, and 26 cloaks (plates), and 9 gold rings, and buttons, and other small items of gold and silver” - most likely a treasure or burial of some kind ancient Russian prince. Three years later, in Mozhaisk, the Cossack son Pakhomka Koverzin dug a jar of money in the ground near the mountain.
In 1638, in Kursk, the Bobyl son Mikheyka with the beggar Akimka and his stepson Artyushka found a pot with eight spools of Tatar money and five spools of drawn silver weighing 28 spools near a mountain. 30 years later, near Voronezh, a Cossack dug up “under an oak tree there was a cauldron of small beer money, and on that money there were three or four cast bars, no one knows what kind, that cauldron was covered with an iron frying pan.”
Gold rings from treasures of the 12th–13th centuries. Source
In 1673, in Old Ryazan, several peasants found a cellar with cast silver, gold plates and rods, chains and rich jewelry - apparently, one of the princely or boyar treasures buried in 1237 during the capture of Ryazan by Batu. In 1702, the Mozhaisk governor was informed about people who had torn off a couple of hundred “old money and coins.” Some became treasure hunters unwillingly, having discovered treasures by accident: in 1623, in Cherni, boyar children came to the governor and admitted that they had accidentally found a jug of money near the Golovkin Forest.
In the 18th–19th centuries, the epidemic of treasure hunting did not subside at all. After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, many peasants received inconvenience - uncultivated land, often the site of ancient settlements and burial grounds.
The second half of the century before last was a period of massive discovery of medieval treasures, most of which ended up in the pockets of villagers.
Exceptions were rare: in 1828, three Ryazan residents dug up a large treasure of silver Novgorod hryvnias from the 13th century, but they could not hide the find and transferred it to the Hermitage.
Barmas (neck decoration) from a treasure of the 12th–13th centuries, accidentally found by peasants in Old Ryazan in 1822. Having discovered the treasure, they handed it over to the authorities, and in gratitude received 10,000 rubles from the emperor.
News about treasures found inspired people to search. Sometimes “pantry fever” swept through villages and towns. In the village of Zalesye in the Kherson region, dozens of peasants fell for the legend of a Zaporozhye treasure consisting of 12 barrels of gold, and for three years they unsuccessfully searched for it in the steppe. Around 1890, the peasants of the village of Ilyinsky, Makaryevsky district, wandered through the forest all spring in search of a mysterious robber’s treasure, but they also found nothing. At the same time, a gold rush gripped a crowd of Kostroma peasants led by a local priest. The police had to disperse them by force.
“The passion for easy money has bred many treasure hunters everywhere, who are so carried away by the idea of getting rich quickly that they often end up in one-object madness. These unfortunate maniacs cause endless ridicule and, very often, become victims of deception.”
19th century ethnographer and fiction writer Sergei Maksimov
Historians did not like treasure hunters —
discoveries that could complement the picture of the past passed over scientists and disappeared without a trace. In 1859, the Archaeological Commission appeared, which paid rewards for the delivery of treasures. The idea only partially worked: mostly coin treasures were sent to the commission.
The peasants preferred to keep ancient jewelry for themselves - archaeologist Alexei Cherepnin claimed that he saw ancient earrings, rings and very ancient beads on peasant women.
Billy Bones card? Or maybe a storeroom record would be better?
Beliefs about treasures were passed down from generation to generation in Rus'. In addition to them, storeroom records helped to take possession of the treasures, which indicated in detail the location of the treasure and what lay in it. Sometimes they were compiled by the owners so as not to forget the location of the luggage, but more often the records were full of rumors - in the form of instructions they inspired trust. As treasure hunting grew in popularity, scammers wrote fake treasure records and sold them to naive peasants.
Here, for example, is a record of a treasure on the Koksha River in the Nizhny Novgorod Region: “Above the village of Voskresensky 8 versts the Bolshaya Koksha River fell, up the Koksha there is a village (now a wasteland) Chenebechikha, from Chenebechikha 3 versts there is Podbornaya Griva, from Podbornaya Griva about twenty versts up Kokshe is a Bykovo lake, not very large, oblong, one end to the summer east, and the other to the winter west. The Medyanka river runs from the lake to Bolshaya Koksha, 1 verst from the river along the lake there are 3 piles of bones, from the bones along the shore there was a five-walled hut of 3 rows, dug, in the ground opposite the lake there is a staircase of seven steps; from the stairs on the shore there is a pine tree and on that lake there is a cellar a printed fathom high and wide, in this cellar of money there are two wine cuts of silver, a chest of copper, on the chest there is a chest of gold, on the chest there is a pood of copper to measure money, twelve Turks, 12 pistols, 12 cutlasses, chandelier, temple Mother of God. Whoever finds this money, give the chandelier to the Church of the Ascension, and the Mother of God to the Shlyapinskaya monastery, and build a seven-altar church, and there will still be a city left to build.”
Gold Dust (2000)
A film about gold miners during the Wild West - an adaptation of the English novel by Thomas Hardy. The action of the western takes place in 1849 in America. Poor Irish immigrant Daniel is among those who are crazy for gold. Together with his wife and newborn daughter, he sets off in pursuit of wealth. Having lost their way, they find shelter in a miner's hut. Alcohol and the thirst for profit cloud Daniel's head, and he sells his wife and daughter to a stranger for a piece of land that hides deposits of valuable metal in its depths. Years pass, and the time of terrible reckoning comes.
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Trailer
Original title : The Claim Genre : Drama, melodrama, western Actors : Peter Mullan, Milla Jovovich, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinski... Country : UK, France, Canada Rating : Kinopoisk – 6.3, IMDb – 6.4 Age restrictions : 18+
Thomas Walsh
Before becoming the owner of the legendary Camp Bird Mine, which produced more than $20 million worth of precious metals over 20 years, Thomas Walsh managed to move to America from his native Ireland, work in Massachusetts and catch the dreams of miners in Colorado. The turning point in Walsh's life was meeting Smokey Jones in South Carolina. The prospector offered Walsh a share in the Deadwood mine, but he refused, and later regretted it: over time, the site grew into the Homestake mine, one of the richest in North America.
The failure only spurred Walsh on: he firmly decided that next time he would not miss his chance. Hoping to find his own vein, the gold miner went to Colorado and was not mistaken. In the Ouray area, he discovered a deposit that later turned into the Camp-Berd Mine. And 20 years after the opening of the mine, Walsh sold it to a London syndicate and moved with his family to Washington, where they all quickly joined the social life of the city and became quite famous people.
Advertisement for a tour to California, 1850s. (wikimedia.org)
Thomas Walsh is remembered in America not only as a successful entrepreneur, but also as a philanthropist and defender of the rights of the working class. At his mine, people were provided with high wages and a place to live with excellent conditions and excellent food. In addition, Walsh was one of the first to advocate reducing the 10- and 12-hour workday to 8 hours. As a result, Walsh was able to gain surprising loyalty from workers and avoid the strikes that plagued Western mines in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Gold Rush (1998)
Frances Fitts, a young secretary from New York, decides to travel to Alaska after stories about millionaire gold miners fill her with dreams of making a quick buck. Frances convinces expedition leader Madison to let her join the group as a typist. When the girl arrives, she realizes that getting rich will be more difficult than she thought.
Trailer
Original title : Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan Adventure Genre : Adventure Actors : Alyssa Milano, Bruce Campbell, Stan Cahill... Country : USA Rating : Kinopoisk – 6.7, IMDb – 5.9 Age restrictions : 12+
Treasure hunters against demons
The dream of happiness hidden in a clay pot haunted many. Successful finds and failed expeditions were surrounded by fables in which the treasure acquired magical properties and even came to life. Since pagan times, the Slavs believed that hidden treasures were guarded by evil creatures: Koschey, Zmey Gorynych, Tugarin Zmey and others. After Russia adopted Christianity, their place was taken by the devil’s minions: demons and evil spirits.
The Church assured that all treasures were cursed: the devils guarding the treasures seduce naive peasants and then destroy them when they try to dig them up. These ideas are firmly entrenched in folk stories: treasures are hidden behind locks, doors and devilish spells, and the evil spirits guarding them try in every possible way to harm treasure hunters.
Source
It is better to start searching on the night of Ivan Kupala. At this time, the fern blooms, which will indicate the path to the treasure —
you just need to throw it up and wait for it to land. The fern flower generally has many magical properties: it protects from evil and makes you invisible. Legends tell of cunning people who tried to grow ferns at home. These attempts always ended in failure: the minute the fern flower opened, a fire broke out in the hut.
Another way to find treasure —
take a dumb rooster with you. Where he screams, there the treasure is buried. In many tales, treasure locations glow with fire. In the village of Peschanka, Saratov province, during excavations of a mound, peasants assured that there was definitely gold inside, since a candle burned in this place at night. Another story says that at night a Cossack man with a saber appears at the site of the treasure, “and it will shine like fire!” In the Chernihiv region they believed that lightning strikes the ground exactly where the treasure is buried.
“If either silver or gold is buried under the ground, then many people see fire burning in that place, then I will also show the money-lovers to the devil for the sake of it.”
“The Tale of Boris and Gleb”, 11th–12th centuries
Rush —
enemy of the treasure hunter. Before the excavations, you need to serve a prayer service to St. John of Novgorod: he once already sealed a demon in a jug, which means he will help curb the storekeeper guards. After this, you can hit the road, taking with you a prosphora, a cross, a Gospel and candles. The barriers put up by evil spirits will be destroyed by weeping grass, which drives away demons and witches. You just need to say the spell:
“Weeping, crying! You cried for a long time and a lot, but you cried little. Don’t let your tears roll across the open field, don’t let your howl spread across the blue sea. Be afraid of the evil demons, half-demons, old witches of Kyiv. If they don’t obey you, drown them in tears; and if they run away, lock them in the pits of hell. Be my word strong and firm with you forever and ever.”
The raised treasure should be fumigated with incense, sprinkled with holy water and a prayer from Peter Mohyla’s missal or other liturgical books should be said three times. These could be prayers to the Mother of God, Archangel Michael or St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The gap-grass, which destroys any castles, will help you take possession of the treasure. —
Without it, the treasure cannot be unlocked. In 1678, Muscovite Efim Lutovitinov, who allegedly found a cellar with treasure in Mtsensk district, was looking for “herbs that open locks.” He claimed that “in that cellar there are barrels, lying and dresses hanging on poles, and in that cellar there is a copper grate, and on that grate there is a sign on an iron sheet: if anyone gets herbs, then that cellar will open without a key.”
According to one legend, the weeping grass is so called because it makes the guardians of the treasure cry.
To protect treasures, demons drop “cat cats” on treasure hunters. —
huge black cats with glowing eyes.
Or they send monsters to them: men digging for treasure on the outskirts of the Simbirsk province came across a huge man-bear, “roaring so that the earth groans and hums.” In 1752, the priest of the village of Pomaevo, Buinsky district, Kirill Mikhailov, decided to get the treasure, armed himself with a cross and the Gospel of demonic obsession, went to the place of the treasure, but could not lift it -
he was afraid of terrible ghosts sent by evil spirits.
Alaska Kid (TV series 1993)
The multi-part film about gold mines, which received good reviews from viewers, is based on a story by Jack London. A middle-aged journalist, Christopher Belew, travels to the Klondike for unusual adventures and meeting new people, to get inspired and find interesting stories. Thus begins the hero's journey during the gold rush. The cold of mountain passes awaits him, meeting Indians, pirates and robbers.
25 light foreign films for the evening
Trailer
Genre : Adventure Actors : Mark Pillow, Donovan Scott, Edward Zhentara... Country : Germany, Poland, Russia Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.3, IMDb – 7.2 Age restrictions : 12+
White Fang (1991)
The list of the best films about gold miners and the gold rush will be completed by a touching story of friendship between a man and a wolf named White Fang. After hunters killed his mother, the little wolf cub was left an orphan. Until one day he encountered the people who sheltered him. But a change of owners occurs, and the animal ends up with a cruel gold miner. And the beast's good friend Jack Conroy travels across Alaska, heading to the plot left to him by his deceased father. One day he meets a prospector and his battered fighting wolf, and ransoms White Fang.
Trailer
Original title : White Fang Genre : Drama, adventure Actors : Jed, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ethan Hawke... Country : USA Rating : Kinopoisk – 7.9, IMDb – 6.7 Age restrictions : 12+
