The History Channel Presents: SAVE OUR HISTORY(R): GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS

The History Channel Presents: SAVE OUR HISTORY(R): GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS

Hosted by Steve Thomas

World Premiere Special on The History Channel on Saturday, May 28 at 8 pm ET/PT

NEW YORK, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- A special from The History Channel(R) airing this Memorial Day Weekend explores the tools and tech of Western gold rush boomtowns, and discovers how we're keeping these ghost towns alive. The rush for gold transformed the American West. In the second half of the 19th century hundreds of thousands ventured there from around the world, inspired by a single dream: to strike it rich. Gold rush boomtowns sprang up out of nowhere and generated tremendous wealth. They were magnets for innovative technology and accelerated the settlement of the West. Hosted by Steve Thomas (formerly of This Old House), SAVE OUR HISTORY: GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS travels to boomtowns turned ghost towns in California and Montana to explore the tales, tools and technology of this pivotal chapter in American history. The one hour SAVE OUR HISTORY: GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS makes its world premiere Saturday, May 28 at 8 pm ET/PT on The History Channel.

Steve Thomas journeys to some of these ghost towns to experience first hand the 19th century techniques used to extract gold from the earth, to hear the stories of some colorful characters and to investigate how these sites today are being preserved as living American history. Among his adventures:

* Bodie, California: Bodie was one of the most dangerous gold rush towns in the West. In 1870, it exploded from a few hundred to over 10,000 people as word of major gold strikes spread. Steve discovers that in this boomtown, a man could "get rich, get drunk, get a girl and get killed - all in the same day." Over $250 million in gold (in today's dollars) was taken from the nearby mines, but the price was high, with murders almost daily events. Today, it's the largest unrestored gold rush ghost town in the country, and is preserved in a state of "arrested decay."

* Near Sutter Creek, California: Assisted by re-enactors Jim Miller and Nick Kane, Steve tries his hand at "placer mining" techniques, using a pan, a rocker and a long tom (a sluice box) on a river not far from the spot where the California Gold Rush began in 1848.

* Drumlummon Mine, Marysville, Montana: Engineer Larry Hoffman shows how underground miners worked the gold free from the rock. He and Steve travel 1600' deep into the mountain, drilling holes in the rock face with huge pneumatic drills and setting off an explosion with 27 sticks of dynamite.

* Nevada City, California: Historian Mike Nevius demonstrates how 19th century stamp mills extracted the gold from the mined ore with enormous thousand-pound cast iron rods called "stamps". Throughout the American West, wherever gold was being mined, the pounding of thousands of stamp mills could be heard night and day, with the only relief coming one day a year -- on Christmas Day.

* Knight Foundry, Sutter Creek, California: The Knight Foundry, believed to be the oldest continually operating, water-powered foundry in the United States, was the brainchild of Samuel Knight, a brilliant inventor and engineer. Steve explores the complex workings of the Foundry, which manufactured machinery and parts that helped power the gold mines of California's Mother Lode region.

* Garnet, Montana: Gold miners' original log cabins are slowly sinking into the mountainside in Garnet, a turn-of-the-century boomtown. Preservationists Allen Mathews and Bernie Weisgerber demonstrate techniques, modern and old, now being used to preserve one historic cabin to ensure it lasts another 100 years.

SAVE OUR HISTORY: GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS features interviews with preservations and historians, including H.W. Brands, Ph.D., author The Age of Gold; Marguerite Sprague, author Bodie's Gold; Jim Miller, Gold Rush Historian; Tom Lowe, Historical Interpreter, Bannack State Park; Larry Hoffman, Mining Engineer, Blue Range Engineering Co.; Ellen Baumler, Ph.D., historian, Montana Historical Society; Andy Fahrenwald, Knight Foundry Project Director; Allan Mathews, Park Ranger, Bureau of Land Management; Bernie Weisgerber, Historic Preservation Specialist, and David Eubank, Historic Preservation Carpenter.

SAVE OUR HISTORY: GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS is produced for The History Channel by History Television Network Productions. Executive Producers are Susan E. Leventhal, Libby H. O'Connell, PhD., and Susan Werbe. Senior Producer is Virginia Kuppek. Written and Produced by Andrew Ames. Producer is Steve Thomas.

Teachers, students and families will find educational support materials for Save Our History: GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS and other resources at http://www.saveourhistory.com/ or by e-mailing info@saveourhistory.com.

Now reaching more than 88 million Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel(R), "Where the Past Comes Alive(R)," brings history to life in a powerful manner and provides an inviting place where people experience history personally and connect their own lives to the great lives and events of the past. In 2004, The History Channel earned five News and Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and previously received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's "Save Our History(R)" campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel web site is located at http://www.historychannel.com/. Press Only: For more information and photography please visit us on the web at http://www.historychannelpress.com/.

Source: The History Channel

CONTACT: Kathie Gordon of The History Channel, +1-212-210-1320,
Kathie.Gordon@aetn.com

Web site: http://www.historychannel.com/
http://www.historychannelpress.com/

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