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in the shale of Ellis and adjacent Trego County, and then believed that they found gold. The delusion was abetted by unscrupulous assayers, and by swindlers selling secret metallurgical processes to extract gold from the shale. Vigorously warning against the gold delusion was Kansas state geologist
85:, just a few miles down the Smoky Hill River. Chetolah had been founded ten years earlier in the anticipation of a railroad connection that was never built. With the influential Hollidays backing the new town of Smoky Hill City, residents of Chetolah deserted to the new town.
101:, even though the influential promoters threatened to have him fired for his opposition. The Ellis County gold boom sputtered along from 1895 to 1903, by which time (almost) everyone realized that there was no recoverable gold in the shale.
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The designation of Smoky Hill City as a townsite was vacated by Ellis County in 1905, at the request of
Charles Holliday. The settlement survived for several more years, but was eventually completely abandoned.
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The idea that the shales of along the Smoky Hill River contained valuable minerals started in the mid-19th century as a swindle by Native
Americans who said that they knew of
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The townsite occupied approximately 540 acres (2.2 km) in sections 3 and 10 of
Township 15 South, Range 20 West of the 6th Principal Baseline and Meridian,
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and both father and son believed that the area contained valuable mineral deposits. The town was situated on the north bank of the
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to serve the gold mines that
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Holliday began selling town lots. Some of the first residents came from the town of
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mines along the Smoky Hill. In the 1890s, prospectors imagined that they found
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42:, United States. It lies approximately 12 miles (19 km) southwest of
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Advertisement for the Smoky Hill gold fraud, circa 1895
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600:Former populated places in Ellis County, Kansas
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198:: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
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217:List of books about Ellis County, Kansas
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347:Map of Kansas highlighting Ellis County
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175:"The imaginary gold mines of Kansas"
78:along the Smoky Hill River valley.
276:Municipalities and communities of
229:The Imaginary Gold Mines of Kansas
16:Ghost town in Ellis County, Kansas
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154:List of ghost towns in Kansas
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576:38.761778°N 99.532194°W
132:38.761778°N 99.532194°W
54:The land was bought by
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182:Mining History Journal
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581:38.761778; -99.532194
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137:38.761778; -99.532194
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546:United States portal
279:Ellis County, Kansas
40:Ellis County, Kansas
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234:Ellis County maps:
173:Dan Plazak (2007).
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56:Charles K. Holliday
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64:Cyrus K. Holliday
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567:99°31′55.9″W
564:38°45′42.4″N
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194:cite journal
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123:99°31′55.9″W
120:38°45′42.4″N
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579: /
424:Ghost towns
381:communities
294:County seat
135: /
462:Stockrange
329:Schoenchen
215:See also:
160:References
32:ghost town
525:Wheatland
495:Catherine
485:Big Creek
477:Townships
467:Turkville
414:Yocemento
364:Catharine
109:Geography
74:-bearing
594:Category
520:Victoria
442:Hog Back
432:Chetolah
389:Antonino
334:Victoria
240:Historic
188:: 11–22.
148:See also
83:Chetolah
515:Lookout
505:Freedom
490:Buckeye
447:Mendota
437:Easdale
399:Pfeifer
394:Emmeram
236:Current
50:History
510:Herzog
409:Walker
404:Toulon
369:Munjor
311:Cities
242:, KDOT
60:Topeka
500:Ellis
319:Ellis
178:(PDF)
76:shale
30:is a
452:Rome
356:CDPs
324:Hays
301:Hays
200:link
94:zinc
72:gold
44:Hays
90:tin
58:of
34:in
596::
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238:,
196:}}
192:{{
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38:,
269:e
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
