Portrait of Herbert Hoover

People/engineer, politician

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover (1874–1964), engineer, politician, from United States. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

At 22, with little experience, he was sent in 1897 to inspect mines near Coolgardie for Bewick Moreing and persuaded the firm to develop Sons of Gwalia.1,2

Legacy

Superintendent of Sons of Gwalia until late 1898, then moved to China and became a Bewick Moreing partner. He became US President (1929-33). The State Library of WA says he was known for cutting costs and driving workers hard.1,2

Story cards

Drag to turn the globe

Where next

Mines

Worked atCoolgardie goldfieldAt 22 he was sent to inspect mines near Coolgardie in 1897.1Worked atSons of GwaliaA 22-year-old Stanford graduate became superintendent of Sons of Gwalia.1

Sources

  1. Herbert Hoover State Library of Western Australia
  2. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons

Pictures on this page: President Hoover portrait.jpg, Underwood & Underwood (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

Lessons from historyPrice shocks and the supply response1893-2025Lessons from historyThe gold rush and the lithium rush compared1848-2025The Super Pit gold mine at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, at sunsetMining historyGold rushes, then and nowGold and lithium · WorldwideA yellow haul truck loaded with ore, with a rack of sensors on its front and an empty cab, on a snowy mine roadEquipmentAutonomous trucksAutonomy · Open-pit mines

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Autonomous trucks by RobSimmons223311, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); San Francisco, California: the Golden Gate bay area. Photograph, ca. 1880., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0).