The Prospector: A Timeless Symbol of American Freedom
A Tribute to Unsung Heroes
The crouching man shown on Chris’s newly released coin, The Prospector, is one of America’s Unsung Heroes. He is the epitome of the men who made America great. He exemplifies the brash determination that free men bring to the table when they are left to their own devices.
2025 "The Prospector" Silver Proof Coin, by Chris Duane
The young country of America provided Western European men with unprecedented freedom. It supplied them with unencumbered, unfettered, unregulated, and unrestrictive freedom in which to thrive or die. And most cared not what the outcome was. They just wanted the freedom to determine their futures for themselves.
Some of the first European men, who braved the lunacy of a 17th-century ocean voyage in tiny wooden ships, wanted freedom above all else. They were willing to risk their lives, and in many cases, the lives of their wives and children, in order to breathe the fresh air of freedom in the New World. They wanted to live their lives on THEIR terms, not someone else's.
Most of the first settlers came to America for religious freedom.
These brave men began a legacy that has persisted to this very day. In the eyes of the world, America still represents FREEDOM, and The Prospector, memorialized in Chris’s new coin, certainly wallowed in that freedom and was determined to set the world on fire. The California Gold Rush began in 1849, and he, and thousands of other men, were willing to suffer starvation, isolation, desert heat, bitter cold, and more in order to pursue THEIR American Dreams.
“The Prospector” Silver Coin from Silver Shield
As a result of this newfound freedom, American men did indeed set the world on fire. Less than 50 years after the Gold Rush began, America was at the height of its Industrial Revolution. The inventions and advancements developed by free American men were mind-boggling. Coast-to-coast railroads, the Erie Canal, and many of our major cities were built to accommodate the competitive fervor that enveloped the American businessmen who were on a mission to improve their lives and those of their fellow citizens.
From 1790 to 1900, droves of free American men began to move from the farm to the city in order to pursue their dreams. And the impetus for this move was the inspiration given them by the expansive growth spurned on, and on, by the Industrial Revolution. Dreams of expansion fueled a need for labor across countless industries. The workforce was required by men in textiles, retail, silk mills, glass factories, shipping, railroads, steel mills, bakeries, banking, newspapers, construction, and bridge and canal building.
Luckily, both Western European immigrants and American men answered that call. They and their employers became a massive machine that began to surpass the European industrial juggernaut and drive America to heights never seen before.
By 1900, the US labor force had increased to 29.1 million.
Incredibly, the American workforce in 1850 included only 1.7 million people, but by 1900, the US labor force had increased to 29.1 million! European immigrants and American men were no longer dreaming; they were actually living their dreams!
We should all be grateful to the lonely Prospector depicted on Chris’s coin because he blazed the Freedom Trail to prosperity, for all freedom-loving men, along the very isolated path that leads to the Shining City on the Hill!
Hear! Hear!
Other 2025 Silver Shield Proof Round releases
