Oct. 8 – On this day in Montana history in 1942 the nation woke up to find that some things in troubled times are worth far more than gold. The national War Production Board and War Manpower Commission announced that about 300 of the nation’s largest gold mines that had produced $209 million dollars in gold the year before were being shut down. The government was paying the expenses to transfer roughly 4,000 miners to jobs in copper, zinc and molybdenum mines, which at the time were far more valuable to the national interest than gold. The order affected hundreds of Montanans, and brought others to the state for the first time.