Premium pages left without account:

Auction archive: Lot number 450

Leadville, Colorado, Mining Companies, Large Collection of Autographed Checks, Early 20th Century

Estimate
n. a.
Price realised:
US$108
Auction archive: Lot number 450

Leadville, Colorado, Mining Companies, Large Collection of Autographed Checks, Early 20th Century

Estimate
n. a.
Price realised:
US$108
Beschreibung:

Ca 1902-1939. Over 400 checks and payroll receipts from Leadville, Colorado mining companies. they fall primarily in three groups: 1902, 1915, and 1939. Includes incomplete runs of cancelled checks for The Yak Mining, Milling and Tunnel Co. from June 10, 1902 (55) (in the 8031 - 8093 number range); Dec. 10, 1902 - 70 and Dec. 13 - 21 (all in the 8850-8944 number range) plus two more. The June checks are signed by W.E. Morrow and Walter W. Davis. The December checks are signed by J.R. Champion. The second group contains cancelled checks from the Pay Roll Account of The Yak Mining, Milling and Tunnel Company for Dec. 10, 1914 - 1; Jan. 9, 1915 - 116 (check range 19053-19179); May 10, 1915 - 10; and Aug. 10, 1915 - 58 (check range 20046 - 20146). These are also signed by J.R. Champion. Both groups of Yak M., M. & T. Co. checks are drawn on the Carbonate National Bank. The third group consists of pay stubs, the first two dated Dec. 10, 1938 from R.T. Walker, and the remaining 88 from Feb. 10, 1939 from the Resurrection Mining Company, the pay stubs nearly identical other than company name (suggesting it changed the first of the year?). These have lines for four different pay rates, two regular and two overtime. There are a few men with multiple jobs. One Richard Bryant for example was paid for 84 hours at 47 cents/ hr. as a "Mucker" and 28 hours overtime for the same job at 71 1/2 cents/hr; plus 78 hours at 52 cents/hr as a Miner, and 26 overtime hours at 81 1/2 cents/hr. These checks have Social Security tax taken out, as well as a "hospital fee" of $1. The Social Security Act was signed in August 1935. A decade after the Forty-Niners headed to California, the Fifty-Niners headed to Colorado with the discovery of gold just north of Pike's Peak. As the hopeful millionaires spread out along mountain streams and valleys, a few made it to California Gulch at its intersection with the Arkansas River. At first it only produced a little gold, not enough to cause a frenzy. But with the melting of the winter snows in 1860, placer gold was found in California Gulch in quantities enough to attract attention. Approximately 10,000 miners came that summer, removing about $2 million in gold from California and Iowa Gulches. The pace continued for only a few years, and the miners left in huge numbers. An assay on the black sands that were in the way of the placer recovery indicated that it was cerussite and had a high silver content. Recovery of silver required hard rock mining, and camps grew into towns to extract the mineral. Leadville was founded by Horace Tabor and August Meyer in 1877, the name "winning" over "Cerussite" and "Lead City" when they applied for a post office. Fortunes were made and lost in those hills. Tabor became one of the richest men in America by the early 1880s. By the time of his death in 1899, he was penniless. Much of the Guggenheim fortune was made in Leadville, as was David May's (May Company department stores). Margaret "Unsinkable Molly" Brown and her husband J.J. made their fortune in the Leadville mines before she survived the Titanic disaster. But not all fortunes were made in the mines. Alice Iver ("Poker Alice") claimed to have won over a quarter million dollars "honestly" at the local gaming tables. In its early years Leadville was a rough town with somewhere between 15,000 and 50,000 miners - mostly single men, 100 saloons and dozens of gambling houses that offered other kinds of entertainment as well. When attempts were made to "clean up" the town in the twentieth century, the locals resisted, prostitution being an ingrained part of local culture. But Horace Tabor knew he had to get the town stabilized before business could thrive. The first marshal he hired was beaten and run out of town in just two days, and the second was shot after five weeks on the job. The third hire was Mart Duggan, a gunfighter, who is credited with finally cleaning up the town. As the "easily" mined silver played out, other miner

Auction archive: Lot number 450
Auction:
Datum:
21 Jul 2016
Auction house:
Cowan's Auctions, Inc.
Este Ave 6270
Cincinnati OH 45232
United States
info@cowans.com
+1 (0)513 8711670
+1 (0)513 8718670
Beschreibung:

Ca 1902-1939. Over 400 checks and payroll receipts from Leadville, Colorado mining companies. they fall primarily in three groups: 1902, 1915, and 1939. Includes incomplete runs of cancelled checks for The Yak Mining, Milling and Tunnel Co. from June 10, 1902 (55) (in the 8031 - 8093 number range); Dec. 10, 1902 - 70 and Dec. 13 - 21 (all in the 8850-8944 number range) plus two more. The June checks are signed by W.E. Morrow and Walter W. Davis. The December checks are signed by J.R. Champion. The second group contains cancelled checks from the Pay Roll Account of The Yak Mining, Milling and Tunnel Company for Dec. 10, 1914 - 1; Jan. 9, 1915 - 116 (check range 19053-19179); May 10, 1915 - 10; and Aug. 10, 1915 - 58 (check range 20046 - 20146). These are also signed by J.R. Champion. Both groups of Yak M., M. & T. Co. checks are drawn on the Carbonate National Bank. The third group consists of pay stubs, the first two dated Dec. 10, 1938 from R.T. Walker, and the remaining 88 from Feb. 10, 1939 from the Resurrection Mining Company, the pay stubs nearly identical other than company name (suggesting it changed the first of the year?). These have lines for four different pay rates, two regular and two overtime. There are a few men with multiple jobs. One Richard Bryant for example was paid for 84 hours at 47 cents/ hr. as a "Mucker" and 28 hours overtime for the same job at 71 1/2 cents/hr; plus 78 hours at 52 cents/hr as a Miner, and 26 overtime hours at 81 1/2 cents/hr. These checks have Social Security tax taken out, as well as a "hospital fee" of $1. The Social Security Act was signed in August 1935. A decade after the Forty-Niners headed to California, the Fifty-Niners headed to Colorado with the discovery of gold just north of Pike's Peak. As the hopeful millionaires spread out along mountain streams and valleys, a few made it to California Gulch at its intersection with the Arkansas River. At first it only produced a little gold, not enough to cause a frenzy. But with the melting of the winter snows in 1860, placer gold was found in California Gulch in quantities enough to attract attention. Approximately 10,000 miners came that summer, removing about $2 million in gold from California and Iowa Gulches. The pace continued for only a few years, and the miners left in huge numbers. An assay on the black sands that were in the way of the placer recovery indicated that it was cerussite and had a high silver content. Recovery of silver required hard rock mining, and camps grew into towns to extract the mineral. Leadville was founded by Horace Tabor and August Meyer in 1877, the name "winning" over "Cerussite" and "Lead City" when they applied for a post office. Fortunes were made and lost in those hills. Tabor became one of the richest men in America by the early 1880s. By the time of his death in 1899, he was penniless. Much of the Guggenheim fortune was made in Leadville, as was David May's (May Company department stores). Margaret "Unsinkable Molly" Brown and her husband J.J. made their fortune in the Leadville mines before she survived the Titanic disaster. But not all fortunes were made in the mines. Alice Iver ("Poker Alice") claimed to have won over a quarter million dollars "honestly" at the local gaming tables. In its early years Leadville was a rough town with somewhere between 15,000 and 50,000 miners - mostly single men, 100 saloons and dozens of gambling houses that offered other kinds of entertainment as well. When attempts were made to "clean up" the town in the twentieth century, the locals resisted, prostitution being an ingrained part of local culture. But Horace Tabor knew he had to get the town stabilized before business could thrive. The first marshal he hired was beaten and run out of town in just two days, and the second was shot after five weeks on the job. The third hire was Mart Duggan, a gunfighter, who is credited with finally cleaning up the town. As the "easily" mined silver played out, other miner

Auction archive: Lot number 450
Auction:
Datum:
21 Jul 2016
Auction house:
Cowan's Auctions, Inc.
Este Ave 6270
Cincinnati OH 45232
United States
info@cowans.com
+1 (0)513 8711670
+1 (0)513 8718670
Try LotSearch

Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!

  • Search lots and bid
  • Price database and artist analysis
  • Alerts for your searches
Create an alert now!

Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.

Create an alert