Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-31
EARLY DAYS In GOLDFlELD

Goldneld camp bristle with Incl
dents Of romantic interest, Of en-
durance, Of disappointments, Of for
tunes fooqshly sacrificed and Of mill
lions accumulated by lucky strikes.
The story Of Goldheld as told by rep
resentative of National Finance Is one
Of fascinating interest.
The men who have made the camps
of the battle-born state remember that
on New Years day four years ago the
present sit, of Goldfeld was a track
less waste, writes the correspondent.
Only n little more than three years
ago a half dozen campers made up
the population of the present thriving
city of $1,000 souls. Where burros once
bore the outfits they come now by
steam and their owners in Pullmans.
on arrival here they speed to neigh
boring camps In automobiles. Isolated
tents of three years since are sup
planted by skyscrapers of stone the
windlasses of those days by the cleo
trio hoists of these. The mines of
Goldfield have made the town of Gold
field a city which ranks at the head of
the Pacific coast column in its volume
of commerce, business of its banks and
it's railroads, it's express and its post
office, its production of gold and its
transfer of stocks. And then the old
Goldheld's first location was the
Sandstorm claim of Harry Stimler and
William March, who journeyed hither
from Tonopah in February of 1903
They reported to friends at Tonopah
the discovery OF rich ore on the north
slope of Columbia mountain, which is
about two miles north of the heart or
the new Goldfeld and stampede re-
suited.
Purely accidental is the exact site of
the town. AL Myers and 7. d. Muir
ply were among the earliest pioneers
and staked the Combination Fraction
and other claims worth many millions
of dollars. They pitched their tents
at Rabbit Springs, some two miles
southwest of the diggings, but in trav-
cling from camp to claim they discov-
cred signs of water and dug a well
where is now the corner of Main and
Myers streets, Goldfield. Subsequent
incomers camped at the spot and from
that nucleus grew the city
Next among the earliest arrivals was
Elmer j. Chute, a surveyor. He, with
Murphy and Myers, Joined by ole Ell
lott, Harry and Tom Ramsy. H. o.
Hall, Con Crooks, ]. H. Foreman,
George Winkler and L. L. Patrick, To-
Gated the Goldfield Placer and later
organized the town site which took
over the Placer holdings. This was in
IL
was organized the mining district of
Goldfield, and Claude M. Smith, the
present incumbent, was elected re-
corder.
In November of 1903 Main street was
laid off by the grubbing away of its
sage brush, and many of the choicest
lots of the present were given free to
any who would occupy them. Those
free lots now run into the thousands
of dollars. Where stands the $780, 900
Nixon block was a shack that sold for
a song. Twenty-Five feet of frontage
which is occupied by the Northern sa-
loon, the largest drinking and gambling
house in the city, was first sold for
$25, sold again for $3.50 and then lost
on single hand in a game of poker.
Fifty dollars bought the site upon
which was erected the magnificent
home of the Montezuma club
The government recognized Goldheld,
as an entity in it's establishment of al
postoffice in January of 1904. and the
district recorder, Claude Smith, was
honored with the appointment of post
master and started business in tent
Goldfeld's postoffice today does busi-
ness of S150,000 per annum, employees
from twelve to twenty clerks meets
payroll of 100000 a year and sells
stamps at the rate of one dollar per
capita population each month.
L. L. Patrick bought from AL Myers
and T. D. Smith the Combination mine
in the fall of 1908, paying $4,000 on the
purchase price of $4,000 on October 26.
Three months thereafter he netted
enough to settle the balance of the ac-
count Since then Combination has
paid nearly $1,0O0,000 in dividends and
was recently sold for $5,00O,000.
Rush to Sandstone
Charlie and Harry Taylor were work.
ing on pipe line near Tonopah when
news of the Sandstorm strike reached
town. They dropped their tools and
hurried to Goldfield and acquired the
Red Top, Jumbo, Florence and Atlanta.
There were thirteen claims in the
group and they gave Dick Colburn half
interest in his choice of them as COM
pensation for the survey of the group.
Colburn took the Red Top, which has
shipped and milled more than $300, 900
worth Of ore. A. A. Bussey happened
to see shooting scrape in Tonopah
and was summoned as a witness to
Belmont. He lacked the money to de-
fray the expenses of the trip and made
a fruitless effort to hypothecate his
one-third interest in the Daisy mine at
Diamondfeld for $40 That same one
third interest is today worth a cold
million.
For twenty years Tom Lockhart felt
the pangs of poverty in his tireless
search for a mine that would make
him independent. He found it in the
Florence.
Fresh from successful ventures in
Tonopah young George Wingield
plunged into the Goldheld camp and
made his first winning from a block
of ground where there is now sinking
the main working shaft of the Flor
ence. From that start he builded his
colossal fortune from the mineral
wealth Of the Sandstorm, Kendall,
Mohawk and other well known prop
critics, achieving his crOwning success
in the purchase and merger of six Of
the most illustrious producers in the
district.
Mohawk best known now of all
Nevada bonanzas, first showed signs
of ore on April 16, 1906. On that day
stock went begging at Sc cents. With
in seven months afterward it had
scored an advance of nearly 0O0C
per cent. James f. Mitchell, who was
Nevadas Republican candidate foI
governor last November, had a lease
on the Mohawk and abandoned it as
a bad lob Some of his successors