The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-11-02
AN INCIDENT IN
CAREER OF ODDIE
(Reprinted from the October 13. 1910,
issue of The Silver State)

issue OF Ine silver StateD
An old timer in Tonopah the other
day told an incident which occurred in
the early days of the camp. showing
the caliber of T. l.. Oddie, Republican
candidate for governor.
AS one of the original owners OF the
Tonopah Mining Company's property,
he was its first manager. When the
Philadelphia parties purchased the
property, by reason of his ability,
they continued him in the manage
ment, which he held for about five
years.
Jim Butler and Oddie granted one
hundred and thirty leases on the
ground in 1910 These leases were all
oral and one of the oral clauses was
that the ore should be forfeited if on
the ground more than forty-five days
after the expiration of the leases.
Shortly before their expiration
committee of the leasers went to Oddie
and Butler and asked for more time
to remove their ore, as to keep within
the agreement would entail great
hardship and expense to them as the
vast ore dumps aggregated many thou
sands of tons and were valued at hun
dreds of thousands of dollars. Oddie
and Butler told the committee that
they could leave the ore on the ground
until the company needed il and thes
would be given sufficient notification
before the company would ask for the
ground which they were then using
for dump room. The leasers then bent
all their energies on extracting the
greatest amount of ore possible before
their leases expired.
Before the forty-fve days limit had
expired which Oddie and Butler had
waived orally, the then president OF
the company in Philadelphia notified
oddie not to allow any more ore to be
removed after the original forty-fiv,
days limit had been reached, as the
company would not recognize the
oral agreements made by Butler and
0ddie. Oddie knew that this would
mean untold loss to the leasers, many
of whom were poor men, and his wrath
and fighting spirit were aroused. He
wrote letter to the president of the
company in Philadelphia something
ike this: s---..-@e i'a-.sv
''As manager of your company.
made verbal agreement with all the
leasers. waving the original forty five
days clause in the leases. You refused
to ratify my action in this matter be-
cause ii was not in writing. The
leases have all been oral, as the word
OF Jim Butler and myself has always
been considered sufficient out here.
Now. as one of the leasers, l will
take my own ore away first and will
permit every other leaser to do the
same, and as district attorney of this
county l will not permit any inter
ference by the county officials. These
men have kept faith with your COM
pany, and | am going to see that they
receive square deal; they have
worked honestly and faithfully and 1
will not permit them to be cheated out
Of one dollars worth of ore to which
they are entitled"
The result of this letter was that
the company backed down completely
and never made another attempt to
trample on the rights of the leasers.
They took the ore from the ground
when they could secure transportation
to the smelters and many a poor man
secured a comfortable fortune by rea-
son of Oddie's attitude in this matter.
This is but another example of how
oddie has always stood for a Square
Deal" for the man who works.