White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1923-07-15
(By l.. C. B~RANsON.)

seem as yesterday n not Oluer tnan
night before last are recalled by the
Goldfeld fire. Nobody eve will
know how many millions of dollars
were made and lost in the area that
was fire swept, most of which there
by will be given back to sagebrush,
lizards and horned toads.
The building that figured mos.
prominently in Goldfeld's stirring
history was the Nixon block, a three
story concrete and stone at the north
east corner of Ramsey and Main
streets. Next perhaps in prominence
historically was the old Northern sa-
loon and gambling house, made ia
nous in it's day as the nesting place
of the subsequent meteoric flight of
Tex Richard as the worlds greatest
fight promoter. Another was the
State Bank and Trust building and
the Nye and Ormsby County Bank
building, in it's last days the First
National.
In the 1906 boom the basement Of
the Nixon block was The stock ex-
change room. The throng: at the
sessions became SO great when Mo-
hawk was skyrocketing from 81 to
$40 a share that the room could not
accommodate the people, so adjourn
ment into the street was taken and
there the sessions were held day
after day, with literally thousands of
people taking part in the proceed
ings. The financial affairs of the
boom conferred around the John S.
Cook & Co. bank, which occupied the
main floor of the bEilding, control OF
which was owned by Senator George
S. Nixon and George Wingfield. 1t
was virtually under the roof OF this
building that the organization of the
biggest strictly Nevada company
ever incorporated was effected, that
of the Goldfield Consolidated Mines
Company, with $50.000,00G capital,
this being a holding company with
all of the principal mines of Gold
field save the Florence. Literally
millions in other deals changed
hands in this building and it may be
said that i'll one way or another it
and its bank figured in the handling
of the $75,0O0,000 in gold that the
camp of Goldfield produced within
less than a dozen years.
The Northern was a long, two
story wooden building on the east
side of Main street, a few doors north
Of the corner of Crook avenue, two
thirds of a block south of the Nixon
block. Ole Elliott in 1904 started
a small saloon on the west side of
Main street called the Combination.
1t was a rough board shack, sideways
to the street. Ole's brother Rusty
tended bar. Soon Ole sold out and
went leasing. One day as he was
coming off shift he stepped into the
Northern and Jim Morrison offered
to sell Ole his interest for 4 reason
able sun.
Count your bank roll" said Ole,
and the deal was made.
That night Ole went on shift as a
partner with Kid Highley and Tex
Richard and until he quit Goldfeld
because of his Ely business Ole vas
a third owner in the Northern of
iGoldfeld.
Ole was one of the n of the
Goldfield Townsite Company. The
others were L. l.. Patrick, Tom Muir
ply. AL Myers, Elmer Shute and Lou
Finnegan. They made considerable
money but lost out in court to Foxy
Grandpa Fox, who held it as a min
ing claim, under a decision of Judge
Stevens. The decision lost them a
million dollars.
l had landed in Goldfeld April /.
1904. from the Klondike. Being ed
ucated up there to stampeding for
mines and racing for newspaper
fields and business openings gener-
ally, l tried to be forehanded by buy
ing a newspaper plant at San Fran
cisco to start the first paper in Gold
field, and among other things had a
first page heading e~lectroplatod in
DeVinne type, THE Goldfeld Sun"
I paid one-third down, taking about
half of the money I had, which all
told was $414.Sn. Stopping between
trains at Reno I found the Journal
people packing up a small plant,
about equal to mine. intending to
beat me to it. They were sending a
country printer named Barndollar
to run it as the ostensible owner,
with a working interest. 1t was a
cinch that he could beat me and so
he did. l hurried to Goldfield and
wired to San Francisco to ship my
plant but the type foundry waited a
whole week after receiving my mes.
sage. Barndcllar came and imme-
diately got cold feet. He came to me
wanting to sell, but the type foundry
had my money and was a stranger
there and unable to borrow. Jimmy
O'Brien was at Goldfeld, without a
dollar but had friends, he having
acted as correspondent and doomed