California Mining Stock Certificates

1906 FURNACE CREEK OXIDE COPPER COMPANY - Incorporated (in 1906) Under the Laws of the Territory of Arizona - Mine office: Greenwater, Inyo County, California. Signed by Harry M. Bradhurst as vice president. Reverse signed by A. J. Huneke. The company had 6 claims, lying east of the Furnace Creek Copper Company. SOLD

1903 THE CALIFORNIA KING GOLD MINES COMPANY - Incorporated Under the Laws of the Territory of Arizona - Mines located in Imperial County California, in the Picacho Basin, near the Arizona border. Office at Yuma, Arizona (printed just above the date line). The ghost town of Picacho is about 30 miles north of Yuma. Very attractive certificate! Price - $150

1883 SPRING VALLEY HYDRAULIC GOLD COMPANY - Incorporated (in 1880) Under the Laws of the State of New York - Issued to A. B. Merrill. Early certificate #14. You can tell this one was printed by a bank note company - notice the beautiful deer engraving at the bottom. This company was an aggregation of the following Butte County, California mines: Cherokee, Spring Valley, Eureka, Table Mountain Consolidated, Welch, Cherokee Flat Blue Gravel. Most of the diggings were near the towns of Oroville and Cherokee, California. The Spring Valley produced millions in gold, and more surprisingly had the first discovery of diamonds in California! It is reported that some of these diamonds were as large as 2 carats. Scarce certificate. Price - $225

1909 THE GOLDEN SHEAF MINING COMPANY - Incorporated Under the Laws of the State of California - This is stock #3, issued on the very same day of incorporation, April 16th, 1909. The vignette was copied from a photograph, showing an early miners cabin built on the side of a snowy mountain. The Golden Sheaf Mine was located in Placer County, California, in the Michigan Bluff Mining District, one half mile south of the town of Michigan Bluff. Claims included the No Chunk (a lode gold/quartz vein) and the Beehive, which was a placer gold operation. Signed by E. S. Thompson as president and Chas Kemper as company secretary. Price - $95.00

1899 SAN DOMINGO GOLD MINING COMPANY - Calaveras County, California - This was a successful placer mining operation on San Domingo Creek, which was dredged in later years. Signed by A. B. Thompson as president.
SOLD

1881 THE GOLD STRIPE MINING COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA - Incorporated (in 1880) Under the Laws of the State of New York - Issued to Rowland S. King for 100 shares worth $10 each. Pink background design. GREENVILLE, PLUMAS COUNTY printed beneath title. Price - $185

1914 HORSE MOUNTAIN COPPER COMPANY - Eureka, California - This operation was in Humbolt County. It consisted of 70 unpatented claims. The ore was hauled by railroad to the town of Eureka, which was 25 miles away. The ore concentrates averaged about 20% copper and also contained a small amount of gold.
Price - $62.00

1877 REPUBLIC MILL AND MINING COMPANY - Incorporated April 27th, 1877 - Eureka Mining District, Nevada County, California (printed at top) - Stock# 4 - This gold mine was located at Grass Valley in the Hills Flat area. Signed by E. H. Dyer as president. Office at San Francisco. Original receipt is still attached to left side (not shown in scan). One of the first certificates from a very early California gold mine! Price - $120

190_ CALIFORNIA NAVIGATION & IMPROVEMENT COMPANY - Stockton, California - Large, panoramic vignette showing early sailboats and steamships. Also interesting is there are names on some of the boats: Mary Garratt, J. D. Peters, T. C. Walker, J. R. McDonald. Unissued (Early 1900s) Price - $72.00

1903 POTOMAC OIL COMPANY - Incorporated (in 1901) Under the Laws of the Territory of Arizona - Very impressive certificate. My research indicates that the actual Potomac Oil Company properties were located in California. Offices at Los Angeles, California.
Price - $85.00

Early 1900s SUTTER BASIN COMPANY - Incorporated (in 1913) Under the Laws of the State of California - Owned 54,000 acres of land in Sacramento Valley in an area known as Sutter Basin, located between the Feather and Sacramento Rivers. The company built a network of irrigation canals to water crops and prevent flooding in the region. Printed by the Western Bank Note Co. of Chicago. Unissued.
Price - $60.00

19__ SECRET CANYON MINING COMPANY - Incorporated Under the Laws of California April 3rd, 1909. Principal Place of Business, Sacramento, California. According to a 1911 Secretary of State (CA) publication, this companys' charter was forfeited in 1910.... so this was a very short-lived operation. Certainly a nice name for a mining company. Unissued. Price - $46.00

1904 AMERICAN MINERAL EXPLORATION COMPANY - Incorporated in August of 1903. Issued at San Francisco, California to Frank A. Law and S. O. Law. The title is printed with shiny-gold ink. Vignette shows an early miner pushing an ore cart out of a tunnel. This certificate is very wide and did not fit entirely on my scanner - some of the right and left border do not show in the scan but it is complete. Price - $80.00

1883 THE SANCHEZ AND SOLEDAD CONSOLIDATED GOLD AND SILVER MINING COMPANY - Incorporated Under the Laws of California - San Bernardino County. Ore from this mine assayed from $20 - $1,000 per ton. The veins contained some free gold and hornsilver. Property located on the north side of Soledad Butte, about 4 miles southwest of Mojave. The first settlement in this area was moved each time a new discovery was made - it was known as "Soledad City". Issued at Los Angeles. Signed by James Noel as president. Mojave Mining District. RARE CERTIFICATE. Price - $350

1908 SALT LAKE CALIFORNIA COPPER COMPANY - Incorporated (in 1907) in Utah with an office in Salt Lake City. Also had an office at Smith River, Del Norte County, California. W. Mont Ferry was president and J. H. Turner secretary. Had 10 mining claims near Smith River in the Low Divide District, just 12 miles from the coast of California. The property was first worked from 1857 - 1867 and was one of the first copper mines on the Pacific coast. The ore contained copper, gold and silver. Issued to L. B. McCornick.
Price - $69.00

187_ CATARACT AND WIDE WEST GRAVEL MINING COMPANY - Incorporated October 10th, 1876 - Early California hydraulic gold mine. Detailed oval vignette shows two miners operating high-pressure water hoses used to wash down the gold bearing gravels into their wooden sluice boxes. This was a very destructive form of mining. EHO DISTRICT, CALAVERAS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA printed at the bottom. Shares were worth $100 each. Office at San Francisco. Unissued. (1870s) SOLD

187_ MUNCKTON GOLD AND SILVER MINING COMPANY - Incorporated July 29th, 1870 - Dunderberg Lode, Mono County, California. Very attractive early certificate. This operation was located at Castle Peak, on the head-waters of East Walker River. One of the founders was Dr. George Munckton. Ore was hauled about 30 miles to Aurora, California. The gold was found in a long vein of solid quartz. Office at Carson City, Nevada. Unissued. Printed by Lith. Britton & Rey, San Francisco. Price - $75.00