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166

AZ - Mesilla,Pima County - c1862 - San Augusting Mining Company, Arizona, Stock *Territorial* - Fens

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 1,200.00 USD
AZ - Mesilla,Pima County - c1862 - San Augusting Mining Company, Arizona, Stock *Territorial* - Fens
Session D is a Mail-Bid Only Auction. Absentee bids will be accepted only. No live bidding will be allowed. All winners will be contacted after the auction. BIDDING ENDS MONDAY JUNE 27 AT 5PM PACIFIC TIME!!!
Incorporated in Arizona January to March 1862, although dated 186_ on the certificate. Unissued 100-share certificate and unnumbered, but signed by President Sam’l J. Jones and secretary James A. Lucas. Printer: Mesilla Times. Vignette of allegorical Indian woman. U/C. Blue border and print on white paper. Datelined Mesilla, Arizona. Stub is attached. 4 x 10 1/2.” This certificate had national importance. It is an important and special piece, exemplifying the difficulties of political organizational structure with respect to mining companies during the Civil War. The question, “Whose side are you on?” became commonplace in the West. Both Confederate and Union supporters wanted, indeed needed, the bullion producing regions to generate the much needed capital for survival. This certificate is the only one that we know of that was issued from a completely different mind set—from the Confederate Territory of Arizona, as opposed to the Union Territory of Arizona. Mesilla was the capital. All the principals of the company were southern sympathizers. Sylvester Mowry was even jailed briefly for it. At least nine battles were fought on Arizona soil, according to the massive History of the Civil War series. The story of the Confederate forces in Arizona Territory is much deeper than we can explain in this short piece, and interested readers should seek some of the many papers written on this subject.

The San Augustine owned property that produced lead and silver ore from its mine known as the “Puerta San Augustine” located near the Rio Grande on the western slope of the Organ Mountains ENE of Mesilla and north of the road from Dona Anna to San Augustine Pass. It was originally owned by two Spanish men, but their claim was invalidated at the time of the Gadsden Purchase. The original claim certificate said the claim owners were William Claude Jones, G.W. Southwick and Caleb Sherman. Jones was Sam Jones’ brother.

This company is associated with one of the earliest land scams in the American southwest. At the time, the name “Arizona” was applied “to the southern half of New Mexico Territory, from the Staked Plains (Llano Estacado) of Texas to the Colorado River bordering California.” In the late 1850s three promoters, Samuel J. Jones, native of Virginia, Lewis S. Ownings and Robert P. Kelley, were residing in the town of Mesilla on the Rio Grande River near Las Cruces in what is now New Mexico. Jones had been a pro-slavery militant Sheriff in LeCompton, Kansas Territory. They owned, singly or in partnership, a number of businesses in the town and also had interests in mining properties. They realized that the existing population base was too small for them to attain the prosperity they desired, so they concocted a scheme to establish a town site and unabashedly promote it, thus drawing settlers to the area. Kelley had met Sylvester Mowry, a strong Southern sympathizer later jailed in Arizona as a Confederate, in 1858 on a stage ride from Arizona to Missouri, from which he learned of Mowry’s fame and name recognition among eastern investors. Realizing the recognition value of the Mowry name, these promoters chose “Mowry City” as the name for their new town. The town site finally began to establish a population in the spring of 1860 when gold was discovered at Pinos Altos, about 40 miles to the northwest. However, at the outbreak of the Civil War, the Apaches stepped up their campaign of attacks on all white settlers, miners and travelers throughout the region and this ended the promotion of Mowry City. The Jones group chose to use Mesilla as their headquarters for this company because it was the capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona. The San Augustine was thus held by Confederates. Sam Jones, meanwhile, was president of the Mowry City venture and was the provisional governor of the Territory. Jones was the editor and publisher of the Weekly Arizonan, published in Tubac about 1858-59.

This certificate is dated 1862 from a period between January 15th and about April. Mesilla was established as the Confederate capital of Arizona Territory on January 18, 1862 and the Mesilla Times, who printed this certificate, was out of business by spring.

It is the only remaining certificate from the confederate period and “occupation” of Arizona. Very rare. Extremely rare with signatures, and none are known fully issued [References: Bancroft; Biertu in Mowry, 1864, p. 83; Finch, A Southwestern Land Scam, 1990, p. 4; claim transfer dated 4/19/1858, copy with certificate; help from Dan Arbuckle on battles in Arizona].
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