2015

Silver City,ID - Owyhee County - Dec. 3 1871 - Blake & Co. Assay Receipt *Territorial* :

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Documents Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Silver City,ID - Owyhee County - Dec. 3 1871 - Blake & Co. Assay Receipt *Territorial* :
Memorandum of Crude Bullion deposited at the Assay Office of F. Blake & Co. on December 3, 1871. Number 2817 submitted by Owyhee Mining Company (Poorman Dump). The weight before melting: 791.00 oz., weight after melting: 777.30 oz. Fineness and value of gold: 027, value of gold: $433.81; fineness of silver: 972, value of silver: $976.83; Net value: $1410.64. Charges: $2.00 and $8.79 for a total of $10.79. Certificate is signed “Blake and Co.” Measures 11” X 5.75” in a mottled, handsome frame measuring 16.75” X 11.” Double-matted in ivory and black.
This Blake and Co. was owned by Frank W. Blake, the cousin of Gorham Blake of S.S. Central America fame. After arrived in California from Boston in 1852, Frank settled in Weaverville for seven years, where he eventually opened his own express company. Documents from Blake's Weaverville Express business can be found elsewhere in this sale. After two years in Sacramento, Frank moved to Carson City for a year, only to leave for Unionville, NV, the “Land of Silver.” By 1863, F.W. Blake was issuing assay certificates and serving as mining secretary for several local corporations. He remained in Unionville until 1866, when he left for Silver City, in southern Idaho, where new gold camps were springing up. He set up a successful assay office and was soon the owner of a jewelry store and additional real estate [Holabird, 2008, 467].
“During its ‘heydays’, Silver City had about a dozen streets, seventy-five businesses, three hundred homes, a population of around 2,500, twelve ore-processing mills, and was the Owyhee County seat from 1866 to 1934” [http://www.historicsilvercityidaho.com/]. Several claims were in the vicinity, while the Poorman claim, rediscovered on September 13, 1865, was the subject of litigation and confrontation. The discoverers of a nearby claim, Hays and Ray, argued that the Poorman was located on their claim. The Poorman Company, aware this was true, claimed the Poorman was “separate and parallel” [Wells, 1983, 35]. Following a legal battle, on September 24th a physical confrontation took place. According to the Owyhee Avalanche, “The respective belligerents occupied a line about 100 feet long, with a brush and grass fire raging in hurricane of dust and smoke, there seemed an excellent prospect for promiscuous use of powder and lead on a minute’s notice” [Wells, Gold Camps and Silver Cities, 1983, 36-7] The Poorman defenders built a “fort” of logs, with the battle ending in a stalemate. A judge, accused as having been bribed, eventually ruled the Poorman was part of the Hays and Ray claim [Wells, 1983].