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Wiegand, Winters and the Yellow Jacket Mine - 1865 Assay Report, Gold Hill, Nevada

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Wiegand, Winters and the Yellow Jacket Mine - 1865 Assay Report, Gold Hill, Nevada
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This is a great assay piece and an even greater historical document. 7.5 x 11.5"

1) The Yellow Jacket Mine was one of the biggest producers on the Comstock. William Sharon (Bank of California crowd) would eventually gain control. He would manipulate the stock so that his friends and insiders would get rich and the common many would lose their money.

2) John Winters was his superintendent from 1864 to 1870. He was quite famous in his own right as a Washoe valley rancher and race horse owner. Winters would quit in a row with Sharon in 1870. He complained that, "To feed his [Sharon's] mills I've mixed waste rock with Yellow Jacket ore until it would scarcely pay for crushing."

3) Conrad Wiegand was the assayer for this ore. He was the Comstock's premier 1800's assayer.

4) The story of Wiegand's death is directly related to his association with John Winters. Wiegand hastened his meeting with his maker on May 31, 1880 by questionably committing suicide in his office by way of hanging. Though there were injuries to the body and blood was found in unusual places in his office, his death was ruled a suicide by the Storey County Coroner. He was suffering serious debt, though his wife felt it was under control. He also suffered fits of what he himself considered insanity, and he feared that mental condition as an ultimate fate at old age. Many people thought Wiegand was murdered, and the usual suspect was believed to be John Winters. Even Territorial Enterprise Editor Goodman thought there was a bit of possible tom-foolery in the death.

Date: Location: Virginia City, Nevada HWAC # 53581