713

CO - Ouray,December 20, 1880 - Surprise Silver Mining Company, Stock Certificate

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 400.00 USD
CO - Ouray,December 20, 1880 - Surprise Silver Mining Company, Stock Certificate
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 Iowa. Cert. #556 issued to Dora S. Braucht for 5 shares. Signed by Geo. T. Wright, president, and Jas. B. Gregg, secretary. Three vignettes: center of bald eagle with wings spread, and left and right of underground mining scenes. There are two additional vignettes on the reverse. Black border with green safety print and large green imprinted seal above signatures. U/C. Red Oak, Iowa printed beneath masthead. Not cancelU/C Western Bank Note & Engraving Co. (city obscured by signature). 8 ½ x 11.” George Wright and his brother Ed were Canadians who immigrated to Colorado in the 1870s via Silverton and Howardsville (where they were merchants), and then on to Ouray. They made a fortune in mining in the 1870s in Mount Sneffles District up Canyon Creek outside of Ouray. One of their ventures was the Wheel of Fortune Mine, which they located in 1875 and sold in 1877 at a good profit. The brothers invested a good deal of their funds in construction, even while they were still in Silverton. In 1875 George put up a frame structure there known today as the Train Store (at 1257 Greene Street), which became the general store of Joe Lacome in 1876, then the dry goods emporium of Hemphill & McCrimmon, and later the home of The Silverton Standard and The Miner, the oldest continuous newspaper business in western Colorado. George also built the original Alhambra Saloon building in Silverton, which later housed numerous other shops and assay offices [Ref: www.silvertonmagazine.com/downtown/walking_tour.html]. By 1880 the brothers were busy in Ouray, and in 1881 they purchased several lots on the corner of Third Street (now Main Street/Highway 50) where they put up the first Wright Brothers Building considered “A wonder of the time.” South of this building they commissioned Francis Carney to construct the Wright Opera House in 1888, “…because Ed Wright and his wife, Letitia, believed that the populace of Ouray needed to be provided with cultural opportunities to offset the influence of the dance halls, saloons, gambling dens, and houses of ill repute. They wanted to create a decent establishment that would feature cultural and educational programs of high quality for the entertainment and enlightenment of the young people and adults within the community” [Ref: savethewright.org/].