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1071

Goldfield History

Currency:USD Category:Western Americana Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Goldfield History
Goldfield, with a population of 286, is a sleepy town in the middle of Nevada. But in 1906 it was booming mining town with a population over 30,000. For a brief two years it became the largest city in Nevada. People flocked to Goldfield from all over the country looking to make their fortunes in this, one of the last of the great gold rushes. The estimated value of ore mined from 1906-1907 alone was over $15 million.
Despite its prosperity, Goldfield experienced a series of debilitating labor disputes from 1906-1908. The radical socialist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or “Wobblies”) and the more moderate Western Federation of Miners vied for control of the district’s organized labor. The unions opposed the monopolistic control of the large mining conglomerates such as George Wingfield’s. The social tensions and threat of violence against the mining companies was so high in December 1907 that Nevada Governor Sparks urged President Theodore Roosevelt to send in federal troops. Eventually non-union miners took the place of the union workers, many of whom were in desperate need of work and left the union. By March 1908, the unions had been broken, but the heydays of spectacular strikes in Goldfield were over.
Despite the simmering labor unrest and financial uncertainties, Goldfield was still an exuberant western town in 1907 and 1908. It hosted holiday parades, drilling matches, and was even a stop for the Great New York to Paris Automobile Race. Downtown boasted a commercial district full of five-story buildings, over five banks, five newspapers (two daily and three weekly), three railroads, and more brokerage houses than could be counted.
This fabulous notebook collection of over 140 pieces of correspondence, newspaper articles, maps, advertising pieces, receipts, and market reports that will bring 1907 Goldfield to life. The papers are mostly from brokerage houses and allow you to follow the development and propaganda as these mines vie for investor dollars. This collection is a history lesson waiting to be explored.

Information from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas digital collection site.
City: [/b]GoldfieldCounty: EsmeraldaState: NV
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