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NV - Beatty,Nye County - c1930 - Judge Ray Correspondence

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 900.00 USD
NV - Beatty,Nye County - c1930 - Judge Ray Correspondence
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!!!
Lot consisting of 80+ receipts, letters, and various other pieces of correspondence addressed to or concerning Judge L.O. Ray. A Justice of the Peace in Tonopah, he became "Judge Ray" to many in southern Nevada. He discovered silver ore on Christmas Day 1901, immediately staking out several claims. This became the camp called "Ray," about 10 miles north of Tonopah. One assay suggesting $240/ton in February 1902 started a small run on the area, but only one mine ended up being developed in the area, and that was much later in the decade. It was said that "A mining excitement in Southern Nevada would not be the real thing if Judge Ray were not there, for he has had a share in all of them." Following his work in Ray, he looked but found little in Goldfield. As one of the locators of the Tramps, Denver, Victor, Peerless, and Eclipse mines in Bullfrog, he was able to make a good fortune from their sale. He was sent to the legislature as one of three representatives of Nye County, while Rhyolite made him president of its board of trade. He was also president of the Rhyolite Mining and Brokerage Company. Most of this lot were sent to Ray in Beatty, while several were sent to Ray c/o Remick's Garage. Multiple pieces were sent by Lida Gilbert, County Recorder and Auditor of Tonopah. Other pieces include: merchandise receipts; Department of Commerce, Bureau of Mines; notes sent from the Lankersham Hotel in Los Angeles, several receipts from Remick's Garage, along with several mining documents listing Ray as Mine Superintendant. Also included are small articles on Ray from Paher's Nevada Ghost Towns & Mining Camps and from Who's Who In Nevada 1907.