1022

NV - Bullfrog,Nye County - February 10, 1908 - Hayseed Mining Company Check - Gil Schmidtmann Collec

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:62.00 USD Estimated At:125.00 - 175.00 USD
NV - Bullfrog,Nye County - February 10, 1908 - Hayseed Mining Company Check - Gil Schmidtmann Collec
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!!!
Check #189 is drawn on the John S. Cook & Co. Bank of Rhyolite and issued to J.P. Nelson for $155. Signed by F.T. Kerns, Assistant Secretary. Datelined Rhyolite. Crème paper with black print and the name of the company in large orange lettering at center. In November of 1904 Richard and Gus Lee located the Hayseed and State Line mines, near what became Lee, CA, thus marking the beginnings of the Lee Mining District. In May, they optioned the Hayseed to Goldfield speculator W. F. Patrick for $75,000 with 10% down. Patrick died suddenly two months later and the boys found they got to keep both the Hayseed and the $7,500 down payment. This certainly beat selling the mine, so they eagerly optioned it again, and again, and yet again, collecting another $7,500 to $10,000 on each round. The only problem was that they didn't bother to wait for the one option to expire before letting the next one. Litigation over the Hayseed was finally settled in February, 1907 and the Hayseed Mining Company was formed by Rhyolite promoters. Assays reportedly up to $123,000 per ton fueled excitement about the property [REF: Lingenfelter, R. E., 1986, Death Valley & the Amargosa, Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley, pp 278-279].