The New Mammoth Mining & Milling Co. 1909 antique stock certificate - Colorado

Description

Up for consideration is The New Mammoth Mining & Milling Co. stock certificate from 1909:
#2
Issued to W. C. Stickley (company secretary) for 1 share on May 12, 1909
Signed by F. T. Swift as president and W. C. Stickley as secretary
Incorporated in Colorado
Capital stock of 5,000
Datelined Leadville, Colorado
Uncancelled
Certificate in very good condition, in mark on right border
Vignette of underground miners working with picks, sledges and shovels
The New Mammoth Mining & Milling Company was a consolidation of several mining claims in the California Mining District (California Gulch) of Leadville, including the Silveropolis Claim and several extensions of the original Mammoth Mining Claim (the First Northern, Bradley, Golden King, and the Mammoth Extensions). The ores from these mines produced silver, gold, lead and zinc, which was treated on site by the company’s mill.
Mining in the Leadville area began in 1859 when prospectors working in the channels of the Arkansas River tributaries discovered gold at the mouth of California Gulch. In April 1860, one of the richest discoveries of placer gold in Colorado was discovered at California Gulch. By 1872, placer mining in California Gulch yielded more than ,500,000, roughly equivalent to ,674,478 today. In 1876, piles of sand once considered bothersome to placer gold miners, were discovered to contain lead carbonates (rich in silver) and were traced back to California Gulch. This discovery propelled a rush of miners to the area. The town of Leadville was founded a year later by mine owners Horace Austin Warner Tabor and August Meyer, who are credited with the start of the first silver boom in Colorado. Mining, mineral processing, and smelting in and near Leadville produced gold, silver, lead, copper, manganese, and zinc for more than 130 years. The town was initially known as Slabtown and the first miner build cabins and tents near California Gulch. With the establishment of a post office and a telegraph office in 1878 the town’s name was changed to Leadville. It then grew tremendously and by 1880 it had water mains, gas lighting, six banks, schools, churches, business stores and well-paved streets. California Gulch is very important to the history of the Leadville. The Gulch was also home to some of the richest placer gold deposit in Colorado. Located in the valley between Leadville and Mount Sherman, California Gulch was the site for the first gold discovery in Leadville and subsequently the discovery a major lead deposit in the area too. Several mining towns sprang up in Californian Gulch as early as 1860. The first came to be known as the Oro City.