Product Details
CompanyBluster Consolidated Mines CompanyCertificate TypeCapital StockDate IssuedOctober 11, 1913CanceledNoPrinterGoesSignaturesHand signedApproximate Size11" (w) by 8" (h)ImagesShow the exact certificate you will receiveGuaranteed AuthenticYesAdditional DetailsIssued to and Signed by George Wingfield
Historical Context
The Bluster vein was discovered early in the history of the Jarbidge mining district of Nevada. Almost from the time of discovery the Bluster mine was owned by the Bluster Consolidated Mines Company, of Jarbidge. Around 1911, George Wingfield took a bond on the Bluster and Success mines jointly, but he soon discontinued the bond for want of an extension of time. Then the Bluster Consolidated Mines Company opened up the veins, put in a 10-stamp straight amalgation mill below the mine near the river, and built a 3,400-foot aerial tramway with 1/3-ton buckets to connect the mine and mill. The company operated the mine and mill for six months in 1914 and produced $70,000 in gold bullion, but as the process of treatment was not suited to the ore - the extraction was only about 35 per cent, with the result that nearly two-thirds of the metallic content of the ore treated, or about $140,000 in gold and silver, lied in the tailings pond.
In September, 1921, the property was purchased by the Bonanza Gold Mining Company, of Los Angeles. Later it was reported that the Bluster and Success mines had been examined by Chicago interests, but there is no evidence that the mine ever went on to produce anything of significance.
George Wingfield
This piece is issued to, and signed on the verso by George Wingfield.
George Wingfield was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1876. His family removed to Oregon when he was five years old, and he became a buckaroo on a ranch in Burns. At age 20, he became a cattle drover in Nevada. He arrived in Tonopah in 1902 and dealt cards at the Tonopah Club.
He moved to Winnemucca, where he became friends with United States Senator George S. Nixon. By the age of 30, he made a fortune in Nevada, having mined in Tonopah and Goldfield. With Nixon as his partner, Wingfield was worth $30 million after taking their Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company public in 1906, which had been organized with $50 million in capital.
In 1906, his wife, May, filed for divorce; the case ended in an annulment. In 1908, he moved to Reno and became active in politics, banking, ranching, and hotel-keeping. He owned many of the banks in Nevada, as well as several hotels in Reno, including the Riverside Hotel, and an international mining company. He also ran a ranch and dairy farm in Fallon.
George Wingfield's Signature
In 1928, Wingfield was elected to the University Board of Regents for the University of Nevada, but rejected an offer to become a US Senator. Much of Wingfield's fortune was lost during the Great Depression.
Wingfield was one Nevada's most powerful economic and political figures during the period from 1909 to 1932.
Wingfield Park, alongside the Truckee River in Reno, was built on land donated by George Wingfield. Starting in 1995, a new 1660-acre, 400-home neighborhood was constructed on the site of George Wingfield's former Spanish Springs Ranch. Red Hawk at Wingfield Springs was completed in 2005 and named after Wingfield by its developer, Harvey Whittemore.
Related Collections
