Haskin-Tonopah Gold Mine Collection, 1929

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Summary

Title:
Haskin-Tonopah Gold Mine Collection,
Dates:
1929
Creators:
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Haskin-Tonopah Gold Mine Collection, Mss91, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Background

Scope and content:

The Haskin/Tonopah Gold Mine Papers consist chiefly of correspondence and clippings pertaining to stock acquisition and ownership change at a particular gold mine near Tonopah, Nevada. The Papers also contain a small file of materials relating to the malpractice investigation of the Pacific Brotherhood Investment Corp.

Biographical / historical:

To virtually "every living Nevadan more than forty years of age, observes the WPA Nevada guide book, "Tonopah stands for modern Nevada, for youth, excitement, hope and the great adventure of a lifetime." A major gold rush began there in 1902, following the accidental discovery of a rich vein of silver. By 1913, production had reached its zenith at $9.5 million, and, by 1921, it had fallen to half that figure. Gradually, one mine after another was turned over to lessors. By 1930 the population of the town had fallen to 2000, but Tonopah survived as a gasoline, machinery and food distribution center. As late as 1940, notes the WPA guide, "residents are strong in the belief that explorations will soon find new wealth."

It was apparently with that hope in view that Western Pacific Railroad locomotive engineer, Joseph J. Haskin and his wife, Veda, of Oakland, Calif., acquired shares in the Electric Gold Mining Co. of Tonopah. When the president of that entity, F.E. Horton, created a new holding company, Weepah-Horton Gold Mining Co., many small investors like the Haskins were unable to pay the two cents per share exchange fee Horton required to convert their holdings from Electric Gold to Weepah-Horton stock.

Joseph Haskin may have been a friend of Horton's. His correspondence suggests that he and his wife had helped Horton to sell Electric Gold stock in the San Francisco Bay Area. His cus-tomers expressed concerns about the new arrangements, while Haskin repeatedly reassured them. In June, Haskin paid his assessment after complaining to Horton about being short of cash.

Joseph Haskin also invested in various Bay Area companies through his union--the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers--which held a controlling interest in the Pacific Brotherhood Investment Corp. In June 1929 this group was investigated for financial malpractice.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Physical description:
0.25 linear ft.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker
Date Prepared:
© 1998
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from paper by means of scanning and OCR; OCR file edited for typographical errors before encoding. Date of source: March 21, 1994.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Haskin-Tonopah Gold Mine Collection, Mss91, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Location of this collection:
University of the Pacific, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University Library
Stockton, CA 95211, US
Contact:
(209) 946-2404
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