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Bank of CA Promissory Note, W. Sharon, A. Hayward 1870 [173801]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 600.00 USD
Bank of CA Promissory Note, W. Sharon, A. Hayward  1870  [173801]

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Bank of California promissory note for $20,000 issued in 1870 in San Francisco to A(lvinza) Hayward. Signed by Hayward on reverse. Signed by William Sharon as agent. This is likely related to their Comstock operation the Union Mill & Mining Company. Sharon was one of the most powerful men on the Comstock, running the Bank of California for William Ralston. The bank made a fortune by loaning to mining companies and then seizing their properties when they defaulted. Sharon was instrumental in the creation of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, which he wanted to connect the Comstock with the ore mills he owned along the Carson River (with Ralston). Later in life, he also served as a U.S. senator. Alvinza Hayward was one of the “Bank Crowd” and an owner of the Union Mill & Mining Co. He found his first success in mining in the California Gold Rush, investing in the Eureka Mine in Amador County and then later in the Utica Mine in Angel's Camp. He also invested heavily in the Comstock Lode and had close connections to Sharon and the Bank of California Crowd (once serving as the bank's director). However, he worked with John P Jones in 1872 to take over the Crown Point Mine in Gold Hill which played into the end of Sharon's reign and the beginning of Mackay's. Virginia City Nevada