4562

Death Valley Railroad Co. (91009)

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Stock & Bond - Transportation Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 500.00 USD
Death Valley Railroad Co.   (91009)
SOLD
475.00USDto b********t+ buyer's premium (118.75)
This item SOLD at 2019 Mar 10 @ 16:09UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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2 stock certificates from Death Valley Railroad Co.@ $100 each. Gray border and gold company seal. Inc. in CA on Jan. 26, 1914. Vignette of train leaving tunnel. 1) Unissued and uncancelled cert. #99. Excellent condition. 2) Cancelled 2 shares cert. #9 issued to N. B. Hinehauman on Mar 10, 1914. Death Valley Railroad was a 3 ft narrow-gauge railroad that operated in California's Death Valley to carry borax with the route running from Ryan, CA to the mines at Ryan C., located just east of Death Valley National Park, to Death Valley Junction, a distance of approximately 20 miles. Borax, which is also called sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is a very important boron compound. It a mineral and a salt of boric acid and a soft colorless crystal that dissolves easily in water. Many uses for Borax, such as in detergents, cosmetics, and enamel glazes. Also used to make buffer solutions in biochemistry, as a fire-retardant, as an anti-fungal compound for fiberglass, as a flux in metallurgy, neutron-capture shields for radioactive sources, a texturing agent in cooking, and as a precursor for other boron compounds. In 1881 borax was discovered in Death Valley by Aaron Winters. Winters sold his claim to William T. Coleman, a prominent San Francisco businessman. A year later Coleman opened the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley and began shipping borax out of Death Valley by way of the famed 20 Mule Teams. William T. Coleman started to have major financial troubles in 1888 and the Harmony Borax Works closed and never reopened. Coleman’s troubles continued and in 1890 Coleman sold his holdings to Francis Marion “Borax” Smith, a very successful borax prospector from Teel’s Marsh, NV. Smith consolidated his properties with those of Coleman’s and created the Pacific Coast Borax Company. Back in 1884 prospectors located outcroppings of colemanite east of the Greenwater Range, east of Death Valley. New discovery was in Amargosa Valley west of the Amargosa River. Claim became known as the Lila C Mine named at the time by its owner, William T. Coleman after his daughter, Lila C Coleman. In 1907 Francis “Borax” Smith started mining operations at the Lila C Mine. Since the mine was over 120 miles from the nearest railroad, Smith and his business partners decided to build a railroad to service the mine. Railroad also possibility to provide freight services in gold and silver mining districts of Goldfield, Tonopah and Bullfrog, NV. Smith assigned his top field engineer, John Ryan, to build a railroad to the Lila C Mine. Smith decided to build the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad north from the Santa Fe line at Ludlow, CA. Grading began on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad in 1905 and the line was completed all the way to the Lila C late in 1907 and ran for 121 miles from Ludlow to Death Valley Junction. After work completed to the Lila C Mine work on the main line was continued and track eventually ran to Beatty, NV. Printed: Smith Bros. Office Outfitters & Printers, Oakland, CA. Prag collection.

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State: California