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Murphy Mining Company Stock Certificate, 1872 [195378]

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Stock & Bond - Mining Start Price:75.00 USD Estimated At:150.00 - 250.00 USD
Murphy Mining Company Stock Certificate, 1872 [195378]
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"Twin River District" printed at top center, "Nye County, Nevada" at bottom center. Inc. 1872. Low number 5, issued for 10,000 shares to president Hill Beachy in SF in 1872. Signed by Beachy and secretary King. Not cancelled. Black border and print, mining vignette. Stock Report, Print. 25 cent revenue stamp at left. Folds, creases. Hill Beachy operated a stagecoach office and hotel in Lewiston, Idaho in the 1860s. Beachy's friend, Llyod Magruder, was robbed and murdered on his way back to Lewiston from mines in Montana in 1863. Beachey tracked the men - James Romaine, David Renton and Chris Lower - to San Francisco and had them hauled back to Lewiston where they were tried and hanged; the first legally sanctioned execution in Idaho Territory. The territorial government paid Beachy a $6,000 reward. [Ref: History of the State of Idaho, Brosnan]. Before Hilary "Hill" Beachy became one of the owners of the Golden Chariot mine in Silver City, Idaho, he was a man of enterprise in Lewiston. He operated the Luna House Hotel and a stage line. He also operated a stage line in Silver City, Idaho, and established Dinner Station 60 miles south of Mountain City, Nevada.
First discovered in 1865, the Murphy mine was the leading producer at Ophir. A 20-stamp mill was erected and with it the first experimental Stedefeldt furnace, Ophir's peak population was about 400 until it started to diminish in 1870. Ophir, in the Twin River district, was located in Nye County and was so named for the two streams flowing into Big Smoky Valley. It was located 50 miles south of Austin, Nevada. The district was the scene of a rush between 1865 and 1869. The Sacramento Daily Union reported in 1875 that the Ophir Canyon area was being revived. New laws were being formed. One mine that seems ready to produce is the old Murphy.

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Date: 1872
Country (if not USA):
State: Nevada
City: Nye County
Provenance: Douglas McDonald Collection