1907 Map of Goldfield, Nevada
DESCRIPTION
Published at the height of one of the greatest gold rushes in the American West, this remarkable 1907 map captures Goldfield, Nevada, as hundreds of mining companies competed for claims surrounding one of the richest gold discoveries in the country.
Mapping the Goldfield Boom
Published by the Clason Map Company of Denver in 1907, the Map of Goldfield, Nevada provides an extraordinarily detailed picture of the mining district only a few years after gold was discovered there. Hundreds of individually named claims are outlined and differentiated by color, creating a dense patchwork surrounding the rapidly growing town of Goldfield. Among the prominent operations are the Goldfield Consolidated Mines, Jumbo, Combination, Red Top, Florence, Mohawk, and numerous smaller companies and speculative ventures. Long alphabetical indexes along both sides identify the mining companies and provide a key for locating their properties on the map.
The map was issued during the extraordinary climax of the Goldfield gold rush. Gold discoveries beginning in 1902 brought prospectors, investors, mining companies, railroads, and thousands of new residents into the Nevada desert. By 1907 Goldfield had become the state's largest city, and its mines were producing millions of dollars in gold. The crowded and overlapping claims shown here convey something statistics cannot: the extraordinary intensity of speculation as companies sought control of ground surrounding the district's richest discoveries.
A Map Made for the Mining Business
This example was distributed compliments of Robert B. Todd, Mines, Mining and Financial Agent, Goldfield, Nevada, whose advertisement appears prominently at lower right. Rather than simply documenting geography, the map was a working commercial tool intended for investors, brokers, mine operators, and others trying to understand an increasingly complicated mining district. Its combination of individual claims, company ownership, township divisions, roads, and an extensive company index offered a visual guide to the business of Goldfield precisely when interest in the district was at its peak.
CONDITION
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