7x collection of Montana mining stocks: 1) Eastern Montana Mining & Smelting Company stock certificate No. 261 issued to J.W. Granis for 50 shares on April 25, 1877 in Bozeman, Montana. Signed by president Lester Wilson and secretary J.D. McCamam. Not cancelled. Location: Clark's Fork, Wyoming Territory. Black border and print, small mine hoisting vignette. Printed by A.L. Bancroft & Co, SF. Pinholes. 5.25x10". A smelter, built in 1876 by the Eastern Montana Mining and Smelting Company successfully reduced eighty tons of silver-lead ore to thirty tons of bullion early in 1877. According to local legend, when Joseph, leader of the Nez Perce indians passed through Cooke City in the summer of 1877 in a vain attempt to reach Canada and freedom, his people burned the gold mills and took with them the silver bullion that was ready to be packed out of the area. Afte this episode, new smelters were built and minng resumed, although the crude equipment was inadequate to process any but high-grade ore. Clark's Fork refers to the Clark's River, given that name in 1805 for Captain Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Clark's Fork runs through the Bitter Root range. 2) The Bonanza Chief Gold Mining Company stock certificate No. 2985 for 100 shares issued to Underwood & Frothingham. Signed by Michael Snow (vice president) and Robert Brooks (secretary). Black decorative border with 2 vignettes: 1 of four miners with picks and shovels working on a hillside with a mule standing next to them and a cabin and mountains in the distance at the top and one of an Indian with a rifle seated on a rock on the bottom. Company seal is present at bottom left. Printed by the American Bank Note Company in New York. 11"x 7". This company was incorporated in 1879 under the laws of the Territory of Montana with offices in New York. It was a gold mining company located eight miles from Helena. Placer gold was discovered in the area in about 1864. Soon after, the rich Last Chance Gulch gold placers were discovered on the present site of Helena. About 1 million ounces of gold was mined from the Helena area. 3) Penn Yan Mining Company, Wickes, Montana, 1890. Highly sought-after due to the color vignettes of U.S. coins! Most are unissued. Inc. Under the laws of Montana. Certificate No. 107, issued for 5,000 shares to A Barbour on July 9, 1890 in Helena, Montana. Signed by Henry Hill (president) and George Hill (secretary). Not cancelled. Maroon border, black print, and vignettes of nine U.S. coins, 5 reverses and 4 obverses, including 1876 twenty dollar, 1883 ten dollar, 1880 five dollar, 1873 2 1/2 dollar, and one dollar reverse. Lith. Pioneer Press Co, St. Paul. Partial stub atatched with glue stains. 9x11.5". Folds. The company had it's headquarters in Helena with the mine locate in Wickes (now a ghost town). Produced $50,000,000 in gold and silver before operations ceased in the early 1890's. Records show the business ran from 1888 to 1892. 4) 3x Moulton Mining Company stock certificates. Three different stocks (2 black, 1 blue): Black (1881): Stock cert. No. 553, issued to George W. Parker for 40 shares on September 21, 1881. Blue (1894): Stock cert. No. A1707, issued to R. H. Weems for 100 shares on January 18, 1894 These two stock have same mining vignettes. Both stock are stamp cancelled. Black(1905): Stock cert. No. 105, issued to H.L. Shippy for 100 shares May 25, 1905. Black on creme. All three certificates signed by W.A. Clark as president, for 24 years! Hole punch through earlier cert. signatures but the 1905 signature is untouched). William A. Clark, one of the three "Copper Kings" of Montana, was a very important mining, banking and railroad figure who also served as a U.S. Senator. Clark worked in mining in Colorado before heading for the Montana Gold Rush. he was more successful as a trader than a miner, at first. Later, he went inot banking in Deer Lodge, Montana, repossessing defaulted mining claims. Slowly, he became a powerful mining force.He served as a U.S. Senator from Montana, 1901-1907. 5) Alta Montana Company, Inc. in Montana Territory. No. 1993. Not cancelled. Issued for 100 shares to R.M. Foley on April 21, 1881. Signed by Michael Snow (president) and Robert Brooke (secretary). Two vignettes: locomotive and town in front of mountain with mine. Second is scene of miner being photographed/drawn underground. Printer: ABC. 10.75 x 7" Folds. This mine is one of the oldest in Montana. The Alta was discovered in 1869. Walter Wickes (later president of this company) and other New York capitalists arrived in the late 1870s, took over the Alta, and platted out the camp of Wickes. in 1880, the company reorganized. they owned the Alta, David Copperfield, and Rock Bar lodes (See a detailed report in the Jan. 1, 1880 Helena Weekly Herald). The mill of the Alta was burned down in 1882, and Sam Houser stepped in and rebuilt it. The Alta Mine stopped operating in the 1890s. Wickes nearly burned down in 1901 and 1902. Franklin Collection. Montana