Eureka Quartz Mining Company Stock Certificate

One partially-printed page, 11.25" x 6", El Dorado County, California, January 24, 1853. This unused certificate acknowledges the bearer as the "proprietor of One Shares [$50] of the Capital Stock of the Eureka Quartz Mining Company . . . entitled to the undivided pro rata part of the Capital Stock and profits of said Company." Signed by James A. Shorb as president and E.H. Cornwall as secretary. Two vertical folds with scattered foxing spots.

The Eureka Quartz Mining Company was likely operating in Georgetown, California. There was a second Eureka Mine in Placerville, but it was not active until decades later. The Eureka quartz mine at Georgetown had a 130-foot deep shaft in 1867. It was located immediately north of the Woodside on the same quartz vein, which was about two feet wide. They had a steam hoist, but no mill. The vein had a NE-SW strike and easterly dip averaging about $30 per ton, according to J. Ross Browne in Mineral Resources West of the Rocky Mountains, 1868. By 1882, the mine was 230 feet deep, inactive, and full of water, according to the History of El Dorado County, 1883. This is quite possibly the earliest known lode mining company stock certificate extant. Situated near Woodside, California, the mine operated for several decades before closing sometime around 1882.
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