Grand Belt Copper Co. - Triple Vignette Mining Stock Certificate of New York
Inv# MS1296 Stock
Stock with great vignette of farmer, eagle, and miners printed by American Bank Note. Cut close to the left margin long ago by clerk. Very common to see this. Interesting to note that this Rare stock is sometimes found signed by Gen’l. George McClellan as President. Superb!
After the Civil War, George B. McClellan, former commander of the Army of the Potomac, became involved in a numberof mining operations around the nation. He first noticed copper deposits in northwest Texas in 1852 while accompanying Captain Randolph Marcy on an expedition to locate the source of the Red River. In 1877, with a geologic report and eyewitness accounts confirming that copper deposits were common in the area, McClellan organized the Grand Belt Copper Company in Philadelphia.
The company purchased 200,000 acres in Hardeman County for 25 cents per acre. Later that year, McClellan set out from Fort Worth accompanied by a large expedition of engineers, miners, carpenters and laborers. McClellan traveled in style. His entourage required more than 200 horses to haul the wagons full of supplies, equipment and McClellan’s personal belongings, which included a full-size metal bathtub, carpets and fine furniture.
Mining operations were suspended when McClellan received the Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey and won a three-year term. But he returned in 1883 with heavy machinery and employees. They setup a primary mine site where Canal Creek and the Pease River meet and began mining in 1884. The ore was mainly found near the surface and was collected from a broad area, including a number of sites within the park.
Up to 100 employees worked the steam-powered machinery and rock-crushing equipment, and a nearby shantytown of saloons, brothels and other frontier businesses soon opened. Major problems and obstacles included transportation, shortages of fuel for the smelters and limited water supply for the ore washers. McClellan died in 1885, but the company continued limited operations until 1887 with little economic success. The venture was abandoned by 1888. Three later attempts at mining the copper ore were made, but none was successful. (From https://tpwd.texas.gov)
A stock certificate is issued by businesses, usually companies. A stock is part of the permanent finance of a business. Normally, they are never repaid, and the investor can recover his/her money only by selling to another investor. Most stocks, or also called shares, earn dividends, at the business's discretion, depending on how well it has traded. A stockholder or shareholder is a part-owner of the business that issued the stock certificates.
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