The Goldfield mining boom began two years after the location of the Tonopah District, and proved another of the great early twentieth century southern Nevada gold rushes. The Florence Mine was located by Charles Taylor on May 19, 1903, and by early 1904 was shipping ore. As with most of Goldfield’s mines, the Florence was developed using the lease system, where short-term companies would lease the mine for a specified time and work it, hoping to make a profit. George Wingfield and George Nixon, both later important in Nevada politics, were part of the first lease, known as the Sweeney lease, and the Florence is credited with their first mining success in Nevada. With some ore assaying at over $600 per ton, the Florence was one of the great Goldfield mines, producing a reported $6.8 million dollars in gold by January 1910. Today owned by Jon Aurich, who is our host for this cache, it is being preserved as an important part of southern Nevada’s mining heritage.
Mark Hall-Patton, Historian
XNGH #3, Queho Posse Chapter #1919
The Ancient and Honourable Order of E Clampus Vitus