Carmack Gold and Copper Mining Co. signed by George Carmack (Started Klondike Gold Rush) - Washington 1903

Beautiful certificate from the Carmack Gold and Copper Mining Co issued in 1903. This historic document has an ornate border around it with a vignettes of working miners and a mill site. This item has the signatures of the Company's President, George Washington Carmack and Secretary, L.O. Lane and is over 104 years old. This is the only example of this company's certificate we have seen and believe it is quite rare. The certificate was issued to Dr. Herman Reinhard.


George Washington Carmack's Signature


Certificate Vignette

The Carmack Gold and Copper Mining Co. was organized in 1899 and had its mine office in North Bend, King County, Washington. The company had 5 claims on the south fork of the Snoqualmie River, 22 miles northeast of north Bend.

George Carmack (1850-1922),

The discovery of placer gold in the Klondike a century ago set off one of the world's greatest gold rushes and forever changed the history of the Yukon Territory and Canada. Though controversy still exists as to who made the discovery, it is agreed that four men sparked the stampede: George Carmack, the son of an American forty-niner; his Tagish Indian partners, Skookum Jim Mason and Tagish Charlie; and prospector Robert Henderson of Nova Scotia.

In the summer of 1896, Carmack and his native partners were at a fish camp at the junction of the Yukon and Klondike rivers. None could imagine that events to follow would transform their tranquil wilderness into a booming city of 30,000 in just two years.

During a visit to the camp, Henderson told Carmack of some promising "colors" he had found while panning in Gold Bottom Creek. Carmack asked if he could stake claims nearby, as was the custom. Henderson replied that Carmack was welcome, but that his Indian friends were not.

A week or so later, Carmack and his partners checked out Henderson's showing, which didn't impress them. During the brief visit, Henderson further offended Jim and Charlie by refusing to sell them tobacco. His prejudices would ultimately cost him a fortune.

Carmack and his partners returned to Rabbit Creek, the tributary of the Yukon River in which they previously had found the colors. It was there, on August 16, 1896, that they made their startling discovery - one of them found a gold nugget the size of a dime. While Carmack always maintained that he saw it first, both Jim and Charlie agreed that it was Jim's discovery.

After years of prospecting with mixed results, this was the richest find any of them had ever seen, with raw gold laying thick between the rocks. The next morning Carmack and Charlie set out to register the claims, while Jim guarded the discovery, named Bonanza Creek. Other prospectors soon heard the news, but not Henderson - he continued to work his meager claim just over the hill. By the time he found out, all of Bonanza Creek had been staked. Also staked was a small branch named Eldorado, which proved to be even richer. Convinced that the discovery had been triggered by his suggestion, a bitter Henderson claimed Carmack had broken a promise to keep him informed of any find in the area.

After the news reached Alaska, and later the world, thousands of men and a few hardy women packed up and set out for the growing town that was to become Dawson City, named after George Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada. The great Klondike gold rush was on.

At the height of the rush, 22,000 people climbed the arduous Chilkoot Pass on their way to the Yukon goldfields. Faded photographs showing a thin black line of climbers on the snow-clad mountain are among the most poignant and memorable images of Canadian history.

The Klondike rush opened up the North, as well as Canadians' eyes to its possibilities. An active placer mining industry continues in the Yukon today and some of its miners are the descendants of the men and women who joined the Klondike rush a century ago.

History from the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. Oldcompany.com and Wikipedia.

George Carmack

George Washington Carmack (September 24, 1860 – June 5, 1922)[1] was a Contra Costa County, California-born prospector in the Yukon. He was originally credited with the discovery of gold that set off the Klondike Gold Rush on August 16, 1896.

After coming to the Yukon in the 1880s, he met and married a Tagish First Nation woman who went by the name Kate. Carmack was not popular with other miners who nicknamed him "Squaw Man" for his association with native people and "Lyin' George" for his exaggerated claims. Nevertheless, he did find a coal deposit near what is today the village of Carmacks, Yukon which was named after him. Since 1885, Mr. Carmack had been trading, fishing and trapping in the North such as the Yukon territory.[

In August 1896, he and Kate were fishing at the mouth of the Klondike River when Skookum Jim, his nephew Dawson Charlie and another nephew found them. Prospector Robert Henderson who had been mining gold on the Indian River, just south of the Klondike, suggested that he should try out Rabbit Creek, now Bonanza Creek, where the gold discovery was made.

In 1899, George Carmack founded the The Carmack Gold and Copper Mining Co. in the state of Washington.

History from Wikipedia and OldCompanyResearch.com (old stock certificate research service).