[Nevada Mining]: Sills, W.H.:

$550 · Offered by William Reese Company

GOLDFIELD ITS WONDERFUL POSSIBILITIES ITS GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES. An unrecorded booklet strongly encouraging investment in the Goldfield mining district during the height of its success. After gold was discovered at the turn of the century, the appropriately named town of Goldfield was laid out by the end of 1902. Production was such that the town quickly boomed to a population of over 20,000 in 1906, becoming the largest city in Nevada, before falling to less than a quarter of that by 1910 and into the low hundreds following the crash of 1929.Unlike many such pamphlets, this promotional is not tied to a specific mining company, railroad line, or town committee. Instead, it encourages investment in Goldfield mining companies writ large as a foolproof get-rich-quick scheme. Agent W.H. Sills advertises "orders executed for all Goldfield, Manhattan, Tonopah and Bullfrog mining stocks," and entices readers with stories of famous men whose early investments made them wealthy, and assures them that "You cannot invest your money to better advantage or where it promises better returns than by investing in the stocks of legitimate mining companies operating in the southern part of Nevada." Sills encourages swift action, and even includes a page of "Jay Gould Proverbs," including "'Don't wait to see if it pans out all right, for there is where you lose your opportunity.'" Likely printed around 1905, such quick action certainly would have been necessary to capitalize on the boom, which wo

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