Souvenir Mining Spoons/Souvenir Mining Spoon Lead SD

Souvenir Mining Spoons

Souvenir Mining Spoon Lead SD.JPG - SOUVENIR MINING SPOON LEAD SD HOMESTAKE MINE - Sterling silver spoon, 6 1/4 in. long, embossed mining scene of Homestake Mine in bowl with engraved LEAD, S. D. in bowl, handle with mining pan, picks and rope [The founding of Lead, SD and the discovery of the Homestake Gold Mine are intertwined as one of the earliest enterprises associated with the Gold Rush of 1876 in the northern Black Hills of what was then Dakota Territory. Brothers Fred and Moses Manuel and their partner Hank Harney located their Homestake claim on April 9, 1876. Moses Manuel liked what he saw in an outcropping of a vein of ore, referred to as a lead and pronounced "leed." The name stuck. Soon more prospectors materialized, and no time was lost in selecting a site for a new town. On July 10, 1876 work began on laying out the town lots, and that work was completed the next day. Miners were offered the lots, 50 x 100 feet, but were required to build on the lots in 60 days or forfeit them. That spurred many to build on the front half and then sell the back half. Progress came quickly. Telegraph service began December 1st and by early 1877 four hotels, a grocery store, saloon, bakery and butcher shop were up and running. In June 1877 George Hearst, who had earlier sent an agent to offer a bond to owners of the Homestake claim, bought the four and one half acre claim for $70,000. No stranger to mining, Hearst had mining interests in Missouri, California during its gold rush, Nevada, Utah, and Montana. He later represented the State of California in the United States Senate. He and his wife Phoebe had one son, William Randolph Hearst, who, rather than continue in his father's footsteps in the mining businesses, chose to manage his father's newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner. William became a publishing magnate and was a pioneer in the radio and television industries. With a population of 8,392 in 1910, Lead was the second largest community in South Dakota. The employment opportunities for not only miners, but also laborers and mechanics were excellent. After George Hearst's death in 1891, his widow Phoebe made substantial contributions to the educational and cultural life of Lead. She was responsible for the establishment of the first kindergarten in the entire West. In addition, she arranged for the Homestake Mining Company Homestake Opera House and Recreation Building to be constructed as gifts to the community from the company. In 1974, most of Lead was added to the National Register of Historic Places under the name of the "Lead Historic District". Over four hundred buildings and 580 acres were included in the historic district, which has boundaries roughly equivalent to the city limits. After more than 125 years of continuous operation, the Homestake Mine was the largest, deepest (8,240 feet) and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before closing in January 2002. Lead and the Homestake Mine have been selected as the site of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, a proposed NSF facility for low-background experiments on neutrinos, dark matter, and other nuclear physics topics, as well as biology and mine engineering studies.]

Souvenir Mining Spoon Lead SD | SOUVENIR MINING SPOON LEAD SD HOMESTAKE MINE - Sterling silver spoon, 6 1/4 in. long, embossed mining scene of Homestake Mine in bowl with engraved LEAD, S. D. in bowl, handle with mining pan, picks and rope [The founding of Lead, SD and the discovery of the Homestake Gold Mine are intertwined as one of the earliest enterprises associated with the Gold Rush of 1876 in the northern Black Hills of what was then Dakota Territory. Brothers Fred and Moses Manuel and their partner Hank Harney located their Homestake claim on April 9, 1876. Moses Manuel liked what he saw in an outcropping of a vein of ore, referred to as a lead and pronounced "leed." The name stuck. Soon more prospectors materialized, and no time was lost in selecting a site for a new town. On July 10, 1876 work began on laying out the town lots, and that work was completed the next day. Miners were offered the lots, 50 x 100 feet, but were required to build on the lots in 60 days or forfeit them. That spurred many to build on the front half and then sell the back half. Progress came quickly. Telegraph service began December 1st and by early 1877 four hotels, a grocery store, saloon, bakery and butcher shop were up and running. In June 1877 George Hearst, who had earlier sent an agent to offer a bond to owners of the Homestake claim, bought the four and one half acre claim for $70,000. No stranger to mining, Hearst had mining interests in Missouri, California during its gold rush, Nevada, Utah, and Montana. He later represented the State of California in the United States Senate. He and his wife Phoebe had one son, William Randolph Hearst, who, rather than continue in his father's footsteps in the mining businesses, chose to manage his father's newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner. William became a publishing magnate and was a pioneer in the radio and television industries. With a population of 8,392 in 1910, Lead was the second largest community in South Dakota. The employment opportunities for not only miners, but also laborers and mechanics were excellent. After George Hearst's death in 1891, his widow Phoebe made substantial contributions to the educational and cultural life of Lead. She was responsible for the establishment of the first kindergarten in the entire West. In addition, she arranged for the Homestake Mining Company Homestake Opera House and Recreation Building to be constructed as gifts to the community from the company. In 1974, most of Lead was added to the National Register of Historic Places under the name of the "Lead Historic District". Over four hundred buildings and 580 acres were included in the historic district, which has boundaries roughly equivalent to the city limits. After more than 125 years of continuous operation, the Homestake Mine was the largest, deepest (8,240 feet) and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before closing in January 2002. Lead and the Homestake Mine have been selected as the site of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, a proposed NSF facility for low-background experiments on neutrinos, dark matter, and other nuclear physics topics, as well as biology and mine engineering studies.]

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