Starr-Grove Silver Mining Company 1880 antique stock certificate

Description

Up for consideration is a Starr-Grove Silver Mining Company stock certificate from 1880:
#150
Issued to M. E. Feyh for 150 shares on December 6, 1880
Signed by William S. Clark as president and John Bathwell as secretary
Incorporated in New York
Capital stock of ,000,000
Datelined New York
Printer: American Bank Note Company
Uncancelled
Certificate in good condition
William Smith Clark (1826-1886) of Amherst, MA was also the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now University of Massachusetts at Amherst), as well as president of Sapporo Agricultural College in Japan (now Hokkaido University). When gold was discovered in Lewis Canyon, about 10.5 miles southeast of Battle Mountain, people in and around Amherst, Clark’s home town, rushed to purchase stock in the new company. But when the company announced the proposed construction of a 12-mile narrow gauge railroad from Lewis Junction to the town of Lewis and the mines south of town, and dividends ceased to be paid, many investors sold their shares. The line was completed in 1881. Accumulated debt, however, quickly caused the sale of the railroad right-of-way, and soon after the Starr-Grove mine went bankrupt, and operations ceased.