Daily Morning Union October 12, 1904
Grass Valley, California
Goldfield was otherwise known as New Mining Camp in 1904, the height of the boom.
This week's theme is Most....John Hansen (my great grandfather) was a natural born storyteller. He even wrote a complete manuscript telling of his many adventures in Central America in 1910. Those stories blurred the line between reality and tall tales but were non the less very fun to read!
I do believe this story was one of the first stories of John's to be published and shows his ability as a storyteller. He wrote it (or told it to a reporter looking for a sensational story) for the local paper. The Daily Morning Union readers wanted to know what John was up to in Goldfield, Nevada when he should have been home in Grass Valley with his new bride Vere (they married in July of 1904). But...was his story true or made up? A most confounding question. You decide!
John Hansen was in Goldfield, Nevada, scoping out gold mines and opportunities to make some money during the boom of 1904. He even purchased shares in several gold mines a few years later in 1906 and 1907. Goldfield was at one time the largest town in the state, fueled by a feverish goldrush which quickly dried up by 1910. John may have been lured by the promise of easy riches during the boom; instead of gold he came home with this intriguing story of his journey in the desert. It reads like a tall tale, but, like the rest of his stories, there must have been a little truth in there somewhere!
John purchased 700 shares in the Manhattan Combination Mining Company in Goldfield, Nevada in 1906. We don't know if he saw any returns for his investments in Goldfield mining adventures.
Click on the link for Central America (under labels) for more stories written by John Hansen. Click on the link for John Hartwig Hansen to learn more his life.
Relationship Reference:
Me->Margaret Hansen Boothby->Harold Hansen->John Hartwig Hansen m. Vere Burrows Hansen
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