Topographical Sketch of Properties The Death Valley Exploration Co. Courage, Death, Water and Perseverance Uncovered This Hidden Wealth
- Title:
- Topographical Sketch of Properties The Death Valley Exploration Co. Courage, Death, Water and Perseverance Uncovered This Hidden Wealth
- Alternate Title:
- The Death Valley Exploration Co.
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Walter Knox & Co.
- Other Creators:
- Buck, Frank H.
- Date:
- 1929
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1228.01
- File Name:
- PJM_1228_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1920 - 1939
- Subject:
- Deception/Distortion
Money & Finance
Advertising & Promotion - Measurement:
- 31 x 47 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- A birds-eye view is the centerpiece of this promotional brochure for the sale of shares in The Death Valley Exploration Company. (See also ID ##1228.02-.04.) The map pinpoints the location of the company's property and the site of ore. The accompanying text describes how Mr. Buck, five years earlier, had found "high grade" gold ore, "a very strong vein." The find had since "been prospected and tested its entire length," but had not been worked simply "on account of a lack of water sufficient for a mill and camp." Happily, in May 1927, Mr. Buck discovered "a large stream of water running, a waterfall pouring over the rocks. There was a world of green vegetation, vines, and willow trees, along the canyon for nearly half a mile." This is prominently shown on the map: "HELLWINDER CANYON - BIG WATER."
Additional material in the accompanying two-page letter from Mr. Knox urges the purchase of shares "not only of a PROVEN gold property, rich in free-milling gold, but also of one of the most copious and valuable water supplies in the Valley." Because the shares have "met with a sudden and amazing popularity... There is a possibility that the block of this stock now available at one cent a share will soon be exhausted."
It appears that the brochure and Mr. Knox's letter was part of a fraud. In May 1931, any further sale of the stock of Death Valley Investment in California was prohibited, in part because its "sales promotion literature represented the company as having a mine in Death Valley which 'actually is turning out gold bars.'" http://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/bakersfield/bakersfield-californian/1931/05-15/. The internet shows no "Hellwinder" or "Hell Winder" Canyon in Death Valley (or anywhere else), although there is a small open pool of unpotable water called "Badwater" and a cavern called "Devil's Hole." (http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/death_valley/badwater.html, accessed December 25, 2014
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3021/pdf/fs2012-3021.pdf, accessed December 25, 2014).
For other maps in the collection related to fraudulent or suspicious financial transactions, Search > fraud.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.