Gold

If anyone is interested in buying Capital Stock in a company known as the 'Thomasville Gold and Silver Company Limited at $20.00 per share, I can tell you that you are just 94 years too late.

The main office of this company, believe-it-or-not, was located in Bedford, Pa., and anyone interested in verifying this can go to the Courthouse, pick up Deed Book E-3, page 146 and start reading.

This company was organized under the Act of General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania entitled an act authorizing the formation of a Partnership Association in which the capital subscribed shall alone be responsible for the debt of the Association except under certain circumstances. This was approved June 2, 1874. The Company was to endure for twenty years unless sooner dissolved according to law. The total amount of the capital was to be $60,000.

The purpose of this association was the mining and reduction of gold and silver and other minerals and the buying and selling of the same as well as dealing in bullion and carrying on and prosecuting the business of gold and silver mining in all its branches. The plant of this operation was located in Davidson County, North Carolina on a tract of 273 acres. It also contained a stamp mill, a 50 horsepower 'enjine', boiler, a chili mill, elevators, cable and other fixtures.

One R.B. Knapp of Thomasville, N.C. and two prominent men from Bedford were named managers. The Board of the Association consisted of a total of seven managers who were to be elected at the annual meeting on the first 'Wensday' of January 1880, and the first 'Wensday' each and every year.

We noticed also that the business of the Association was to be carried on in Davidson County, or elsewhere in the U.S.A., but the principal office would be at Bedford, Pa. It is amusing to note that the location of the principal office could be changed by a vote of stockholders of the Association at any annual meeting.

The capital of the Association was divided into three-thousand shares at the par value of 520.00 each. Every purchaser of one or more shares would thus become a member of the Association and be entitled to participate in its management and profits.

It would be interesting to know how many shares were actually sold here in the county and what became of the Association.

Speaking of gold, not too many persons know that there actually were instances of individuals who made searches for gold here in Bedford County. One such instance was related to me by our friend William McIlnay, who is the Fish warden of the County.

I distinctly remember an incident in which an old turkey hunter came into a small country store and produced two gold nuggets which he found in a wild turkey's gizzard. I held these nuggets in my hand. Naturally, the old hunter was reluctant to tell the exact location where he made his killing. So, apparently there is gold in the Allegheny mountains.