Leadfield California!

To start with, I'm NOT going to say anything about the stupid one way road in California. It was the reason Brian and I decided not to go back to any California sites.

Instead, lead was discovered over in Titus Canyon about 1905. There were so few claims made and the fact they were so remote led to them soon abandoned. It wasn't until around 1925 when Western Lead Mines Company tunneled into a promising ledge that the boom was on.

In Feb, 1926 a con-man by the name of C.C. Julian bought into Western Lead Mines Company and became thier primary stock holder and President. To the right Titus Canyon and below is Brian taking a photo of one of the shacks.

In March of that year a special train came to Beatty carrying over 340 investors who were joined by a large group from Tonopah and Goldfield to create a caravan of over 1000 to drive to Leadfield.

By this time Leadfield had everything from a newspaper to a hotel, along with the post office. The California State Commission claimed Julian was selling stock without a permit. Now Julian claimed he was selling personal stock which did not need a permit.

This all came about when Leadfield was at it's peak. The commision finally stopped Julian just as the compnay hit ore. But it was so low-grade they never got a chance to find any higher grade and the town went bust.

Never the less Julian got the blame for the whole thing going under even though he didn't start Leadfield and his business never proved to be legal.

Julian later did it all over again down in Arizona and Oklahoma before committing suicide in 1933.