Allen & Smith Company account book. - Allen Smith Company (1860)
This account book charts the rising fortunes of the Nevada City, California mining firm of Allen & Smith, formed by Henry Smith and Thomas Allen in April 1860. The ledger documents the company's founding, the discovery of gold in May 1861, and the firm's expansion with the opening of a store in late 1862. It provides a wealth of details about the store in particular, including dates, prices, names of vendors and buyers, and specifics on a wide variety of goods and services. Daily statements of “cash on hand” report the firm's sales.
Some blank pages are used to record a variety of plans, recipes, and cures (To Build a Shed, To Cure Fresh beef, To Make Sausage, to Cure Warts on Cows, etc.); there is also an essay on the rights women should enjoy (p. 250), and a discussion of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (p. 269). The volume concludes with the texts of a number of quit claim deeds, contracts, and indentures relating to the gold mines and their transfers. A broadside, entitled "Locating and Describing Mining Claims," from the Mining Scientific Press is mounted on the front of the ledger; mounted on the back is a broadside issued by E. M. Preston, Nevada City agent for the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Co., detailing the services and capital of the company.
Keywords: Gold miners -- California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources; Gold mines and mining -- California -- Nevada City Region -- History -- 19th century -- Sources; California -- Gold discoveries -- Sources; Account books