GOLDFIELD NEVADA FIFTH STREET WINTER SCENE PHOTO 1906

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GOLDFIELD NEVADA FIFTH STREET WINTER SCENE PHOTO 1906

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Sold Date: 03/07/2009
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Advertising

GOLDFIELD NEVADA FIFTH STREET WINTER SCENE PHOTO 1906A vintage photograph of Fifth Street in Goldfield, Nevada, c. 1906. Has pencil inscriptions on reverse: “Fifth Street, Goldfield, Nev. Winter Scene” and “Church dull green, bring out snow scenes” The latter appears to be a directive to a publisher. It measures 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches and is in very good condition--- it seems as though something was covered up in the lower left corner and lower center of the image.

See our other photographs of Goldfield, Nevada. We are listing 9 in all and while some are identified as the work of P. E. Larson, it is likely that they all are by Larson even though some lack negative information and his identifying information.

From the website of the Nevada State Museum, we found the following information on Larson, “the Swedish born photographer P.E. Larson photographs on Goldfield are a significant and important body of work. His photographs document western life and culture in the boomtown. Larson came to Goldfield in 1905, and immediately began photographing a wide range of subjects, including the mines, miners, the stores, gambling halls, street scenes, burros, and people in various walks of life. When he moved his family from Goldfield in 1908, he probably never realized the historic value of his photographic work.

The P.E. Larson photograph collection was given to the museum in 1976. After his death in 1941, many of his photographs lay sealed in a trunk for decades before being discovered. His children donated his photograph collection to several public institutions: the University of Washington-Special Collections, the Alaska State Museum, and the Nevada State Museum. The children, in their donation of his photographs on Goldfield and Central Nevada, also included his cameras and other memorabilia from his Palm Studio at Goldfield. In 1983, the museum exhibits department designed a changing gallery to display his extraordinary photographs and his restored cameras. The exhibit was called "Frozen in Silver" and covered his Goldfield years, 1905-1908.

From Wikipedia on Goldfield:

Gold was discovered at Goldfield in 1902, its year of inception. By 1904 the Goldfield district produced about 800 tons of ore, valued at $2,300,000, 30% of the state's production that year. This remarkable production caused Goldfield to grow rapidly, and it soon became the largest town in the state.

Goldfield is the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada. It reached a peak population of about 30,000 people in 1906. In addition to the mines, Goldfield was home to large reduction works. The gold output in 1907 was over $8.4 million; in 1908, about $4,880,000. By the 1910 census, its population had declined to 4,838. By 1912, ore production had dropped to $5 million. The largest mining company left town in 1919. In 1923 a fire destroyed most of the town's flammable buildings; some brick and stone buildings from before the fire remain including the old hotel and the high school. By 1950 Goldfield had a population of 275.

The unoccupied buildings of the ghost town remain an attraction today. They are not abandoned; each building has an owner, many with plans to renovate the property. In addition, the Goldfield Days festival is held in August each year. The festival includes parades, booths, historical displays, and a land auction.

In 1906 a lightweight boxing championship match was staged in Goldfield between Joe Gans and Oscar "Battling" Nelson. Goldfield's famous former residents include former Governor/Senator Tasker Oddie, Wyatt Earp and Virgil Earp. Virgil Earp was hired as a deputy sheriff in Goldfield in January 1905; Virgil died t, in bed with pneumonia in October 1905, and Wyatt left Goldfield shortly tafter.