Branch Mint Mining & Milling Bond 1903

1903 Branch Mint Mining & Milling Bond Certificate. Attractive and unusual $25 gold bond (mining companies rarely issued bonds, and this one actually paid interest due for several years). Signed by J. D. Hardin as president. The mine is in the Deadwood South Dekota area in Bear Butte Canyon. Other nearby mines include the Red Cloud, Richmond-Sitting Bull and Florence. The ore trends northeast and dips steeply to the north. Silver was the chief product, carried in the galena, but gold occurs as a byproduct, chiefly from the pyrite. Horn silver was reported. It is unknown if J. Hardin was one of the sons of John Wesley Hardin, famous western outlaw. Hardin was the mine manager and/or owner of at least five different mining companies at the same time. Four of them bore his name. Most were in Two Bit, a mining camp in Lawrence County. Many of the Dakota mines had names playing off the gold coin theme, such as Branch Mint (here), Gold Coin, Gold Dollar, Golden Harvest, Gold Dust, Legal Tender, and so on. (Source: Holabird). This attractive scripophily document is in VF+ condition (scan shows top half of bond)