[California, Newspaper, Mining] 87 Issues of The Homer Mining Index Newspaper, Lundy, Mono County, California, 1880-1884

Lundy, California, 1884. Very Good. [California, Newspaper, Mining] 87 Issues of The Homer Mining Index Newspaper, Lundy, Mono County, California, 1880-1884, 12 x 18 inches, 4 pp. bifolio each.

Paper toned and very fragile; edges on most issues chipped; some issues are detached along bifolio fold. Newspapers are in sleeves. Very good overall. Collated; all pages present.

Scarce mining newspaper that contains a wealth of information about the 1880s Tioga Mining District, which included gold camps near Lundy and Bodie, California and Aurora, Nevada. Lively accounts of mining life as well as other news items and advertisements. This paper was edited for some time by "Lying Jim" Townsend, as he was known to friend and foe; he led a wild life, by all accounts, variously running saloons, newspapers, cattle ranches, and working as a Methodist preacher. Through the Bishop Creek Times, he provided important accounts of the late 1800s gold camps at a time when few were recording history, most being more interested in making it.

These newspapers are extremely scarce - AAS holds no copies; OCLC lists six California institutions that hold at least some copies from 1881-1893. Several of the institutions apparently have fewer than 10 issues. University of California Berkeley appears to have the largest extant collection. This collection includes Vol. 1 No. 1, printed June 12, 1880. Full inventory available on request.

A valuable resource. The Lundy post office ran from 1880 to 1914. Little remains of the timber and mining town save for a primitive fishing resort.

Many of the newspapers are fragile. Photos are of sleeved newspapers.