The Story
In April 1876 the Manuel brothers and partners staked the Homestake claim near Bobtail Gulch. In 1877 California mining magnate George Hearst bought it for $70,000 and incorporated the Homestake Mining Company; by January 1879 it became the first mining stock ever listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Lead grew up around the mine as a company town, briefly South Dakota's largest city. Over 126 years Homestake produced more than 41 million ounces of gold and reached about 8,000 feet deep — the deepest mine in North America. Barrick Gold acquired it and mining ceased at the end of 2001.
Surprising Facts
→ The mine's original discovery site no longer exists — it was consumed by the expanding Open Cut.
→ Homestake's 1879 listing was the first mining stock ever traded on the NYSE.
→ It operated continuously for 126 years, longer than any other gold mine in the Western Hemisphere.