Theodore Robert Hofer signed checks

Garryn,

The first one is made out to: Chas E. Elliott Secretary

The second (very hard to read): S.F. Teus Co. ?????

Yes, there are signatures on the back, but I had such a hard time hanging the frame, I don't want to take it down and open it up. Sorry. If I add or change something, I make note of the signatures.

Glenn

Just curious. I have a picture of the signature on the back of one of my checks in the "Other Collecting" thread.

Just purchased this cancelled check, with D. L. Bliss's signature. I did a quick research on him, and he was a very wealthy and generous person in the Virginia City and Carson City area. I am trying to find a picture and bio of him. Anyone have this information, or know where to look?

gs-
Duane Leroy Bliss was indeed one of Carson City's more notable citizen.
born in Massachusetts in 1833. After heading to the gold fields of California he settled in Gold Hill Nevada to become a partner in a banking firm, Paul, Bliss, and Barnes in 1862. His firm was bought out by the Bank of California and he became an associate of William Sharon, serving on the board of some of the Bank of California's mining interests and was a general supply agent for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, which was also of Sharon's control.
Bliss invested in timberland in the Lake Tahoe area and founded the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Flumming Company which served the mines of the Comstock's insatiable appitite for lumber. He also founded the Lake Tahoe Railroad to move his timber around. Needless to say, he made a fortune. When the mines in Virginia City played out not demanding the lumber it use to, Bliss saw the potential of tourism in the Lake Tahoe area and turned his railroad into carring tourist to Lake Tahoe and offered steamboat cruises on the lake. He died in 1907, a very wealthy man but as you say, he was a generous man, paying his employees four dollars a day and offering health insurance for fifty cents a month.
His house in Carson City I believe still stands. There is a short bio on him in the Carson City's Convention and Visitor's Bureau website, and he is mentioned several times in a William Sharon biography called " The Infamous King of the Comstock" written by Michael J. Makley.
You are embarking on a very unique collecting area by obtaining Carson City and Comstock area signatures of the people who shaped the history there. I have a collection of several signatures myself, but be careful, they can be contagious as Carson City coins, oh but what a fine fever. Enjoy your signatures.
-R-

Thanks randysc.

Still trying to locate a photo. I try to have a photo and short bio framed with the cancelled checks.

Glenn

gs-
There is a small picture of him in a book called "Slippery Gulch - the Story of Gold Hill" written by, I think this is his name, Maitland Stanley. I bought a copy of it at the Mark Twain Bookstore in Virginia City and while I was there last August, they still had a few copies. It is an interesting book filled with pictures about Gold Hill and a very good read.
-R-