Leadfield – The Anatomy of a Death Valley Boomtown

This is the story that is typical of many of the boomtowns in the Death Valley region and the Southwest. Characters included swindlers C. C. Julian and Jack Roth, prospectors Tom Bosanko and Frank Metts, mining engineer Edwin Giles, fraudulent newspaperman Bernard Stone, mercantile owner Mildred Ainsworth, champion dog sled racer Scotty Allen, investigator “Iron Mike” Daugherty, promoters, miners, surveyors, honest businessmen, and flimflam men. Thirty six companies drilled and blasted. The audience was nationwide and participated via dishonest newspaper articles and worthless stock issues. There was only one problem, there just wasn’t any lead in Leadfield.