Gill, Benjamin

Benjamin Gill arrived in Goldfield from Seattle, Washington around 1905. An accountant, Gill worked for a number of mining and brokerage companies. From 1906, he was secretary and local agent for the Begole Mining Syndicate, owned by mining financier, F. H. Begole, of Marquette, Michigan. He also acted as secretary for the Nevada Registration and Trust Company of Goldfield. A friend and business partner of Charles Sprague, Gill served as Secretary-Treasurer for a number of mining companies of the "Sprague Interests," as well as Sprague’s brokerage firm Charles S. Sprague Company. As Sprague himself explained to a New York broker to whom he was promoting his own Goldfield stock, “Mr. Ben Gill is secretary-treasurer, as he is for all the Sprague companies, and is known everywhere in mining circles as the best mine and corporation accountant in the business.” Sprague’s partner Robert Schweikert (with whom he fell out) said about Gill in the context of a corporate reorganization, “I was not averse to having Ben Gill on the Board, as I feel that Ben is upright and honorable, and will execute the duties of secretary of the Jumbo to the best of his ability and belief, regardless of the opposing factions.” Like his associate Charles Sprague, Ben Gill also moved to Las Vegas where he and Sprague had purchased a tract of land in 1915 intended for agriculture.