Companies often paid famous people to be corporate officers or directors, for their publicity value. That Mr. Famous Name had no business ability was no hindrance, because the company usually did not want his advice or interference - just his name. This was the guinea pig director. 

[Mining Swindles] [A Hole in the Ground] [16th Century Germany] [Sir Martin Frobisher] [Guinea Pig Directors] [George Gardiner] [Comstock Lode] [Emma Mine] [Diamonds] [Tin Men] [South Park] [Leadville] [Richard Flower] [Thomas Lawson] [Aron Beam] [Gold from Seawater] [The Spoilers] [Whitaker Wright] [George Graham Rice] [Death Valley Scotty] [Julian Hawthorne] [Selling the Pure Blue Sky] [Other Swindles] [Mining Fraud Links] [Other Mining History]