Auction Articles

Now there's a title you don't hear every day! But if there is a person deserving of such a title is was Reuel Colt Gridley of Austin, Nevada. This true story is a tribute to what one person could do for the benefit of his fellowmen utilizing the auction method of marketing.

Gridley, who was born in Missouri and a classmate of Mark Twain, had served in the Mexican War before journeying to California in 1852. While in California he worked as a miner, newspaperman, banker and auctioneer among other occupations. In April of 1864 he became part owner of a General store (Gridley, Hobart & Jacobs) in the small mining town of Austin, Nevada. It is here that our story unfolds. Gridley, a true American adventurer and entrepreneur opted to run for Mayor of the town. He was known as a Missouri Democrat with sympathies to the Southern cause. His opponent was a staunch Republican, Dr. H. S. Herrick, who was a Northern Unionist. The Civil War was in full bloom and the debates were hot and heavy on the future of the United States and all the issues involving states rights. Gridley bet a sack of flour with Dr. Herrick that he would be elected mayor of the city. The bet was that the loser would carry a 50lb sack of flour from Austin to Clifton, a distance of one and a quarter miles, Gridley lost.

Not only did Gridley lose the bet, but, his life was about to change forever.

Making good on his wager, Gridley lugged a 50 lb. bag of flour (amply decorated with Union flags and ribbons) through Austin to the accompaniment of a brass band and a crowd of raucous, inebriated miners from both political camps. Dr. Herrick "graciously" carried Gridley's coat and cane for him as the many stamp mills steam whistles howled in approval. On arrival a saloonkeeper from the Bank Exchange Saloon invited the crowd in for a drink. There were many jokes and a lot of teasing as Dr. Herrick refused to accept the 50-pound sack of flour, leaving Gridley “holding the bag.”

At last Gridley said, “This crowd of people has had their fun at my expense; let us see now who will do most for the sick and wounded soldiers. We will put this sack of flour up for auction to be sold for cash, with the understanding that the buyer is to return it, to be sold again for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission.” The Sanitary Commission provided for wounded Civil War soldiers and was the forerunner of today’s Red Cross. Gridley auctioned the sack to T.B. Wade for $350. Wade returned the sack and asked Gridley to auction it again. The entire afternoon was spent auctioning and re-auctioning the same 50-pound sack of flour. By day’s end, $4,549.80 had been collected and Gridley still had the sack. He took the act on the road.

According to author Mark Twain in his 1870 book "Roughing It”, “The excitement grew and grew. The sack was sold over and over again for the benefit of the Fund. The news of it came to Virginia City by telegraph. It produced great enthusiasm, and Reuel Gridley was begged by telegraph to bring the sack and have an auction in Virginia City. He brought it. An open barouche was provided, also a brass band. The sack was sold over and over again at Gold Hill, then was brought up to Virginia City toward night and sold -- and sold again, and again, and still again, netting twenty or thirty thousand dollars for the Sanitary Fund. Gridley carried it across California and sold it at various towns. He sold it for large sums in Sacramento and in San Francisco. He brought it East, sold it in New York and in various other cities, then carried it out to a great Fair at St. Louis, and went on selling it; and finally made it up into small cakes and sold those at a dollar apiece. First and last, the sack of flour which had originally cost ten dollars, perhaps, netted more than two hundred thousand dollars for the Sanitary Fund.” The fact was it netted over $275,000.

Gridley, who had become a Union supporter during his travels, was now famous. Where the flour was last sold is the stuff of legends. It definitely made it to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1864, possibly even to the Sanitary Fair in St. Louis in 1865.

The sack was adopted by Austin as the city's symbol and today the empty sack can be found in the Nevada Historical Society Museum in Reno.

Gridley's fundraising travels ruined his health, he was exhausted and penniless. Upon returning to Austin, he found the mines had run dry and his store virtually bankrupt. A broken man in 1867, he was living in Stockton, CA when $1,400 was raised on his behalf so he could buy a small farm. His health never returned and he died at the age of 41 in 1870 of consumption.

Today there is a monument located in the rural cemetery of Stockton, California commemorating the work of Reuel Colt Gridley. The inscription on the front tells it all. “The Soldiers Friend, Reuel C. Gridley. Born Jan 23, 1829. Died Nov. 24, 1870. Erected by Rawlins Post No. 23, Grand Army of the Republic, and the Citizens of Stockton, Sept. 19, 1882, in gratitude for services rendered during the War of the Rebellion, in collecting $275,000 dollars for the Sanitary Commission by selling and reselling a sack of flour.”

Reuel C. Gridley found his calling in the last decade of his life. He wasn’t greedily seeking gold for himself. In fact, he wasn’t thinking of himself at all. By focusing on the needs of others he personally turned a $10. sack of flour into more than $275,000. According to a CPI calculator, $275,000. in 1866 is equivalent to $3,090,000 today. Another example of the creative use of the auction method of marketing to successfully raise money for a worthy cause. The life of Rueul C. Gridley reflects the wisdom that in the illusion of every perceived failure lies the very seed of opportunity.