A bargain by which one person, who is said to “grubstake” the other, furnishes him with supplies for a mining expedition, on the promise of sharing the proceeds. He supplies the “grub,” and has a “stake” in the venture.
1885. What is roughly termed a “grubstake.”—Butterworth, ‘Zig-zag Journey,’ p. 309. (N.E.D.)
1890. He grubstaked us, and we used to work on the Tillie mine together.—Gunter, ‘Miss Nobody,’ p. 100. (N.E.D.)
1895. The prospector, with his led horse, loaded with grubstake, blankets, pick, and pan.—The Forum, N.Y., p. 475. (N.E.D.)
1897. The applicants were eager to go as prospectors, or to ally themselves with what might even be “grubstake” concerns.—The Oregonian, July 19.
1897. Those going in the steerage [by the s.s. Elder] are, as a rule, men who are being grubstaked by parties in Portland.—Id., July 24.
1897. This summer, the Puget Sound papers teemed with advertisements of this kind: “Wanted, a grubstake, by two experienced prospectors” “Wanted, by strong experienced man, a grocery grubstake for the Klondyke.” “Wanted, by a reliable young man, $200, balance of a $500 grubstake.”—Id., July 25, p. 9.
1900. In 1882 a party of miners entered [the Yukon country] by way of the Dyea Pass. All those who got far enough down the river found it easy to make a “grubstake,” and though a “homestake” (i.e. enough to enable a man to go home and settle down) was not so easily found, the Yukon gold-fields soon obtained a fair reputation among the placer-miners of this coast.—Osborn, ‘Greater Canada,’ p. 111 (Lond.).
