The papers of John H. Wourms span the years 1891 to 1963, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1910 to 1940. Included are papers concerning legal matters such as patent papers, articles of incorporation and by-laws for various mining companies, court transcripts for several cases including that of B.F. O'Neil of the Wallace Bank of Commerce, last wills and testaments, leases, correspondence, and other papers dealing with his legal work, the majority of which deals with the Day family interests. The papers are in one series which is arranged alphabetically by company name.

Some of Wourms' file folders were found with the records of the individual companies; where recognized as such they were removed and reintegrated into the legal files. It is likely, however, that not all of these files were returned to the Wourms' papers. Following Wourm's death in 1945, the legal department was under the direction of Bellingham, Washington, native Paul B. Jessup, an accountant and lawyer, who had been hired by the Hercules Mining Company in 1936. His papers account for the post 1945 material in this record group.