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Ambergris Consolidated Mining Company records

 Collection
Identifier: MG 250

Content Description

The records of the Ambergris Consolidated Mining Company span the years 1901 to 1950, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1916 to 1941. Included are minute books, correspondence, stock ledgers and journals, financial ledgers, and daily work reports.

These records reflect the multiple incarnations of the company: Ambergris Mining Company, 1902-1916; Ambergris Mines Company, 1916-1928; and Ambergris Consolidated Mining Company, 1928-1939.

Related materials can be found in the records of the Hercules, Guelph, and Honolulu mining companies.

Dates

  • Creation: 1901-1950

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Biographical / Historical

In 1901 John King, Jack "Yellow Dog" Smith and E.M. Gilpin located the Ambergris group of claims in the Lelande Mining District, Shoshone County, Idaho. In 1902, to manage these claims, the partners secured a Washington State charter for the Ambergris Mining Co., with offices in Spokane. The first stock was issued on Oct. 25, 1902. The original stockholders included Gilpin's uncle, W.B. Heyburn, later United States senator from Idaho. The Ambergris Mining Co. owned the Ajax, Ambergris, Anaconda, Goffy Jack, Rattler, and Wellington Lodes, all situated in the Lelande and Placer Districts in Shoshone County.

The founders were soon superseded by W. Clayton Miller, Alfred Page, John P. Gray, A.C. Cogswell, and F.D. Allen. These were the company's trustees by 1908 when the Ambergris Mining Company settled a long-standing against the Hercules Mining Co. over conflicting claims. This suit had at one time seen the Ambergris represented by Heyburn while the Hercules was defended by William E. Borah who also later became United States senator from Idaho. The agreement of April 10, 1908 in part required the Hercules to allow the working of the Ambergris mine through a tunnel driven from its own property while the Ambergris company was to deliver 1,516,000 new shares to Harry Day as trustee for the Hercules partners. The new stock, issued on January 3, 1909 gave the Hercules partners majority control of the Ambergris. On March 6, 1909 Harry and Eugene Day and August Paulsen took their places on the Ambergris Board of Trustees.

As agreed, the Hercules extended one of its tunnels into the Ambergris ground, but for a number of years thereafter the property sat idle because there were no funds for development. As a Washington State corporation, the Ambergris Mining Company could not levy assessments against its capital stock. To remedy this problem, on June 20, 1916, The Ambergris Mining Co. was reorganized as the Ambergris Mines Co., chartered in the state of Idaho and headquartered in Wallace. The company levied four assessments between 1917 and 1923 to provide working capital.

The Ambergris Mines Co. was in its turn reorganized into the Ambergris Consolidated Mining Company in 1928, as part of a merger of the holdings of Ambergris Mines Co., Honolulu Mining Co., and Guelph Mining and Milling Co. The Ambergris continued to be worked through the Hercules No. 5 tunnel. With its property transferred to the new conglomerate, the old Ambergris Mines Company was dissolved on April 3, 1929.

The Ambergris Consolidated Mining Co. existed from 1928 until 1939, when the shareholders approved the sale of all the property and debts of the corporation to the Hercules Mining Co. for $21,500.00. The final liquidation dividend provided one and one-half cents per share on the capital stock. Thereafter the company was dissolved.

Extent

4.5 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Correspondence and organizational, stock, financial, tax, and other records of a silver-lead mine in the Coeur d'Alene region of Idaho and it's corporate predecessors, the Ambergris Mining Company and the Ambergris Mines Company.

Arrangement

The Ambergris has been organized into six series: Records of the Board of Directors, General Correspondence, Capitol Stock Records, Financial Records, Tax Records, and Personnel Records.

The first series, Records of the Board of Directors, contains minute books from all three phases of the company's history, and records related to meetings and reports from the final phase. Included are, notices of meetings, copies of by-laws, lists of stockholders, records of elections, records of assessments, and some correspondence. Arranged chronologically by meeting.

The second series consists of a correspondence file, organized chronologically, and an alphabetically organized file of general records.

The correspondence file, 1901-1929, contains records of the Ambergris Mining Co. and the Ambergris Mines Co., chiefly concerning capital stock matters and including correspondence regarding issuance of shares, transfer of shares, and assessments, supplemented by lists of stockholders, lists of delinquent stock, receipts for certificates issued, assessment notices, assessment receipts, and a few legal documents relating to the probate of the estates of various stockholders. For the years 1916-1917 there are a great many letters from stockholders authorizing the exchange of shares in Ambergris Mining Co. for stock in any new corporation that may be formed, directing the exchange of Ambergris Mines certificates for Ambergris Mining certificates, or enclosing payment for the initial assessment against Ambergris Mines stock. There are also many Ambergris Mining Co. certificates, bills and receipts for supplies and services required in the reorganization, and an undated memorandum by Harry Day explaining the reasons for forming the new company. The folder for 1929 contains an Ambergris Mines dividend list dated Feb. 18 of that year.

In addition to stock-related material there are receipts for expenses; balance sheets; a trial brief, ca. 1901, concerning the case of Ambergris Mining Co. vs. Harry Day; location notices from 1901, 1903, and 1918; copies of the minutes of the board of directors' meetings of Apr. 10, 1908 and July 7, 1917; an indenture relating to transfer of property from Ambergris Mining Co. to Ambergris Mines Co., Dec. 14, 1916, and a draft of the same; an agreement between Ambergris Mines and Providence Hospital, Dec. 27, 1917; signed proxies and other records relating to annual meetings, especially in 1924, 1925, 1928, and 1929; and ore settlements for sales to the Hercules Mill, 1927. For many years there are Annual Statements of Domestic Corporations, Annual Statements or Annual Reports to the State of Idaho, federal Capital Stock Tax Returns, Corporate Income Tax Returns, and Shoshone County tax receipts.

Included in the general records, 1925-1940, are: correspondence; letters of transmittal; telegrams; legal documents such as certificates of incorporation, affidavits of improvements, indentures, leases, and probate court records; notices of meetings; notices of dividends; dividend checks; statements of account with the Hercules Mining Co.; assay certificates; annual reports to the Idaho Department of Mines; financial statements; annual reports to the U.S. Bureau of Mines; annual reports from the manager (Henry Day) to the president (Jerome or Harry Day); papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Seattle and Spokane Stock exchanges; lists of stockholders; lists of equipment and supplies; ore settlements; and other records.

The largest part of this material concerns capital stock matters: issuance and transfer of certificates, delinquencies in assessment payments, and dividends. There are also records concerning incorporation of the consolidated company and the liquidation of the Ambergris Mines and the Guelph Mining and Milling companies. There is a good deal of material on operations, including claim location and assessment work, progress in development, ore production, wage scales, and safety practices. One file of Miscellaneous Legal Documents precedes the alphabetical sequence, and two files concerning the final liquidation of the Ambergris follow the sequence.

Correspondence in the latter chiefly concerns the surrender of certificates and payment of the final liquidating dividend. Many legal documents relating to the probate of stockholder's estates are included. There is also a list of equipment stored at the Hercules Mining Co.

The third series includes capital stock records from all phases of the company's history, from creation to liquidation.

The fourth series, accounting records, contains only ledgers and journals from the latter two phases of the company's existence.

The tax records of the fifth series, 1929-1940, reflect only the activity of Ambergris Consolidated. Included are federal and state tax records; claims for refunds or abatements; capital stock tax returns; legal briefs, claims, answers, lists of cases, correspondence, and other court documents; State of Idaho corporate tax returns, annual statements of domestic corporations, and annual statements. Much of this series relates to Ambergris Consolidated Mining Co.'s successful contention that it had not been doing business within the meaning of the federal capital stock tax law.

The final series contains the only record of personnel in this group, a binder of daily work reports.

Removal of cancelled and unissued stock certificates, assessment receipts, returned notices of meetings, vouchers, paid checks and bank statements, check stubs, and duplicate materials reduced the bulk of this collection by 6.5 cubic feet.

Title
Guide to Ambergris Consolidated Mining Company records
Author
Finding aid prepared by Michael Tarabulski and Jennifer Jenness; updated by Sara Szobody.
Date
1991, 2021
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.
Sponsor
Funds for processing were provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the U.S. Department of Education HEA Title II-C "Strengthening Research Library Resources" program, the Library Associates of the University of Idaho and other donors. Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Repository Details

Part of the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Repository