Musselshell Mining Company Records
Abstract
Business correspondence and financial material of Lafayette Russell Parsons, business manager of this Pierce, Idaho, mining district mine.
Dates
- Creation: 1901-1908
Language of Materials
English
Biographical / Historical
The Musselshell Mine was a hydraulic placer mine on Musselshell Creek in what is now Clearwater County, Idaho, (1900-1913). The company was owned and operated by Charles McClintock of Detroit, Michigan, and John McClintock of Lexington, Kentucky, in partnership with Louis C. Roberts.
Prior to 1901, Roberts managed the company and directed mining operations in Idaho. Because the mine was unprofitable, the McClintock brothers hired L. R. Parsons to be business manager while Roberts continued to direct the mining operations.
Parsons was a personal friend of the McClintock family and they trusted him to look after their interests. He was also well qualified for the position. He was a recent graduate of the University of Michigan (MS 1900) and had a working knowledge of geology and chemistry.
The company continued to be unprofitable. In 1907 a geologist recommended closing the mine. The ore was low grade and there was insufficient water pressure for hydraulic mining. There was a shortage of operating capital. The partners decided to diversify into other ventures such as logging. The company suspended mining operations in 1907.
Extent
0.5 l.f.
Arrangement
The records of the Musselshell Mining Company span the years 1901-1908 with the bulk of the material from 1902-1908. Most of the materials consists of the business correspondence of L.R. Parsons for the Musselshell Mine. Besides correspondence, there are some scattered financial papers such as canceled checks and monthly statements.
Folders one through four retain the original folder headings. The material within the folders is in the original chronological order. Folder five contains papers which were loose in the box with the correspondence folders. These consist of financial statements, legal agreements (grubstaking), canceled checks, deposit slips, a bank statement, tax receipts, grocery bills, a geologist's report, a subpoena and a small penciled map of the claims.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The records of the Musselshell Mining Company were acquired by the University of Idaho Library sometime prior to 1980.
- Title
- Musselshell Mining Company Records 1901-1908
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Emmy Lou Forster
- Date
- ©1985
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latn
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English.
- Sponsor
- 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