Aurum Mining Company records
Scope and Contents
The records of the Aurum Mining Company span the years 1916 to 1953, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1927 to 1947. Included are minutes of meetings, annual financial reports, correspondence, legal documents, capital stock records, financial ledgers and journals, ore settlement records, and payroll records.
Of particular note in these records is the relative absence of stock and personnel records and, in contrast, the great amount of correspondence and related records. This latter, for reasons not easily apparent was divided into three separate alphabetical files, all from the same office but overlapping somewhat in time and much in subject matter.
Related materials can be found in the records of the Northport Mining and Smelting Company.
Dates
- Creation: 1916-1953
Language of Materials
English
Biographical / Historical
The Aurum Mining Company was incorporated late in December 1927 to take over the property and equipment of the Republic Mines Department of the Northport Smelting & Refining Company, a smeltery located in northeastern Washington treating silver-lead concentrates from the Coeur d'Alene Mining District in Idaho. The Northport smelter had acquired several properties in the Republic District and operated them intermittently to supply its demands for siliceous flux. The smelter was sold in 1922 and its plant scrapped. When Northport's affairs were being wound up the Republic interests were turned over to a new company owned by the former Northport stockholders.
The company held its first stockholders and directors meetings in Wallace, Idaho, on December 27, 1927. Present were: Frank J. Davey, John F. Murphy, Charles A. Solberg, Charles A. Betts, and W. A. Devan, representing all 1350 shares of the subscribed capital stock. They agreed to purchase all of Northport's property in Ferry and Stevens counties, Washington, for 670,000 shares of Aurum capital stock. Because Aurum was incorporated in Idaho, George S. Bailey of Republic, Washington, was appointed as its Washington agent, and a copy of its articles of incorporation filed with the Washington Secretary of State.
The directors met again on May 10, 1928. Resignations were accepted from John F. Murphy, Charles A. Solberg, and Frank J. Davey. Jerome J. Day, Henry L. Day, and H. H. Miller were elected to replace them. The new board of directors elected Jerome Day president, Henry Day vice-president, and H.H. Miller secretary-treasurer. Miller died early in 1931, and a new board -- Jerome and Henry Day, F.M. Rothrock, E.H. Knight, and P.J. Maggy -- was assembled. Maggy was replaced within a year by W.H. Hoover.
In 1932 Aurum consisted of a half-dozen old properties in the Republic Mining District, comprising more than 800 acres of mineral land. This included thirty-five patented mining claims, eight unsurveyed claims, and eighteen lots on patented ground. Northport had paid $175,700 for its original holdings in the Republic District, and spent approximately $111,400 in exploration and development up until December 31, 1926. Between then and September 1932 Aurum spent another $31,650 acquiring patented ground in the district and on annual assessment work required on unpatented claims.
The stockholders met in Wallace in 1933 and unanimously elected a new board of directors: Jerome, Henry, and Harry Day, Frank M. Rothrock, and E.H. Knight. At the directors meeting Jerome and Henry Day were re-elected president and vice-president, respectively, and S.F. Heitfeld was elected secretary-treasurer. A.P. Ramstedt replaced Harry Day as a company director in February 1935 but, due to extended illness, was himself replaced by Clarence I. Paulsen in February, 1937.
Aurum expanded its operation in 1938 by acquiring additional mining and milling properties near Republic, Washington. It purchased the Quilp and Quilp Fraction patented lode mining claims in the Eureka Mining District for 30,000 shares of its stock. Simultaneously, it purchased the Ferry County property of the Eureka Mining & Milling Company--several lode claim groups, a millsite, and other mining claims--for 121,458 shares of unissued capital stock and $27,500 in cash. Other mines and mining properties in the area were also purchased.
Prior to these purchases the money necessary to carry on work and acquire new mining properties came in equal proportions from the Aurum's principal stockholders: the Hercules Mining Company, and the Tamarack & Custer Consolidated Mining Company. In 1938 Aurum's indebtedness equaled $60,000, and both creditor companies held Aurum stock. In fact, Aurum's directors were proxies for one or both companies, and the Aurum stock in their names were actually qualifying shares belonging to the Hercules and/or the Tamarack & Custer. They authorized borrowing an additional $40,000 from Hercules and Tamarack & Custer.
In February 1939 Aurum's stockholders authorized the purchase of the Last Chance mine, an office building, and other property in Republic, Washington, for $40,850. They also approved the action of their officers in borrowing $62,662.50 each from the Hercules and the Tamarack & Custer, and future additional amounts not over $75,000 from each. This figure exceeded, an additional loan of $8,325 from each was made and, after the fact, authorized.
In 1940 and 1941 the Aurum stockholders re-elected their directors; and the directors, their officers. Additional appointments included Paul B. Jessup as comptroller and John H. Wourms as Aurum's attorney. At the February 1942 meetings Paul B. Jessup was elected to the board to fill the vacancy created by Jerome Day's death early in the previous year, and Howard C. Paulsen replaced his brother, Clarence. Henry Day was elected president and manager; Frank M. Rothrock, vice-president; and S.F. Heitfeld, secretary-treasurer. Jessup and Wourms were reappointed to their posts. The company directors and officers remained unchanged until 1946.
In 1945 the stockholders and directors addressed the problem of the company's indebtedness. Additional capital was needed to defray expenses, to pay for the recently purchased Old Republic and Blaine-Republic groups of mining claims, and to reduce monies owed to the Hercules and the Tamarack & Custer. Rather than incurring more debt, an assessment of three cents per share was levied on Aurum's capital stock.
At the 1946 stockholders meeting Clarence Paulsen resumed his previously held board position in place of his brother, Howard. Until the company became part of Day Mines, Inc. (DMI), in 1950, the Aurum board and officers remained unchanged.
On July 8, 1950, Aurum's directors met to discuss dissolving the company and transferring its assets to DMI. By 1950 Aurum was -- and had been for some time -- a wholly owned subsidiary of DMI. For Aurum's property holdings, materials, and equipment, DMI would surrender its Aurum stock for cancellation and assume all of Aurum's obligations and liabilities.
On July 26 the Aurum stockholders met for the last time and voted to support the directors' resolution to dissolve the company. Accordingly, on August 31, 1950, the Aurum Mining Company transferred its assets to DMI. It was officially dissolved in June 1951.
Extent
15 cubic feet
Abstract
Correspondence and organizational, stock, financial, ore production, plant, personnel, and other records of a group of mines in the Republic District of northeastern Washington state.
Arrangement
The records of the Aurum Mining Company are arranged in six series: Director's Records, General Correspondence, Capital Stock Records, Financial Records, Ore Records, and Personnel Records.
The first series, Director's Records, contains the minutes of stockholders and directors meetings. Also included are legal documents, certificates, and memos pertaining to the dissolution of the Aurum Mining Company; correspondence; lease agreements and permits; Washington State corporation licenses (1939-42); tax registration certificates and refund permits; stock receipts; legal documents pertaining to assessment taxes; proxy forms and authorization letters; stockholders and directors lists, meeting announcements, minutes and order of business checklists; directors election ballots and return forms; affidavits; balance sheets and profit/loss statements; company officer's (secretary) oath of office forms; annual operations reports; resignation letters of company officials.
The second series, General Correspondence, contains three subseries of general records, divided by date, (with some overlapping) and arranged alphabetically by subject. There is much subject overlap among these three subseries. Included are: correspondence, telegrams and memos; legal documents (claim notices, contracts, leases); claim lists; lease, claim, mine, and district evaluation reports; treasurers' reports; annual reports; accident reports and testimony, labor reports, timebook pages, Washington State payroll forms; general ledger accounts classifications, stores and supply inventories; bills of lading, ore schedules, assay reports, production and shipping schedules, smelter returns; delinquent tax statements, county tax receipts, state mine tax regulations; mining district and claim maps; magazine and newspaper clippings; photographic negatives and prints.
Also in the second series is a subseries of Miscellaneous Business Records, 1927-1950. These 33 folders include: correspondence and memos; ore schedules; mine and claim maps; silver regulations; railroad rate books and records relating to the abandonment of the railway line to Northport; papers and materials concerning Aurum's acquisition of various mines and mining companies and documents pertaining to those properties; and legal documents (indentures, wills, court orders and decrees, petitions, easements, contracts, bills of sale, permits, depositions and affidavits, leases, patents, applications, notices).
The third series, Capital Stock Records, contains only a stock ledger and a stock journal.
The fourth series, Financial Records, includes ledgers, journals, cash books, voucher registers, and general records. Folders are arranged chronologically by month and year and contain general financial and operating records of the Northport Smelting and Refining Company. Materials include correspondence; receipts; credit memos; cash statements; vouchers and voucher lists; deposit slips; income account sheets; photographs; annual statements and monthly balance sheets; freight bills; expense accounts; power bills; payroll disbursement statements; ore settlement sheets; monthly stores distribution and inventory statements; bank statements and cancelled checks; bank drafts; check lists; tax returns; IRS information; corporation license certificates and tax receipts.
The fifth series, Ore Production & Shipment Records, 1937-1940, includes an Ore Record Book, 1916-1941. Entries, by consecutive lots, include the lot number, assay date, wet and dry weight, metal content and value per ton and per lot, freight rate and amount, proceeds, and mill lot number. On some pages the car number, ore grade, bill of lading date, voucher number, net return, umpire value, and settlement number are also recorded.
Also here are Ore Settlement Records, 1917-1945, arranged by property and year; these folders contain ore settlement, assay, and shipping forms and information on ore for mines and mining properties in the Aurum group. Most of these records date between 1933 and 1945, but one folder, for the Canada Copper Corporation, Ltd., contains ore settlements from the Black Tail Dump for the period 10/31/17 through 3/28/18.
In the final series, Personnel Records, there are nine monthly time books from various mines in the Aurum group which list employee names, hours and wages for the years 1937 through 1943. Also included is a Payroll Record, 1944-1950, (unbound), and employee payroll and compensation records for the period Feb. 1948-Aug. 1950. The Aurum pay roll, Jan. 1936-Jan. 1948, is in the records of Day Mines Inc.
Removal of vouchers, bank statements, and paid checks reduced the bulk of this collection by 15 cubic feet.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The records of the Aurum Mining Company are part of the records of Day Mines, Inc., donated to the University of Idaho by Henry Day in 1984 and 1985.
Processing Information
Initial processing of this manuscript group was done under the direction of Richard Davis in 1987 and 1988.
- Title
- Aurum Mining Company Records 1916-1953
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Michael Tarabulski
- Date
- ©1991
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is 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