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Dayrock Mining Company records

 Collection
Identifier: MG 272

Scope and Contents

The records of the Dayrock Mining Company span the years 1923 to 1953, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1923 to 1947. Included are minutes of meetings, financial statements, correspondence with suppliers and stockholders, annual statements and reports to state agencies, stock ledgers and journals, assessment records, lists of stockholders, financial ledgers and journals, voucher registers, ore settlement records, mill reports, payroll and other personnel records, and tax returns.

Related materials can be found in the records of Strattons Mining Company.

Dates

  • Creation: 1923-1953

Language of Materials

English

Biographical / Historical

The Dayrock Mining Company, eventually to become one of the main producers of lead and silver for the Day interests, was originally incorporated November 30, 1923, under the name of Stratton Mines Company for the purpose of acquiring and operating mining property and a millsite held by Stratton & Stratton, a partnership. Apparently the Days and their associates were the major stockholders from the start, owning over a third of the outstanding shares. The original directors of Stratton Mines Company were Jesse Freeman, president; William J. Stratton, secretary; and James A. Wayne. On February 14, 1924, the board membership was increased from three to five and Jerome J. Day and Frank M. Rothrock elected to fill the new vacancies. On January 6, 1925, William J. Stratton was replaced on the board by James J. Murphy who died in the following year and was succeeded by John Wourms on May 1, 1926. Henry L. Day replaced Wayne on May 13 of that year and F. Wallace Rothrock succeeded Freeman, the last of the original directors, on November 21, 1927. Thus by 1928 Strattons Mines Company no longer had any connection with William J. Stratton or the Stratton & Stratton partnership, except as a business rival, and a special meeting of the Stratton Mines Company directors held on October 3 resolved to change the name of the firm to the Dayrock Mining Company.

The Dayrock mine was located in the Placer Center mining district on the west side of Nine Mile Gulch, approximately three miles north of Wallace, Idaho. Profits were great enough to offer five dividends of about three cents per share between 1928 and 1932, when low metal prices during the Great Depression halted ore production. In 1935 the board of directors decided to restart the mine and levied an assessment of .006 mills per share, but within a year the Dayrock was again making large profits and sent to its stockholders a dividend of two cents per share. Between 1936 and 1947 Dayrock stockholders received four more dividends for about two and one-half cents per share each.

In 1930 the Option Mining Company, consisting of the Pacific and the Ohio Lodes, was purchased for 36,000 shares of Dayrock stock. Other Dayrock purchases included 15 percent of the Press Times Publishing Co. from Hercules Mining Company and the California Consolidated Mining Company.

From 1928 onward the Day interests always held a majority of the Dayrock shares and controlled the board of directors. In 1943 S.F. Heitfeld succeeded Jerome Day who had died, and in 1945 Eleanor Day Boyce succeeded the late John Wourms. Otherwise, the composition of the board remained the same for nineteen years. After the merger of the Dayrock Mining Company into Day Mines Inc. in 1947 the Dayrock mine continued to be a major producer of lead and silver until its closure in 1977.

Extent

17.5 cubic feet

Abstract

Minutes of meetings, financial statements, correspondence with suppliers and stockholders, annual statements, reports to federal and state agencies, stock ledgers and journals, assessment records, lists of stockholders, financial ledgers and journals, voucher registers, ore settlement records, mill reports, and payroll and other personnel records of a silver-lead mine in the Placer Center Mining District of the Coeur d'Alene mining region in Northern Idaho.

Arrangement

The records of the Dayrock Mining Company are divided into seven series.

The first series, Records of the Board of Directors and the Stockholders, includes minutes of meetings, annual reports of operations and printed annual reports to stockholders, lists of stockholders, proxies and other material related to the annual meetings.

General Correspondence and Related Records, the second series, contains accident reports, assay reports, assessment records, contracts for mine work, insurance records, correspondence with suppliers and stockholders, applications for listings on several stock exchanges, financial statements, leases, lists of stockholders, reports to various government agencies, and information of taxes paid.

The third series is Capital Stock Records. Included are stock ledgers and journals, correspondence regarding transfers of stock, reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, lists of stockholders and information on dividends.

The fourth series, Financial Records, contains financial ledgers and journals, casebooks, a 1946 appraisal of the property, and voucher registers.

The Ore Production and Shipment records in series five include settlement sheets, mill reports, and daily metallurgical summaries.

Series six, Plant and Equipment Records, contains 24 folders of orders for supplies and equipment arranged alphabetically by supplier.

Personnel Records, the seventh series, includes payroll information, time sheets, daily summaries of work done in the mine, and records relating to pay increases and employee withholding tax.

Removal of cancelled stock certificates, returned assessment notices, vouchers, paid checks, bank statements, and duplicate materials reduced the size of this collection by 10.5 cubic feet.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The records of the Dayrock 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 by Lena Johnson in November 1988.

Title
Dayrock Mining Company Records 1923-1953
Author
Finding aid prepared by Michael Tarabulski
Date
©1992
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