Special Collections & Archives
Manuscript Group 250
Ambergris Consolidated Mining Company
Records, 1901-1950
4.5 cubic feet
The records of the Ambergris Consolidated Mining Company are part of the records of Day Mines, Inc., donated to the University of Idaho by Henry Day in 1984 and 1985. Initial processing of this manuscript group was done under the direction of Richard Davis in October 1988. Processing was completed by Michael Tarabulski and Jennifer Jenness in November 1991. 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.
COMPANY HISTORY
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The founders were soon superseded by W. Clayton Miller, Alfred Page, John P. Gray, A.C. Cogswell, and F.D. Allen.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.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
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.
ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION
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.
SERIES LIST
Container
I. Records of the Board of Directors and the Stockholders, 1908-1939 1
II. General Correspondence and Related Records, 1901-1929 1-3
III. Capital Stock Records, 1902-1951 3-4
IV. Financial Records, 1916-1940 4
V. Tax Records, 1929-1940 4
VI. Personnel Records, 1917-1918 5
AMBERGRIS CONSOLIDATED MINING COMPANY
INVENTORY
Box Folder Description
I. Records of the Board of Directors and the Stockholders, 1908-1939
1 1 Minutes, Jan. 27, 1908-Mar. 6, 1909 2 Minutes, June 20, 1916-Apr. 3, 1929 3 Minutes, Dec. 29, 1928-Oct. 24, 1939 4-15 Records relating to meetings, 1928-1939 16 Reports, 1929-1937
II. General Correspondence and Related Records, 1901-1929
17 Correspondence, 1901-1914 18-29 Correspondence, 1915-1923 2 30-35 Correspondence, 1924-1929 General records, 1925-1941 36 Legal documents 37 A 38 Ambergris Consolidated Mining Co., misc. 39 Ambergris Mines Co. 40 Annual report 41 Assays, 1925-1926 42 Assessment work, 1933-1934 43-45 B-D 46 Day, Henry L., manager, 1925-1931 47 Devlin, Wm. F., Jr. and Co., 1929 48 Dividend No. 1: March 25, 1929 49 E 50 Engineering reports, 1925, 1930 51 F 52 Ford, Frank D., 1929-1937 53 G 54 Guelph Mining & Milling Co., 1928-1929 55 Guelph: stock transfers, 1929 56 Guelph: stock certificates, 1929,1937 57 H 58 Hercules Mining Co., 1928-1935 59 Hercules Mining Co.: Invoices, 1928-1932 60 Honolulu Mining Co., 1925-1933 61 I 62 Idaho: Dept. of State; Inspector of Mines; Dept. of Law Enforcement, 1926-1935 63-65 J-L 66 Lease agreements, 1930-1937 67-69 M-N 3 70 Net profits statement, 1931-1932 71-72 O-P 73 Patent work, 1934-1935 74 Pennaluna & Co., 1929-1937 75 Pohlman, T.T., 1929 76 Preston & Raef, Spokane, 1929, 1934 77 R 78 Reports, Annual, 1930-1938 79 Rothrock, F.M., 1929 80 S 81 Statements, Financial, 1929-1938 82 Stock exchange, 1928-1937 83 Stock exchange: Spokane, 1934-1937 84-85 T-U 86 U.S.: Internal Revenue Service, 1931, 1937 87 U.S.: Bureau of Mines, 1925-1941 88-89 U.S.: Securities and Exchange Commission, application for permanent registration, 1934-1940 90-91 V-W 92 Wage and hour division, 1929 93 Y-Z 94-95 Final liquidation, 1939-1950
III. Capital Stock Records, 1902-1951
96-97 Stock ledgers, 1902-1917 98-99 Stock journal and ledgers, 1913-1917 100-101 Stock ledgers, 1916-1939 4 102-103 Stock journals, 1916-1939 104-106 Cancelled stock certificates, 1902-1916 107 Assessment journal, Jan. 5, 1917-Oct. 10, 1918 108 Dividend record, Oct. 24, 1939-May 28, 1951
IV. Accounting Records, 1916-1940
109-110 Ledgers, 1916-1940 111-112 Journals, 1916-1939
V. Tax Records, 1929-1940
113 Federal tax returns, 1929-1939 114 Claim for exemption from capital stock tax, 1933-1940 115 Ambergris Consolidated Mining Co. vs. United States, 1936-1939 116 Idaho tax returns, 1931-1939 117 Annual Statements of Domestic Corporations, 1929-1939
VI. Personnel Records, 1917-1918
5 118 Daily work reports, 1917-1918
mg250.htm / February 1995
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