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William R. Allen papers, 1870-1953

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Allen, William R., 1871-1953
Title
William R. Allen papers
Dates
1870-1953 (inclusive)
Quantity
4 linear feet of shelf space
Collection Number
MC 105 (collection)
Summary
William Allen was a Wise River and Anaconda, Montana, mine owner, railroad builder and lieutenant governor. This collection (1903-1953) consist of general correspondence, legal documents, organization papers, and financial records of several of William R. Allen's companies. There are subgroups for 16 companies, including the Boston and Montana Development Company, the Boston-Montana Corporation, the French Gulch Mining Company, and the Montana Southern Railway Company. There is also a small amount of political material. See user restriction note for restiction information on material use.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

William R. Allen was born July 25, 1871, in French Gulch, southwest of Anaconda, Montana. His father, William N. Allen, travelled to Alder Gulch from Missouri as a pioneer in January 1864. In 1865, he moved to the French Gulch placer mining district. Allen's mother, Cordelia Waddell Allen, died when William was a small boy. Since winters in French Gulch were especially severe, the family acquired a ranch at Mill Creek near what later became Anaconda. They spent the winters there cattle ranching and the summers at French Gulch mining. Young William attended Deer Lodge County schools. Initially he had intended to go East for college but decided instead to go to Helena Business College, from which he graduated with honors in 1891. After graduation, Allen returned to French Gulch to mine with his father. He also became associated with Marcus Daly in his Electric Light, Street Railway, and Water Works department. After his father's death in 1898, Allen began to develop his Elkhorn Mine at Brundy (later renamed Coolidge for the President). The Elkhorn Mine became a major producer with a large processing mill. For eight years, starting in 1903, Allen also was a timber developer. He then began branching out into other enterprises, becoming involved in real estate, fire insurance, banking, and railroads. During most of the nineteen-teens, Allen lived in Boston, Massachusetts, where he established important business connections, which he used to finance his Montana enterprises. In 1913 he established the Boston and Montana Development Company. A subsidiary, the Butte, Wisdom, and Pacific Railway Company, was incorporated to build a rail line into the Big Hole Valley from the Oregon Short Line at Divide. Nothing came of this project, however, until after World War I, when the Montana Southern Railway Company--a reorganization of the Butte, Wisdom, and Pacific--started construction of a narrow gauge line. This was completed to Allen, Montana (later renamed Wise River) and then turned up the Wise River to the Elkhorn mines at Brundy. Since the railroad was totally dependent on the prosperity of the mines, when they declined in the 1920s, the railroad also declined. After several reorganizations of the railroad and its parent company, both fell victim to the Depression and to the decline of mining in the 1930s. William R. Allen was a Republican. He was elected to the Eighth Legislative Assembly, 1903, and the Ninth Legislative Assembly, 1905, and then served as Lieutenant Governor, 1909-1911, under Governor Edwin L. Norris. In 1920, and again in 1924, Allen was a delegate to the Republican National Convention. He came out of political retirement in 1940 to run for Congress, but was defeated by Jeannette Rankin in the Republican primary. Allen married Elizabeth Berkin of a pioneer Boulder family. Their first child, a son named Leslie, died in early childhood in 1893. The Allens had three other children: Mildred, Esther, and Ruth. After Elizabeth's death in 1917, Allen remarried, to Ethel Louis deMar, in Boston. They had two daughters and one son. William R. Allen died at the age of 82 on October 31, 1953.

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Content Description

Papers. 1870-1953. 4 linear feet. The collection consists of general correspondence, financial records, legal documents, and organizational records of William R. Allen and of several of his companies. Allen's personal papers consist of minor correspondence and financial records; papers of two lawsuits to which Allen was a party; legal documents (1900-1941) including mining deeds, agreements, annual representations of quartz lodes, a Mexican land deal, and other papers; a subject file (1904-1917) on the Minerals Separation North American Corporation; and miscellany, including material on his campaigns for governor and congressman, a Montana Senate memorial on Allen's death, and other items. There is a small subgroup (1870-1900) for Allen's father William N. Allen. There are subgroups for sixteen companies: Allen and Foley, Allen Company; Allen Gold Mining Company; Allentown Town Site Company; Boston and Montana Development Company; Boston and Montana Milling Company; Boston and Montana Milling and Power Company; Boston-Montana Corporation; Boston-Montana Mines Company; Boston-Montana Mining Company; Butte, Wisdom and Pacific Railway Company; French Gulch Mining Company; Montana Southern Railway Company; Montana Southwestern Railway Company; National Boston Montana Mines Corporation; and Southern Montana Railway Company. These subgroups deal with Allen's mining developments in the French Gulch area south of Anaconda and his mining and railroad developments in the Wise River area south of Dewey, including the Elkhorn Mine. RESTRICTION: May be used only for scholarly research; use of the materials for the commercial exploitation of mineral lands formerly developed by W.R. Allen and companies with which he was associated is prohibited.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

RESTRICTION: May be used only for scholarly research; use of the materials for the commercial exploitation of mineral lands formerly developed by W.R. Allen and companies with which he was associated is prohibited. Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.

Preferred Citation

Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arrangement by subgroups and series. Some material housed in Archives Map Case. Some material housed in cardfile box. See inventory below for more information.

Location of Collection

5:7-1

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

Separated Materials

Printed materials, maps, photographs, and artifacts transferred to the Library, Photo Archives, and Museums respectively. See inventory below for more information.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Mines and mineral resources--Montana--Beaverhead County
  • Mines and mineral resources--Montana--Deer Lodge County
  • Political parties
  • Railroads--Design and construction

Personal Names

  • Allen, William R., 1871-1953 (creator)

Geographical Names

  • Anaconda (Mont.)--Industries
  • Butte (Mont.)--Industries--Mines and mining
  • Coolidge (Mont.)
  • Elkhorn Mine (Mont.)
  • French Gulch (Mont.)
  • Wisdom (Mont.)
  • Wise River (Mont.)

Finding aid prepared by MHS staff
2001

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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