Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Montana Ore Purchasing Company Records, 1900-1910
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Montana Ore Purchasing Company
- Title
- Montana Ore Purchasing Company Records
- Dates
-
1900-1910 (inclusive)19001910
- Quantity
- 1.2 linear feet of shelf space
- Collection Number
- MC 164
- Summary
- The Montana Ore Purchasing Company was a Butte, Montana, mining and smelting company owned by F. Augustus Heinze and John MacGinnis. The company was involved in a long court fight with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, known as the "War of the Copper Kings." Records include incoming correspondence (1900-1910), outgoing correspondence (1905-1906), court papers, daily smelter reports (August 1905), two journals (1905), an order book (1905-1906), legal documents, and miscellany. There is a small subgroup (1901-1903) for the Butte Plumbing Company.
- 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 - Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Historical NoteReturn to Top
The Montana Ore Purchasing Company was incorporated in Butte, Montana, in March 1893. Major stockholders included Fredrick Augustus Heinze, who held 51% of the stock; John MacGinnis, with 2% of the stock; and the remainder held primarily by Heinze's brothers, Otto Charles Heinze and Arthur Heinze. The company was capitalized at $2,500,000. In 1894, Montana Ore Purchasing Company opened a highly sophisticated smelter in Meaderville, a Butte suburb. This allowed the company to offer low-priced custom smelting work to small mining companies and placed Heinze in direct competition with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Originally, Montana Ore Purchasing Company had to lease mines as well as secure ore from independent companies in order to keep operating at an efficient capacity. However, F. Augustus Heinze was able to locate and purchase rich ore bodies in seemingly lackluster mines. For example, the Rarus Mine, purchased in 1895 for $300,000, turned out to be one of Butte's premier mining properties. In the years 1893-1897, Montana Ore Purchasing Company employed 700 men and reduced 25,000,000 pounds of copper ore per year. In addition to the Montana holdings, the company also moved into the Kootenay Mining District of British Columbia. These interests were sold in 1898. In 1906, after a decade of mining war with the Anaconda Company and the Amalgamated Copper Company, Heinze was forced to sell the bulk of his Montana properties, including Montana Ore Purchasing Company, to the Butte Coalition Mining Company, a division of Amalgamated. John MacGinnis, a vice president of Montana Ore Purchasing Company, was also president of the Silver Bow National Bank and mayor of Butte (1905-1906). He held copper and coal mining interests in Montana, Mexico, and British Columbia. MacGinnis was also an officer in the Butte Plumbing Company, a general contracting firm for plumbing, steam, and gas fittings. Others involved with the company included David J. Fitzgerald and S.A. Waters. Butte Plumbing Company went out of business in 1904.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Collection includes incoming correspondence (1900-1910), two letterpress books of outgoing correspondence (Sept. 1905-April, 1906), court papers, daily smelter reports (Aug. 1905), two account journals (May-Oct. 1905), an order book (May 1905-Jan. 1906), legal documents (1900, 1906), and miscellaneous materials. In addition, there is a subgroup for Butte Plumbing Company including scattered general and interoffice correspondence (1902-1903).
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection
Montana Ore Purchasing Company RecordsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
Incoming Correspondence
|
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1 / 1 | A (correspondents include
James T. Abbe, American Smelting and Refining Company, Shirley C. Ashby,
Benjamin Atha and Illingworth Company, H.G. Atwater, L. Auerbach and Company)
|
1900 |
| 1 / 2 | Ba-Bl (correspondents
include Badger-Butte Mining Company, Frank Balduc, Bank of Montreal, C.K.
Bannister, William Bartle, H.C. Bellinger, C.L. Berger and Sons, Big Blackfoot
Milling Company, Charles E. Billin and Company, Allen G. Blair, S.C.
Blackerton, John Bloor, Edward L. Blossom) |
1900 |
| 1 / 3 | Bo-Bu (correspondents
include William Brack; E.B. Braden; Donald Bradford; Bradley Engineering and
Machinery Company; Joseph B. Brien; J.O. Briscoe; A.H. Brown; B.F. Brown; T.A.
Brown; Brunswick-Blake-Collender Company; D.D. Budd; Massena Bullard; Butte,
Anaconda and Pacific Railway Company; Butte and Nome Mining Company; Butte
Insurance Agency; Butte Lighting and Power Company) |
1900 |
| 1 / 4 | Ca-Ch (correspondents
include F.S. Cahill, J.H. Calderhead, J.F. Cameron, F.W. Campbell, Carbon
County Canal Company, Hugh Carmichael, R.A. Carnochan, J.T. Carroll, George B.
Child) |
1900 |
| 1 / 5 | Cl-Cu (correspondents
include William Clancy, Albert G. Clark, F.H. Clark and Company, William A.
Clark by A.H. Wethey, Clear Grit Mining Company, Floyd Closser, Cochise Copper
Mining Company, Collins Land Company, Colorado Smelting and Mining Company,
D.W. Connole, George W. Cooper, Louis Corbeille, D.A. Cory, James W. Cory, W.H.
Crabtree, W.J. Craig, W.S. Croft, Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company, John Cumba)
|
1900 |
| 1 / 6 | H-M (correspondents include
Frank Harigan, Ideal Manufacturing Company, A.A. Jones, Matheson and Wheil)
|
1900 |
| 1 / 7 | E.H. Wilson and George W.
Tower Jr. reporting on Jessie Mine |
1903 |
| 1 / 8 | G-H (correspondents include
Greenough Brothers Mercantile Company, John H. Heward and Company) |
1904-1905 |
| 1 / 9 | Joseph A. Coram |
1906 |
| 1 / 10 | B-S (correspondents include
Bingham Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company, Boston Consolidated Mining
Company, James Breen, Businessmen's Clearing House, F.H. Butler, Butte Miners
Union T.S. Chalmers, Collins Land Company, State Savings Bank) |
1906 |
| 1 / 11 | A-U (correspondents include
Joseph Anderson, Clara Larkin Barth, Bingham Consolidated Mining and Smelting
Company, Black Eagle Hose Company, J.A. Carmichael, Edward J. Carter, Chalmers
and Williams, Coeur d'Alene Metal Mining and Smelting Company, Joseph A. Coram,
General Engineering Company, Rancho San Filipe, United Copper Company)
|
1907 |
| 1 / 12 | A-C (correspondents include
Edward A. Adler, Aetna Indemnity Company, Avery Company, Battle Creek
Sanitarium, Braden Copper Mines Company, Business Development Company of
America, Coeur d'Alene Lumber Company, Cullen and Dudley) |
1908-1910 |
Outgoing Correspondence
|
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 1 / 13 | Letterpress book
|
Sept.-Dec. 1905 |
| 2 / 1 | Letterpress book
|
Jan.-Apr. 1906 |
| 2 / 2 | Letterpress copies
[loose] |
Feb. 1906 |
Court Papers
|
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2 / 3 | State of Montana vs.
Aetna Savings and Trust Company |
1908 |
Financial Records
|
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| OvFd / | Daily smelter
reports (includes labor distribution, ores crushed and roasted, supplies
received, etc.) |
Aug. 1905 |
| Volume | ||
| Vol. 1-2 | Journals
|
May-July 1905 |
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2 / 4 | Order book
|
May 1905- Jan. 1906 |
| 2 / 5 | Miscellaneous
(includes Bingham Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company profit and loss
statement; coal cost per ton; La France Copper Company assay certificate; Seven
Devils Mining Company statement) |
1900-1908 |
Legal Documents
|
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2 / 6 |
Miscellaneous (includes Blake Mining and Milling Company and F. Augustus Heinze
agreement re ore separation process; Frank Balduc surety bond; power of
attorney) |
1900, 1906 |
Miscellany
|
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2 / 7 | Chalmers
and Williams blower and gas exhauster catalog and specifications |
1902, n.d. |
| 2 / 8 |
Miscellaneous (includes copper statistics, Chouteau County convention
delegates, telegraphic code words, subscription list for proposed Mexican sugar
company, hand drawn mine map [FRAGILE]) |
1900, n.d. |
Butte Plumbing Company Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
Incoming Correspondence |
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2 / 9 |
W.A. Clark and Brother, L.M. Rumsey Manufacturing Company, U.S. Supply Company
|
1901-1902 |
Interoffice Correspondence |
||
| Box/Folder | ||
| 2 / 10 | Miscellaneous (correspondents include John MacGinnis,
David J. Fitzgerald, S.A. Waters, W.J. Walsh) |
1902-1903 |
