Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame
Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT 59717-3320
United States
Phone (406) 994-4242
Fax (406) 994-2851
http://www.lib.montana.edu/archives/
University Archivist
spcoll@www.lib.montana.edu
Collection 2121, MtBC, us
Storrs, Lucius Seymour,
1869-1906
Lucius Seymour Storrs Papers
1897-1906
.2 linear feet
The Lucius Seymour Storrs Papers consists of geological
reports, mostly pertaining to coal deposits, and related correspondence pertaining to
Storr's work as a geologist for the Northern Pacific Railway Company and its subsidiary, the
Northwestern Improvement Company. Montana places surveyed include: Gallatin County, Madison
County, Carbon County, Judith Basin, Red Lodge, Chestnut, Ravensdale, Melmont, Roslyn,
Livingston, Bull Mountain, and Toston. The papers also include the text of an undated speech
Storrs delivered at Montana State College regarding the history of Rocky Mountain coal
fields.
Collection materials are in English
Biographical Note
Lucius Seymour Storrs was born in Buffalo New York on January 4, 1869, the son of Origen
and Janet Rankin Storrs. He attended the University of Nebraska where he graduated in 1890
with a Bachelor of Science degree. Storrs returned to UN to complete his graduate work later
in life, earning a doctorate in engineering in 1927. From 1890 to 1894, he worked as an
assistant geologist for the Colorado Fuel Company, and was a geologist for the Northern
Pacific Railroad and special writer for the U.S. Geological Survey from 1896-1906. He
returned east after his work surveying the western coal fields where he engaged in a number
of businesses, and after his retirement worked as the chairman for the committee on national
defense of the American Electric Railway Association. Storrs married Mary L. Cooper on June
26, 1894, and the couple had at least one child, a daughter Margaret Storrs Grierson, the
donor of this collection. Lucius Storrs died in Northampton, Massachusetts on July 4,
1945.
Geological reports, mostly pertaining to coal deposits, and related correspondence
pertaining to Storr's work as a geologist for the Northern Pacific Railway Company and its
subsidiary, the Northwestern Improvement Company. Montana places surveyed include: Gallatin
County, Madison County, Carbon County, Judith Basin, Red Lodge, Chestnut, Ravensdale,
Melmont, Roslyn, Livingston, Bull Mountain, and Toston. Other reports pertain to locations
in Washington, North Dakota, Wyoming and Minnesota. The papers also include the text of an
undated speech Storrs delivered at Montana State College regarding the history of Rocky
Mountain coal fields.
This collection is open for research.
Geological papers created or collected by Lucius S. Storrs pertaining to his work in
Montana, Washington, North Dakota, and Minnesota were donated to Special Collections by his
daughter, Margaret Storrs Grierson of Northampton, Massachusetts on December 14, 1984. Mrs.
Greirson donated the balance of her father's papers to the University of Nebraska
afterwards.
This collection was processed 2009 April 1
Northern Pacific Railway
Company
Northwestern Improvement
Company
Coal-Geology-Minnesota
Coal-Geology-Montana
Coal-Geology-North Dakota
Coal-Geology-Rocky Mountains
Coal-Geology-Washington (State)
Coal-Geology-Wyoming
Geologists-United States
Mines and Mineral
Resources
Montana
Washington
(State)
1/1
Report and letter
Report on the Holdings of the Northwestern Improvement
Company in the Mesabi Range, Minnesota.
July 1905
20 p.
Letter to Thomas Cooper, Land Commissioner: statement
regarding water power possibilities in Montana, east of the main range of the Rocky
Mountains.
October 30, 1905
15 p.
1/2
Letter
Letter to Thomas Cooper, Land Commissioner: list of
Montana lands for transfer to the Northwestern Improvement Company. Lands of more
value for coal than for any other purpose.
November 4, 1905
9 p.
1/3
Reports
General Report on the Coal Fields of Lewis County,
Washington.
July 1905
18 p., plus map.
Report to Howard Elliott, President, Northern Pacific
Railway Company, on Saint Helens Mining District, Washington.
September 26, 1904
7 p.
Preliminary Report upon the Morton (Cowlitz River)
Coal Field, Lewis County, Washington.
January 1903
4 p.
1/4
Letter and description
Letter to Howard Elliott, President: statement on the
holdings of the Northwestern Improvement Company in the coal fields of
Washington.
February 27, 1904
6 p.
General Description of the Coal Fields of the
Northwest.
1904
22 p., plus map.
1/5
Reports on mining properties:
Red Lodge
November 3, 1904
July 25, 1904
July 8, 1904
Chestnut
November 1, 1904
undated
Ravensdale, Melmont and Chestnut
January 19, 1903
Roslyn
July 25, 1904
Melmont
June 13, 1904
Ravensdale
November 16, 1904
June 13, 1904
1/6
Reports and letter
Report on the Bear Creek Coal Field, Carbon County,
Montana.
May 1900
17 p., plus 2 maps.
Letter to J. W. Kendrick, General Manager, Northern
Pacific Railway Company: report on Rocky Fork Coal Mine.
March 17, 1898
6 p., plus 2 diagrams, plus 5 p.
Report on the Clark's Fork Fraction of the Yellowstone
Coal Field in Montana.
October 1897
21 p.
1/7
Reports
Report upon the Western End of the Livingston-Bozeman
Coal Field, Montana.
July 1902
1 p., plus 5 plates.
Preliminary Report upon the Livingston-Bozeman Coal
Field
October 1901
17 p.
1/8
Memorandum
Memorandum for Consideration in Arriving at Final
Report on Scheme for Tie Treatment.
undated
20 p.
1/9
Reports and letters
A General Paper on the Preservation of Wood, by C. W.
Berry, Superintendent, Wood Preserving Plant, Union Pacific Railroad Company, Laramie,
Wyoming.
undated
20 p.
Letter to Howard Elliott, President, and H. J. Horn,
General Manager: report on water purification with recommendations as to the
installation of such an operation on the First District of the Dakota
Division.
March 6, 1905
16 p.
Letter to H. J. Horn, General Manager: organization of
a test department.
May 20, 1905
7 p.
Report on the Trail Creek Coal Field,
Montana.
July 1898
6 p., plus map.
1/10
Report
Report on the Horr Coal Field.
April 1900
18 p., plus map.
1/11
Report
Report on the Bull Mountain Coal Field, Yellowstone
County, Montana.
August 1900
13 p., plus 3 plates.
1/12
Reports
Report on the Bituminous Coal Field near Toston,
Montana.
June 1898
5 p., plus map.
Report on the Coal Lands near Toston,
Montana.
November 1897
3 p.
Report on the Coal Lands in the Vicinity of Missoula,
Montana.
October 1897
3 p.
Preliminary Report on the Judith Basin Coal Field of
Montana.
February 1904.
5 p., plus map.
1/13
Report
Report on the Resources of the Madison Valley,
Montana.
September 1903
22 p., plus 3 maps.
1/14
Reports, examination, and letter
Preliminary Report on the Green River Coal Field,
Washington.
April 1900
10 p.
Preliminary Examination of a Portion of the Wilkeson
Coal Field, Washington.
April 1900
9 p.
Letter to B. F. Bush, General Manager, Northwestern
Improvement Company: examination of coal lands near Wenatchee, Washington.
March 2, 1900
4 p.
Report on the Mount Baker Coal Field, Whatcom County,
Washington.
December 1898
7 p.
Report on the Coal Lands in the Vicinity of Palmer,
Washington.
December 1898
5 p.
1/15
Letter and reports
Letter to Howard Elliott, President: report on
prospecting in the Cuyuna Iron Range, Minnesota.
October 13, 1904
6 p.
Preliminary Report on Corundum Deposits of Gallatin
County, Montana.
February 1905
11 p.
Report on a Portion of the Colville Indian
Reservation.
December 1904
13 p., plus map.
1/16
Report
Draft of Report on Raging River Coal Field; by Colin
Napier.
August 1888
15 p.
1/17
Reports and letter
Diamond Drill Hole: Fargo, North Dakota; Allard,
Montana; Medora, North Dakota; Dickinson, North Dakota.
Letter to C. M. Levey, Assistant to President: table
of estimated available tonnage of the various properties owned by the Northwestern
Improvement Company.
November 1, 1904
3 p.
Diamond Drill Hole: Sully Springs, North
Dakota.
1/18
Letter
Letter to B.F. Bush, Vice-President, Western Coal and
Mining Company, St. Louis, Missouri: examination of the plant of the New Jersey
Briquetting Company, Brooklyn.
May 23, 1906
8 p.
1/19
Report
L. S. Storrs. The Rocky Mountain Coal Fields; extract
from the 22nd annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1900-1901. Washington:
Government Printing Office
1902
1/20
Paper
A Brief History of the Coal Fields of the Rocky
Mountain States. Paper read at Montana State College, Bozeman.
undated