The Roxbury placers were a group of gold claims on the junction of the Klamath and Scott rivers, near Scott Bar, Siskiyou County, California, a site subject to placering as early as 1851. In 1932 Henry Day bought the Roxbury placers, which included the Reserve, Whiting Hill, Security, Daisy, Belmont, Success, Big D, Little D, and Dodge placer claims from the estate of H.P. Nawn of Boston, who had been the owner since 1916. The property also contained a blacksmith shop, a bunkhouse, and a bungalow, which was rented out as a lodge for hunters and fisherman. In 1938 and 1939 Day located the Samms, Excelsior, and the Shasta claims.
Day appraised these properties in two preliminary reports written in September and November 1932. Henry and Harry Day purchased the Roxbury together, but Harry deeded his interest to his son in 1934. Henry spent much of 1933 and 1934 in California working on this project.
In June 1935 Henry stopped work on the Roxbury and during the next ten years many people attempted to purchase parts of the property, primarily because of the bungalow, but Henry felt that it would be more lucrative to sell the property as a whole. Until an opportunity could be found to do so he occasionally leased the claims. In August 1946 he found buyers in Charles H. Brown and James J. Brown.
The records of the Roxbury Placers span the years 1930 to 1946. Included are an alphabetically arranged file of correspondence, reports, insurance records, and tax returns, financial records, and time books. Some early historical records dating as far back as 1895 are also included.
Related records can be found in the records of the Howard Company.
The records of the Roxbury Placers are divided into three series.
The first series, General Correspondence and Related Records is a series of folders arranged alphabetically by correspondent or subject. It includes correspondence between Henry and Harry Day and between Henry and mining engineers, employees, and prospective buyers and lessees, relating to the daily business of the Roxbury group, its leasing and potential sale. Also included are financial statements, reports, pay rolls, inventories of equipment, inventories of the bungalow furnishings, insurance policies and reports, leases, proofs of labor, bills and receipts for routine expenditures, brochures issued by the previous owner in an effort to sell the property and to rent the bungalow, photographs of the property, and other records. One folder contains records of earlier owners dating back to the 1890's.
Financial Records, the second series, contains two voucher registers and schedules of insurance policies and depreciation of equipment.
The final series, Personnel Records, contains three employee time books.
The records of Roxbury Placers 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 by Clay Williams in May 1988.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.