The Combination Mine was located at Black Pine, Montana, about 12 miles northwest of Philipsburg. The silver deposits on Black Pine Ridge were originally located in 1882, but little development work was done for the next few years due in part to the high cost of building roads through the heavy timber. In 1886, James A. Pack secured a lease on the property and formed the Black Pine Mining Company to develop the mine. The company was composed of Pack, Josiah M. Merrill, Joseph H. Harper, Frederick W. Flint, Aeneas McAndrew, Ralph B. Wallace, and William P. Shryock. This company built a 10-stamp mill in the Willow Creek Valley below Black Pine Ridge. Unfortunately, the company had underestimated the cost of construction, and was not able to secure sufficient funds to pay off its debts.
In December 1887, a group of the Company's stockholders reorganized to form the Combination Mining and Milling Company, buying the assets of the old company which were to be sold at sheriff's auction. This new company, headed by Harper plus Anthony H. Barrett, Patrick Talent, George E. Maule, Elliott H. Wilson, Henry Williams, and Charles W. Goodale, was capitalized at $600,000. By 1891, Charles D. McLure, of the Granite Mountain Mining Company and the Bi-Metallic Mining Company, had acquired a majority of the stock of the Combination. In 1893, the officers of the Combination were almost identical with those of the Bi-Metallic.
In the fall of 1890, unsettled conditions in the silver market forced the closing of the mine for the winter. The company was able to re-open the following spring. The Combination mine and mill continued the operate until 1897. In spite of an output of over two million ounces of silver, the company was never able to pay any dividends and, in fact, had to assess each share a total of over 35 cents over the next ten years of operation.
After the turn of the century, the property, owned primarily be Charles D. McLure and later by his heirs, continued to produce sporadically under various leases. In 1932, the McLures and several Seattle investors formed Black Pine Mines, Inc. to purchase the property. This company produced for several years, but went out of business around 1941.
The general correspondence (1888-1899) in this collection consists of incoming, interoffice, and outgoing correspondence, filed together. Telegrams (1894-1898) are filed separately. In addition, there are financial records (1888-1898), including payrolls, supply lists, trial balances, vouchers, and other materials; organizational records (1898-1899); production records (1888-1896); and legal documents (1891). The W.A. Akers letterpress book (1888-1889) contains detailed letters from the mine manager to company officials in Butte, describing day-to-day operations, including an account of the fire of 1889 which destroyed much of the town of Black Pine.
Arranged by series. Some material housed in oversize folder in archives map case. Some material housed in manuscript volumes. See inventory below for more information.
Collection is open for research.
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Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.
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