The Sonora Mining and Milling Company was incorporated November 9, 1897, by J.E. Argi, Samuel Drappin, Allen E. Gill, John Moffatt, Dan Cardoner, Herman J. Rossi, and W.C. Clark. There were 1,000,000 shares of capital stock at a par value of $1.00.
In 1923 the lode claims, located in the Lelande district, near Burke, Idaho were: Alameda, Sonora, First Chance, New Hope, Mayflower, Sonora Fraction, First Chance Fraction, Lexington, Center Rock, Big Seven, North Star, Justin, St. Paul, and Aronos. Six of these were patented. Another claim, the Hoover, was located July 15, 1928. By 1933 there were 11 patented and 4 unpatented claims. Development work, financed by stock assessments, consisted of four tunnels, the principal one being 5900 feet long. By the time the mine was sold in 1943 the tunnel was 6210 feet.
Membership on the board of directors changed frequently, but the chief activity of board meetings, levying assessments, remained constant. There were fifty-nine assessments during the life of the company. When the board levied assessment #59, on June 10, 1939 the treasury had $1.20, and the company was indebted $59.70 for advertising and taxes.
In the fall of 1943 the King Mining Company, headed by Henry L. Day, proposed a buy out of Sonora. The directors, C.H. Swanson, Eugene Roher, George L. Richardson, Stella L. Richardson, Otto Olson, Joe Battick and Charles Olson discussed and approved the proposition. On October 15, 1943 the stockholders of the company approved the deeding of the property to King Mining Company.
The records of the Sonora Mining and Milling Company span the years 1897 to 1944. It is a small collection, and some important types of records are missing or incomplete, but the material here favors no particular era of Sonora's life. Included are meetings of minutes, stock ledgers, cancelled stock certificates, correspondence, assessment records, cash journals, check registers, paid checks, and bank books.
Related materials can be found in the records of the King Mining Company.
There are three series in this group: Records of the Board of Directors and the Stockholders, 1897-1943; Capital Stock Records, 1897-1944; and Financial Records, 1900-1940.
The first series, Records of the Board of Directors and the Stockholders, contains only two minute books, covering the years 1897-1943. The main activity of the meetings seems to have been the levying of assessments to pay bills to carry on development.
Capital Stock Records, the second series, contains a stock ledger, 1897-1939, but no stock journal. There are ten volumes of cancelled stock certificates, but all from the period 1897-1916. Correspondence includes items relating to conversion of Sonora stock to King stock; proxies; a warranty deed, 1939, between Sonora and Montana Power; correspondence relating to stock assessments; delinquency lists; a hospital insurance agreement; legal documents; and an indenture with King Mining Company. There are assessment records for the period 1915-1939.
The third series, Financial Records, includes two combination cash journal/assessment records. Cash received came almost entirely of assessment receipts, covering assessments no. 16-35. There are only a few entries for cash paid out, mostly for labor. There are two check registers, one from 1911-1914, and one from 1930-1942. Neither is much used. A miscellaneous file includes paid checks, bank books, and a register for assessment six.
Removal of assessment receipts and folders of cancelled stock certificates reduced the bulk of this collection by 1 cubic foot.
The records of the Sonora Mining and Milling Company 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 Judith Nielsen in November 1987.
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.