The Musselshell Mine was a hydraulic placer mine on Musselshell Creek in what is now Clearwater County, Idaho, (1900-1913). The company was owned and operated by Charles McClintock of Detroit, Michigan, and John McClintock of Lexington, Kentucky, in partnership with Louis C. Roberts.
Prior to 1901, Roberts managed the company and directed mining operations in Idaho. Because the mine was unprofitable, the McClintock brothers hired L. R. Parsons to be business manager while Roberts continued to direct the mining operations.
Parsons was a personal friend of the McClintock family and they trusted him to look after their interests. He was also well qualified for the position. He was a recent graduate of the University of Michigan (MS 1900) and had a working knowledge of geology and chemistry.
The company continued to be unprofitable. In 1907 a geologist recommended closing the mine. The ore was low grade and there was insufficient water pressure for hydraulic mining. There was a shortage of operating capital. The partners decided to diversify into other ventures such as logging. The company suspended mining operations in 1907.
The records of the Musselshell Mining Company span the years 1901-1908 with the bulk of the material from 1902-1908. Most of the materials consists of the business correspondence of L.R. Parsons for the Musselshell Mine. Besides correspondence, there are some scattered financial papers such as canceled checks and monthly statements.
Folders one through four retain the original folder headings. The material within the folders is in the original chronological order. Folder five contains papers which were loose in the box with the correspondence folders. These consist of financial statements, legal agreements (grubstaking), canceled checks, deposit slips, a bank statement, tax receipts, grocery bills, a geologist's report, a subpoena and a small penciled map of the claims.
The records of the Musselshell Mining Company were acquired by the University of Idaho Library sometime prior to 1980.
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.