Harry Webb Marsh was born in Moscow, Idaho, March 3, 1886, the first of three sons born to William and Mattie Marsh whose home was on the corner of First and B streets. He was educated in the Moscow City schools and the University of Idaho Preparatory School. After working for several years he returned to the University of Idaho to study mining engineering.
In 1903 he made his first trip to the Coeur d'Alene mining area where he worked for a time at the Tiger Poorman Mine before returning to Moscow. His first job upon leaving, the university came in 1910 when he began working in the assay office of the Hercules Mining Company. He also helped on the design and construction of that company's new concentrating plant. In 1912 he went to White Horse, Yukon Territory to manage the Atlas Mining Company, but due to low copper prices the mine shut down in 1913. He then went to Dawson, Yukon Territory, as an engineer with the Canadian Klondike Dredging Company, but at the beginning of World War I all the men in the area enlisted in the Canadian Army. He then went to Alaska where he was employed by the Alaska Treadwell Gold Mining Company on Douglas Island, and later by the Alaska Gastineau Gold Mining Company in Juneau.
He returned to the Coeur d'Alenes in the fall of 1915 and joined the engineering staff of the Federal Mining and Smelting Company. In 1917 he began work for the Tamarack and Custer Mining Company where he remained until 1933. He continued to work for the Day family mining interests until 1941 when he was asked to go to Boise to assume the office of secretary-treasurer of the Idaho Mining Association, a position he held until his retirement in 1959. In 1949 President Harry S. Truman appointed him to the National Technical Task Committee on Industrial Wastes where he represented the entire non-ferrous metal mining industry.
From 1935 to 1941 he was in charged of the Shoshone County flood relief program. Working with the Army Corps of Engineers he supervised the construction of 28 Civilian Conservation Corps Camps to assist with this work. One of these camps, Camp F-30 in Pritchard, was renamed Camp Harry Marsh on July 16, 1933.
His other activities included serving as Shoshone County vice president of the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce for many years and as president of that organization in 1942. He also served as treasurer of the State Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and Petroleum Geologists, voted an Honorary Life Member of the Northwest Mining Association in 1953, and was a member of the Elks and many other clubs and organizations.
While working in Alaska in 1913 he met Lovina Willson whom he married in Seattle June 8, 1916. They had two children.
The papers of Harry Marsh span the years 1918 to 1966, with the bulk of the papers covering the years 1930 to 1955.
The major portion of this collection consists of 13 scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence, and typed articles dealing with various aspects of Idaho and Pacific Northwest history. Of particular note is the original visit or register for the Cataldo Mission opening after its remodeling, September 26, 1926 (see item 30). The scrapbooks are indexed.
Other papers in the collection include correspondence, newspaper clippings on mining, flood control, and the University of Idaho class of 1909, the class Harry would have graduated with had he completed his education. There are also movie films of various mines, and several photograph albums.
Although the scrapbooks were numbered by Harry Marsh, the remaining material was in no particular order. Some item were in envelopes, others in unlabelled folders. The correspondence was separated from the remaining material which was arranged by subject; the scrapbooks retain their original sequence.
The correspondence, most of it incoming, was arranged alphabetically. Besides personal correspondence there are letters concerning flood control and mining. The financial records concern dividends paid by Day Mines, Inc.
The flood control folder contains newspaper clippings, maps, financial material relating to floods in the Wallace area, especially in 1938. As mentioned earlier Marsh was in charge of the flood control project and the major portion of these records arein MG140.
The folders on mining include bylaws for the Idaho Mining Association, stock quotations, newspaper articles and typed copies of speeches and other publications.
The remaining folders contain newspaper clippings about Marsh, information an the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce, unmounted clippings on northwest history, relief work including CCC camps, and photographs.
The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, correspondence, typed articles, and photographs dealing with various aspects of northwest history. Each book deals with different subjects and they are arranged accordingly. In addition to a typed and bound index there is also a card index in the Special Collections Department.
The final item in this collection is a photograph album containing photographs of mines, floods, snow slides, and other items of historic interest.
The scrapbooks of Harry Marsh provide a wealth of information for the serious scholar of early Idaho and Pacific Northwest history.
The papers of Harry W. Marsh were donated to the University of Idaho Library by Harry Marsh between 1955 and 1962, and by Lovina W. Marsh between 1965 and 1967.
Manuscript Group 140 Shoshone-County Flood Control Project, in the Special Collections Library contains most of Marsh's flood control papers as well as many photographs.
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.
Surface Plant, Hercules, March 20, 1926; Surface Plant, Hecla, March 20, 1926; Mining Students at Murray, 1926