NTE2cg195.xml Guide to the William Lon Johnson Papers 1912-1967 Johnson (William Lon) Papers Finding aid prepared by Earle Connette Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections © 2025 Finding aid encoded by Suzanne James-Bacon. 2025 Finding aid written in English. English. Finding aid based on DACS 2nd Edition ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard). Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections Cage 195 Johnson, W. Lon, 1882-1967 William Lon Johnson Papers 1912-1967 98 Linear feet of shelf space 232 Boxes Papers of Lon Johnson, Senator, Lieutenant Governor, and Superior Court Judge in Washington State. Collection materials are in English

William Lon Johnson (1882 November 11-1967 July 5) was born in Spokane, Missouri. He worked for one year as a schoolteacher in Stevens County, Washington, before quiting to become a student at Eastern Washington State College. After graduating, he worked for Stevens County for two years, as Deputy Assessor and Clerk, before going to law school in 1908. That year he also married Iva Clara Dickey.

Johnson worked as an attorney in Colville, Washington from 1913-1939. He was retained by multiple corporations, including: Dominion Silver-Lead Mining Company (1915); Northwest Magnesite Company (1920); Northport Smelting and Refining Company (1922); and Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Ltd. (1926), where he was involved in the 11-year litigation brought before the International Joint Commission of Canada and the United States. Johnson was state senator for Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties, from 1919-1924. After his term, he served as Lietenant Governor of Washington State in 1925.

In 1939, he was elected as Superior Court Judge of Stevens County, and semi-retired in 1958. He died at the age of 84, in 1967, in Colville, Washington.

Papers of Lon Johnson, Senator, Lieutenant Governor, and Superior Court Judge in Washington State. The papers include correspondence, business records, professional and working papers, legal instruments, and clippings and miscellany. The papers are related to personal affairs; Johnson's political career and public service; his law practice; the Superior Court of Stevens County; the Consolidated Mining and Smelting of Trail, British Columbia; the Dominion Silver-Lead Mining Company; and the International Joint Commission (of Canada and the United States).

The correspondence contains letters to and from a long list of national and state politicians and persons of regional importance, including: Herbert Hoover, Miles Poindexter, Wesley Livsey Jones, Stephen Beasley Linnard Penrose, Clarence Daniel Martin, Roland Hill Hartley, J. Edgar Hoover, Ernest O. Holland, and Fred Thomas Dubois.

This collection is open and available for research use.

Copyright restrictions apply. The literary rights in the unpublished writings of Mr. Johnson in these papers have been dedicated to the public, except that these rights are reserved to Mr Johnson's daughters, Doris Johnson Edwards and Evelyn Johnson Hawes, during their lifetimes.

[Item description]

William Lon Johnson Papers, 1912-1967 (Cage 195)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

The papers of William Lon Johnson, Attorney, Senator, Lieutenant Governor, and Superior Court Judge, were given to the Washington State University Library over the period 1963-1966 by Mr. Johnson. A further set of papers was donated after Mr. Johnson's death in 1967, and was added as an extension at the end of this collection.

A duplicate copy of the International Joint Commission Trail Smelter Reference, 1928 (Cage 5087) was removed and processed as a seperate collection in 2016.

Described in Lon Johnson : A Register of His Papers, 1912-1966, in the Washington State University Library. Manuscripts-Archives Division, Washington State University Library; 1966.

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.

Johnson, W. Lon, 1882-1967 -- Archives Washington (State). Superior Court (Stevens County) Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Ltd. International Joint Commission Dominion Silver-Lead Mining Company (Colville, Wash.) Northwest Magnesite Company (Chewelah, Wash.) Northport Smelting and Refining Company (Wallace, Id.) Washington (State) -- Politics and government Legislators -- Washington (State) -- Archives Politics and Politicians Washington (State) Mines and Mineral Resources Series 1: Political and Public Service 1 Autobiography (1963), portraits, certificates, and miscellany. 2 Senate campaigns 1918, 1921 Lieutenant Governor campaign: Correspondence and miscellany 1924 3 A-J 4 K-Z Lieutenant Governor 1925-1928 Correspondence 5 A-F 6 G-K 7 L-O 8 P-Z 9 Senate business, Committees 10 Salary and expenditures 11-12 Scrapbooks (microfilm), newspaper clippings, speeches, rosters, roll-calls, and miscellany 13 Republican Party business and affairs Political campaigns 1927-1936 Series 2: Correspondence and Business Records 14 1912-1914 15 1915-1916 1919 16 A-G 17 H-M 18 N-Z 1920 19 A-L 20 M-Z 21 American Legion and Veteran's Affairs 1920-1922 22 1921 23 Columbia Basin Project (gravity plan) 1921-1928 24 1922 25 1923 26 1924 27 1925 1926-1928 28 A-C 29 D-Q 30 R-Z 1929 31 A-F 32 G-Z 33 Farm and city residence 1929-1939 1930 34 A-F 35 G-Z 1931 36 A-H 37 I-Z 1932 38 A-I 39 K-Z 40 1933 41 1934 1935 42 A-S 43 T-Z 1936 44 A-L 45 M-Z 46 1937 47 1938 48 1939 49 1958 Series 3: Professional File 50 Abbey - Alderson 51 Allen - Anderson 52 Andrews - Auto 53 Bahm - Bartol 54 Barton - Bevins 55 Bisbee - Bosworth 56 Bouch - Bozarth 57 Bradley - Brogan 58 Brown - Bunker 59 Burcham - Butler 60 Cagle - Campbell 61 Cannon - Cartwright 62 Case - Charlton 63 Chelan - Coffin 64 Cole - Columbia 65 Colville - Consolidated District Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company, Ltd. 66-68 Correspondence 69-82 Litigation 83-86 Reports 87-89 Appraisals 90 Corbett - Crowe 91 Cuff - Curry 92 Dailey - Delaney 93 Delva - Dingle 94-95 Dominion Silver-Lead Mining Company 96 Domitrovich - Draper 97 Dronkers - Dyes 98 Earhart - Ehorn 99 Eldred - Elsaesser 100 Empey - Exley 101 Fager - Feulner 102 First - Fortune 103 Foster - Fuhr 104 Gagnon - Gillingham 105 Gilmore - Gleason 106 Gookey - Gottbeheut 107 Graham - Gwinnup 108 Haas - Hansen 109 Harbour - Harvey 110 Hatcher - Hauver 111 Hayden - Hays 112 Heide - Holbrook 113 Holford - Hubert 114 Huffman - Hyytiainen 115 Ickes - Ireland 116 Jackson - Janneck 117 Janni - Jett 118 Johnson 119 Jones - Juvet 120 Karasek - King 121 Kirk - Klement 122 Knapp - Kruchman 123 Laface - Lawson 124 Leader - Littleton 125 Lockhart - Lyons 126 McAvin - McCumber 127 McDonald - Mackey 128 McLoughlin - McWilliam 129 Madden - Malley 130 Marble - Mastling 131 Mathis - Meyers 132 Michaels - Mitchell 133 Mohler - Mowrey 134 Mulford - Myhr 135 Naff - Nelson 136 Netherlands-American Mortgage Bank 137 Neumann - Newton 138 Nichols - Niles 139 Noble - Norman 140-141 Northport Power and Light Company 142 Northport State Bank 143-144 Northwest Magnisite Company 145 Nugent - Nuse 146 Oakshott - Ogden 147 Old Dominion Mining and Milling Company 148 Old National - O'Toole 149 Paglini - Paulsen 150 Pearson - Penzig 151 Perkins - Peterson, Mabel 152 Peterson, Ole 153 Peterson, Otto - Pitman 154 Plantz - Prall, Lucretia 155 Prall, W.J. - Quinn 156 Rader - Reynolds 157 Rhinehart - Rioth 158 Roath - Rogers 159 Rose - Rotter 160 Rule - Ryan 161 Sacher - Sax 162 Schall - Scott 163 Seale - Shriner 164 Silke - Sophion 165 Spokane - State Highway State of Washington 166 Ayers - Guenther 167 Hartley - Prouty 168 Rapp - Westensee 169 Stayner - Stensger 170 Stevens - Storkan 171 Strange - Sweezy 172 Tait - Terrio 173 Terry - Thomas 174 Thompson - Townsend 175 Traders - Twenty 176 Uderman - Union 177 United - Upton 178 Van Allen - Voss 179 Waddell - Watkins 180 Weatherlow - Weitensteiner 181 Welk - Western 182 Wheatley - Winslow 183 Wold - Wynn 184 Yaeger - Zwang Series 4: Legal File 185 Instructions to juries Correspondence 1938-1958 186 A-B 187 C-F 188 G-I 189 J 190 Johnson: Political 191 K-M 192 N-Q 193 R-S 194 T-V 195 W 196 X-Z Series 5: Later Extension 1 Business and Professional Correspondence A-D 1939-1943 2 Business and Professional Correspondence E-K 1939-1943 3 Business and Professional Correspondence L-P 1939-1943 4 Business and Professional Correspondence Q -S 1939-1.943 5 Business and Professional Correspondence T-Z 1939-1943 6 Business and Professional Correspondence A-D 1952-1967 7 Business and Professional Correspondence E-I 1952-1967 8 Business and Professional Correspondence J 1952-1967 9 Business and Professional Correspondence K-P 1952-1967 10 Business and Professional Correspondence S-Z 1952-1967 11 Business Records and Correspondence 1920-1949 12 Business Records and Correspondence 1925-1954 13 Business Records and Correspondence 1937-1945 14 Business Records and Correspondence 1937-1952 15 Business Records and Correspondence 1949-1965 16 Professional Papers - Legal Materials 1913-1924 17 Professional Papers - Legal Materials 1960-1966 18 Professional Papers - Legal Materials 1960-1966 19 Misc. Legal Record Books 20 Misc. Legal Record Books 21 Misc. Legal Record Books 22 Business Records, Publications, and Documents 1902-1948 Dominian Silver Lead Mining Company: 23 Business Records 1949-1958 24 Misc. record Books 25 Misc. Record Books 26 Misc. Record Books 27 Misc. Record Books 28 Professional and Business Correspondence 1947-1957 29 Professional and Business Correspondence 1947-1957 30 Misc. Personal Correspondence 1932-1967 31 Misc. Publications and Newspaper Clippings 1925-1967 32 Professional Books 33 Correspondence and Records Pertaining to Doris M. Johnson (daughter) 1928-1931 34 Letters of sympathy following Lon Johnson's Death May, 1967 35 Misc. Photographs 1906-1964 Certificates: 36 U.S. Supreme Court Attorney 1928 36 Attorney and Law Counselor 1912 36 Attorney at Law 1915 36 Lieutenant Governor 1925 36 Superior Court Judge 1939 36 Superior Court Judge 1956 Photos: Oversized Washington State Legislature 1927 Oversized Washington State Senate 1921 Oversized Washington State Senate 1925