In August 1889, Harry L. Day, a bookkeeper and clerk in his father's general store in Wardner, Idaho, and Fred H. Harper, a prospector, walked one and one half miles up the pack trail between Burke and Murray to stake mining claims on the nearby mountain. These two claims, the "Hercules" and the "Firefly," later formed the Hercules mine, one of the richest silver and lead mines in the Coeur d'Alene region. Though Day and Harper began working their claims immediately, their lack of resources, regional labor troubles in 1891-1892, and a recession in 1893-1894, slowed progress. By 1895 Harper had sold his half to his father-in-law, a barber, C.H. "Dad" Reeves.
In need of cash and labor, Day and Reeves together sold a 1/4 share to August Paulsen, a farm laborer. Paulsen paid for it mostly in work at the mine. By 1899 Reeves had sold much of his remainder: a 3/32 share went to railroad engineer Levi W. Hutton (husband of May Arkwright Hutton, later the author of a famous tract on the Coeur d'Alene labor violence of 1899, and a champion of woman's suffrage); 1/8 to dairyman Sylvester Markwell; 1/16 to teamster Harry Orchard; and 1/32 each to butcher Frank M. Rothrock and lawyer Henry F. Samuels. Orchard (later notorious for the 1906 assassination of Frank Steunenberg, former Idaho Governor) soon forfeited his share to storekeeper Damian Cardoner for debt. Harry Day divided his 3/8 with his siblings--Eugene, Jerome, and Eleanor--and by 1900 the Hercules partnership had stabilized, if only temporarily.
A dozen years of development saw no production, but all efforts paid off on June 2, 1901: Paulsen struck a rich silver-lead vein in the No. 2 Tunnel. The first commercial shipments went out that fall, and in December the partners received their first dividend. By the end of 1903 the Hercules was netting $40,000 a month.
Disgusted with price manipulation by the "smelter trust" -- the American Smelting & Refining Co. (ASARCO), -- the Hercules in its early years sought out independent smelters, settling primarily,after 1903, on the Selby Smelting and Refining Company of Vallejo, California. However, when ASARCO gained control of the Selby two years later, the Hercules began shipments to the trust's Perth Amboy, New Jersey smelter and later its East Helena, Montana plant.
In 1912 ASARCO and the Hercules temporarily settled their differences on terms quite favorable to the latter company: Harry Day became president and general manager on a three year contract of an ASARCO subsidiary in the Coeur d'Alenes, the Federal Mining and Smelting Co., and Hercules ore received preferential terms at East Helena. With Harry occupied at Federal, Eugene Day took over the management of the Hercules. Harry devoted his three years to evaluating and acquiring new properties for Federal, but when the contract expired in 1915, the Hercules discovered that ASARCO proposed a drastic increase in rates. The Days then bought their own smelters, an old copper treatment plant at Northport, Washington, called the Northport Smelting and Refining Company, and the Pennsylvania Smelting Co. at Carnegie, Pennsylvania. For several years Jerome Day managed the Northport, Eugene continued as head of the Hercules, and Harry coordinated work between the companies--Hercules, Northport, Pennsylvania, and other mines in the Coeur d'Alenes (most notably the Tamarack & Custer Consolidated Mining Co.) which the Days had begun acquiring during the depression of 1907. This arrangement lasted until 1921 when the Days closed the Northport, later selling it to ASARCO, which once again contracted to buy Hercules ore.
Rich crude Hercules ore went directly to the smelter until late 1905 when the first Hercules mill opened in Burke. When that plant burned on Labor Day, 1909, the Hercules leased the Tiger Mill, operating it until their new plant opened in Wallace in April 1911. Here Hercules ore was reduced to concentrates or slimes until the mine shut down in 1925, while custom milled ore from other regional mines kept it going until 1932. The Wallace plant operated under lease to the Sullivan Mining Co. in 1935-1936, and then opened again as the Hercules Custom Mill from 1937 to 1942, when it closed for good.
In the early years, the Days and their partners had been friendly to labor organizations in the Coeur d'Alenes. Levi Hutton was implicated in the dynamiting of the Bunker Hill Mill during the strike of 1899, and in 1901, shortly before the family struck it rich at the Hercules, Eleanor Day married Edward Boyce, then the president of the Western Federation of Miners. But during the resurgence of union activity at the height of World War I, the Hercules management feared sabotage or even revolution. Jerome fired the entire Tamarack crew, suspecting they were members of the Industrial Workers of the World, and Eugene discharged a quarter of the Hercules workforce for the same reason.
By 1911 the Hercules had become the third most profitable mine in the Coeur d'Alenes, trailing only Federal and Bunker Hill. The market slowed briefly when Congress reduced tariff duties on lead and zinc in 1913, but the outbreak of World War I and continuing chaos in Mexico soon drove metal prices upward. The Hercules was the most profitable mine in the district in 1916, and dividends peaked at $3,800,000 in 1917. Lead prices plunged after the Armistice, however, and the mining industry was sharply depressed by 1919. The Hercules shut down and opened only in April of 1919, and then at reduced wages. Thereafter, the Hercules mine would reopen or close depending on the market.
During this period ownership of the Hercules was consolidated, although the number of partners increased later as shares passed to children and other relatives. In 1906 Hutton, Paulsen, and Markwell bought out Samuels' 1/16, and Reeves sold his last 1/16 share to Eleanor Day in 1911, giving the Day family almost half of the mine. Since Frank Rothrock consistently voted with the Days, they maintained practical control, and after Cardoner died in 1916, Eugene bought his share, bringing the Day ownership to 33/64. This majority was threatened when Eugene Day died in 1922 and his estranged wife began a bitter dispute over his estate.
After the war the Hercules partnership operated in a new business environment. Costs were much higher, the burden of federal and state regulation much greater, the income taxes imposed on the partners onerous...and the mineral wealth seemed near its end. Perhaps primarily for tax reasons, on Dec. 31, 1923 the Hercules partnership was dissolved and the Hercules Mining Company incorporated in the state of Delaware. The new company had an authorized capitalization of $5 million divided into 500,000 shares, 430,280 of which were initially distributed among the seventeen owners in proportion to their holdings in the former partnership. Eleanor Day Boyce was the largest single stockholder. The first directors of the company were Harry Day, president and treasurer; Jerome Day. vice president; Eleanor Day; August Paulsen; Levi Hutton; Frank Rothrock; and Frank Markwell.
Harry's son Henry Lawrence Vincent Day served as assistant manager, then as manager, and succeeded to the presidency upon his father's death in 1941. Under his direction the last car of ore left the Hercules on Mar. 25, 1925, as the mine finally bottomed out, and the company evolved from a mine operating firm to a holding company for new properties and, until 1942, the manager of a custom mill. In 1947 the Hercules Mining Company merged with eleven other Day dominated mining companies in the Coeur d'Alenes to form Day Mines, Inc. For each 1000 shares of the Hercules, stockholders received 692 shares of Day Mines Inc.
The records of the Hercules Mining Company are part of the records of Day Mines, Inc., donated to the University of Idaho by Henry Day between 1972 and 1985.
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.
A. Minutes, Dec. 1923-Sept. 1947, 3 vols. These volumes contain, in addition to the official proceedings of regular and special meetings, typed copies of the certificate of incorporation, by-laws, election inspectors' oaths and certificates, stock documents, secretary's oath, a sample stock certificate, meeting notices and waivers of notice, and lists of stockholders entitled to vote.
B. Records Relating to Meetings, 1925-1947, 19 folders. Included are copies of the minutes of annual and special meetings, correspondence, notes, notices of meetings, affidavits of mailing notices, proxies, stockholders lists, election ballots, election inspection oaths, memoranda, balance sheets, and a map of the East Coeur d'Alene Mining District. One folder contains documents, 1945, primarily relating to change of the designated statutory agent. Arranged chronologically.
C. Annual Reports, 1926-1946, 2 folders. Sometimes titled "Manager's Reports," the annual reports describe each calendar year's activity and the firm's financial position at the end of the year. The reports are signed by Henry L. Day as assistant manager or manager and often accompanied by cover letters addressed to Harry L. Day as president, or, after 1941, to the shareholders. The narrative portion of each report contains sections on the divisions of the firm (Ambergris, Tamarack, Hercules Custom Mill, etc.) or on other operating properties. Some of the annual reports have "Balance Sheets" and "Operating Statements", listing major categories of income and expense for the year ending Dec. 31. Reports exist for every year from 1927 through 1940 and for 1945, each dated in February or March of the following year. The years 1941 through 1944 are covered in one combined report. There is a similar but brief report, July 14, 1926, of status of the work being done at that time and a short report from Harry Day to stockholders, Feb. 15, 1939. Most of these reports are typed originals; those for 1929 and 1931-1934 are carbon copies.
D. Financial Statements, Nov. 1901-Sept. 1947, 46 folders. Variously titled Statement of Financial Position, Monthly Financial Statement, or simply Monthly Statement or Statement, these typed documents, sometimes ribbon copies but more often onion-skin carbons, cover every month from Nov. 1901 through Sept. 1947. There are long-hand drafts as well as typescripts for Jan.-Feb., April-Oct., and Dec., 1903. The exact contents vary, becoming more complex over time. For the period Nov. 1901-Dec. 1902 there is only a "Trial Balance" for each month. From Jan. 1903 onward, each statement usually comprises a list of "Receipts and Disbursements", expressed in general categories, as well as a "Trial Balance" or "Balance Sheet." By the 1940s statements had grown to include, in addition to these documents, lists of "Accounts Receivable," bond holdings, "Profit and Loss" statements for the company and for the mine plant, trucks, dwellings, community hall, heating plant, and mill; reports on "Composite Metallurgy"; and "Operating Statements". There are occasional additional documents filed among the Statements, such as letters from Harry Day to his sister Mrs. E.B. Boyce dated Feb. 1904 and Feb. 1905, explaining dividend policy and commenting on family matters; a letter to the partners dated Oct. 2, 1909, describing the burning of the Hercules mill; letters from H.H. Miller, general auditor, in May 1919, and Jan., June, Sept., and Nov. 1920 discussing the income account for 1919 and the tax effects of dividend policies, proposed changes in form and substance of the Monthly Statements, and the company's income and excess profits tax liabilities. There are monthly memos to Harry Day analyzing operating profits in 1919. Other letters during the partnership period comment on the amount of dividends that should be paid, and many years have preliminary trial balances, often with correspondence, and lists of stockholders in 1931 and 1932. Arranged chronologically.
E. Statements of Subsidiary Accounts, 1924-1932, 5 folders. Arranged alphabetically by name of company or operation and thereunder chronologically. There are records for each of the following projects although some sequences are incomplete:
4th of July Drift, Nov. 1926-Mar. 1928
Hercules New Drift, Nov.-Dec. 1927
Honolulu, Jan.-Nov. 1927
Humming Bird Mining Co., Mar. 1926-Dec. 1929
Humming Bird Mining Co., Fairview Drift, Nov. 1926-June 1927
Humming Bird Shaft, Mar.-June 1926
Humming Bird Mining Co., Apr. 1924-Oct. 1932
Maher-Hearn, (Gertie), Nov. 1925-Dec. 1929
Maintenance--Assay Office, Jan. 1927-Dec. 1929
Maintenance--Mill, May 1927-Dec. 1929
Maintenance--Test Plant, Jan.-Dec. 1929
Marsh Operation, July-Nov. 1929
Ores Purchased, Jan. 1928-Nov. 1929
Selkirk Drift, Nov. 1926-Mar. 1928
Sherman Crosscut, Feb. 1926
Sherman Drift, Dec. 1925-Mar. 1926
Sherman Shaft-Raise-Station, Mar.-July 1926
Mostly routine business correspondence. For 1902 and 1903 there are letters from speculators hoping to buy the Hercules. In 1909 there are many letters to and from Fred T. DuBois in Washington, D.C. about the proposed lead tariff. In 1918 and 1919 there are letters from former employees asking about the Liberty Bonds they had purchased while working for the Hercules. Post-1919 correspondence is mainly between Harry Day, Henry Day, and W.H. Hoover of the office staff regarding routine office matters. Throughout there are letters between the company and its lawyers concerning lawsuits as well as routine legal matters; job applications; letters of reference for former employees; and letters from people looking for relatives believed to be working at the mine. There are also copies of salary scales, dividend records, accident reports, contracts, assay reports, a blueprint and description of the Hercules Mine dated 1892, and reports on the treating of timber at the mine. Arranged chronologically throughout, except for two folders of correspondence with the Coeur d'Alene Iron Works, Jan.-June 1913 and July-Dec. 1913. Appendix 1 is an alphabetical list of correspondents.
Correspondence and other records on a wide variety of subjects relating to the operation of the Hercules, mostly prior to 1925, and possibly in part a remnant of a former series which may have been similar in structure to the General Records, 1925-1927, described below. Included in addition to letters and telegrams are receipts, bills, an application for land patent, minutes, motor vehicle registration documents, insurance policies, blueprints, leases, mining claim notices, proofs of labor, contracts, memoranda, lists, notes, reports, inventories, tax returns, lists of stockholders, notices of meetings, legal briefs, lode claim notices, lists of men employed, affidavits, and other records.
Arranged by filing number 1522-1628 (1919-1920), 2328-2437 (1928-1931). Routine business letters mostly regarding minor matters of personnel and supplies; some correspondence on ore, taxes, forest fire protection, and metal prices; and inventories of supplies on hand, contracts, and reports on work done at the Hercules
Primarily correspondence, telegrams, memoranda, ore settlements; also annual reports, pamphlets, notes, receipts, employment applications, photographs, assay certificates, financial statements, disbound ledger sheets, accident reports, billing statements, tax forms, subpoenas, legal briefs, leases, deeds, affidavits, contracts, technical reports, blueprints, inventories and other lists, miscellaneous minutes, and other types of records. Arranged in chronological periods, usually covering two or three years, and thereunder alphabetically by subject or name of correspondent. Subject headings recur from period to period. Appendix 2 is an index to the folder titles.
Primarily correspondence, financial statements, and inventory lists, with lesser amounts of most of the various record types described above for the Hercules Mining Co. Arranged similarly to the Hercules Mining Co. General Records. Other records of the Hercules mill are to be found in the above General Records of the Hercules Mining Company. Arranged alphabetically by subject.
A. Stock Ledger, 1923-1947, 1 vol.
B. Cancelled Stock Certificates, 1924-1943, 1 vol. Attached to some certificates are related correspondence, wills, receipts, and other legal documents.
C. Miscellaneous Dividend Records, 1922-1942, 2 folders. Includes a Memorandum Dividend Record, 1922-1923, summarizing dividends paid, 1901-1923; and Dividend Records, Oct. 3, 1940-Aug. 24, 1942. There are other folders of dividend records in the General Records described above.
General Journals, 1903-1947, 18 vols. Cash Received Journals, 1932-1947, 2 vols. Journals of the Hercules Mill, 1927-1947, 3 vols. General Ledgers, 1903-1947, 17 vols. Accounts Receivable Ledger, 1933-1945, 1 vol. A few accounts from 1916 are in the front of the volume. Ledger of the Hercules Mill, 1927-1947, 1 vol. Accounts 1927-1941 in back of this vol.
A. Ores Purchased Record, 1926-1932, 1937-1941, 2 vols.
B. Daily Assays Records, 1906-1909, 2 vols. The Daily Assays Record gives the results of sampler assays at each stage of ore milling during each working shift (i.e., three times a day), giving content of silver, lead, zinc, and iron. Vol. 1, 1906, is labeled "Assays Record", but actually contains a Daily Assays Record, 1906; a Shipment Assay Record for slimes and concentrates, 1906; and a Shipment Assays Record for crude, 1905-1906. In the front of Vol. 2, 1907-1909, is a table of total mill tonnage and a daily average for each month, 1907-1908.
C. Ore Shipment Record, 1919-1931, 1 vol. Apparently a preliminary record used in preparing data on ore shipped from the Hercules Mill for entry in the permanent Ore Record volumes.
D. Ore Records, Jan. 9, 1911-Nov. 29, 1941, 9 vols. These record assay results, smelter destination, and financial returns on each shipment of ore. The volumes before 1925 record the production of the Hercules mine; those after 1925 record the output of the Hercules mill. All volumes after the first relate to specific classes of ore, as follows:
Vol. 1: 1911-1913
Vol. 2: Slimes and concentrates, 1913-1916.
Vol. 3: Crude, 1913-1919.
Vol. 4: Zinc, 1913-1941.
Vol. 5: Slimes and concentrates, 1916-1918.
Vol. 6: Iron ore concentrates, 1917-1923.
Vol. 7: Concentrates, 1918-1925.
Vol. 8: Slimes, 1918-1925.
Vol. 9: Crude, 1920-1925; Slimes and concentrates, 1927-1941.
E. Shipment Assays Records, 1907-1917, 3 vols. Compares assay results on ore shipments leaving the mill and received at the smelter and records the reconciliation of any differences. Each volume lists specific classes of ore, as shown below. There is also a shipment assays record for slimes and concentrates 1906, and for crude 1905-1906, on pp. 50-71 in the volume labeled "Assays Records" listed above in Series 21, "Daily Assays Records."
Vol. 1: 1907-1914
Pp. 1-38: Crude and Slimes.
Pp. 75-149: Slimes and Concentrates
Vol. 2: 1914-1917: Slimes and Concentrates
Vol. 3: 1914-1917: Crude.
F. Ore Settlements and Related Records, 1903-1914, 22 folders. Ore settlements, receipts issued by the buyer of ore to the seller, list the weight, assay results, value per ton, and total value of the ore, and are often accompanied by freight bills, assay certificates, lists of splits and umpired assays, receipts, correspondence, price quotations, tally sheets, summaries, sheets of calculations, and other records. Ore settlements provide detailed information on financial returns from Hercules ore prior to the beginning of the Ore Records described above. Hercules Ore Settlements dated after Apr. 30, 1913, have been discarded. Remaining in the present series are settlements of the American Metal Company, 1903-1904; assay certificates issued by LeDoux and Company, 1903-1905; Selby Smelting & Lead Co. settlements, 1903-1905; price quotations by ASARCO, 1908-1912; ASARCO lists of splits and umpired assays, 1909; ASARCO settlements, 1912; ASARCO assay certificates, 1912; Ohio and Colorado Smelting and Refining Company Settlements, 1909; and Tacoma Smelting Co. Settlements, 1909-1911. Many later Ore Settlements and related records remain among the General Records.
G. Mine Notebooks, 1891-1903, 1 folder. Three small volumes, as follows:
Vol. 1: 1891-1898. Harry Day's record of lead, silver, and gold content of ore from the Happy Day (1891), Hercules and Firefly (18961898), and Salvador (1890s?) mines.
Vol. 2: 1898-1902? Seemingly random notes relating to purchases of supplies and other expenses for the Hercules, estimates for a flume, estimates for a new tunnel, numbers of employees at various mines (not all Day properties), "normal monthly production" statistics for certain mines. Most entries are not dated.
Vol. 3: Oct. 1, 1901-Jan. 23, 1903. An Ore Shipment Record, giving dates commenced loading; dates of bill of lading; car numbers; lot numbers; weight; kind of ore; consignee and destination; routing for Hercules ore lots 1 to 215. It is the only known record of Hercules ore production for this period.
H. Mill Recovery Records, 1912-1921, 1923-1925, 1929-1932, 1937-1941, 12 folders and 2 vols. Monthly reports with annual recapitulations, variously called "Mill Savings Statements," "Mill Recoveries," and "Calculated Metal Payments" records. They record the efficiency of the Hercules mill in separating metal-bearing ore from the barren rock. The information contained varies but generally includes tons of ore sent to the mill, assay results, amounts of silver and lead (and later zinc and copper) saved and lost, amounts and content of ore sent to smelter, gross value, deductions, net returns, and calculated cost to market ore as percentage of gross value. The volumes after 1929 relate to the production of the Tamarack, Sherman, Dayrock, and Humming Bird mines. The reports for Oct. 1924-Mar. 1925 are simply lists of amounts of ore sent to the mill.
I. Daily Reports of the Northport Smelter, 1919-1921, 3 folders.
J. Daily and Monthly Reports of the Pennsylvania Smelting Co., 1919-1921, 2 folders.
K. Silver Affidavits, 1937-1941, 6 folders. Notarized "Silver Affidavits," which document compliance with the bullion transfer tax provisions of the federal Silver Purchase Act of 1934, affirm the shipment of amounts of silver to specified smelters, usually in the form of concentrates. The format varies slightly, but all provide essentially the same kind of information. Accompanying each Silver Affidavit is an "Affidavit of Miner," also notarized, affirming that a specified mining company (usually Dayrock, Tamarack and Custer, or Sherman Lead) had delivered the same amount of silver to the Hercules between certain dates.
L. Miscellaneous Ore Correspondence, 1922-1923, 1935, 3 folders. Included is ASARCO correspondence relating to contract adjustments, 1922-1923, accompanied by charts detailing smelter payments; correspondence with the Battick brothers relating to a surface lease of the Hercules Mine, 1935; and correspondence and other records relating to the lease of the Hercules Mill, by the Sullivan Mining Co., 1935.
A. Monthly Reports on Plant Maintenance, Apr. 1930-May 1931, 1 folder. Describing the condition of electrical and mechanical equipment.
B. Proposals for Installation of Equipment, 1902-1903, 1 folder. Includes correspondence with the California Wire Works concerning construction of a tramway; with Pelton Water Wheel Company regarding pipelines; and with Allis-Chalmers Company for iron work. There are also blueprints, drawings, and receipts.
C. Cost Records, 1910-1916, 1 vol. and 1 folder. A loose-leaf notebook containing descriptions of mill, hoisting, and other equipment, with the cost, usually including shipping charges for each item, invoice dates and numbers. Inserted in a pocket were typed lists and a few clippings giving costs of number 5 shaft construction; names of owners, addresses, dates, and acreage for various mining claims; annual, or sometimes monthly statistics, generally covering 1901-1912, on dividends, smelter returns and deductions, ore milled and shipped, wages, employees, and taxes paid.
D. Voucher Registers, 1916-1947, 9 vols. Voucher registers record basic information from the voucher, such as date, summary description, voucher number, amount of transaction. Registers also record the distribution of credits and expenses among various accounts. This series covers Hercules vouchers no. 313 to no. 21,252. The vouchers themselves, in 187 binders and measuring 62-1/3 lineal feet, have been discarded as the Voucher Registers and the Invoice Records described below provide an adequate summary.
E. Voucher Registers of the Hercules Mill, 1941-1947, 2 vols. The Voucher registers of the Hercules Mill provide a detailed distribution of credits and expenditures which the general Voucher Registers described above simply lump into a "Mill Balance Account." These mill accounts constitute the majority of the entries in the general voucher registers during this period; they may be identified in the ledger of the Hercules Mill, 1941-1947, listed above under Accounting Records.
F. Invoice Records, 1916-1928, 3 vols. These volumes identify the items purchased, distributed in columns alphabetically, give "filing number" (i.e., invoice or voucher number) for each transaction, date of invoice, name of the other party to the transaction, and the subject of the transaction. The Invoice Record is sometimes more complete than the Voucher Register, including some voucher numbers missing from the corresponding register.
A. Pay Rolls, 1901-1947, 3 boxes and 10 vols. Pay Rolls record employees, their jobs, and their pay and deductions for each pay period. Recapitulation sheets for each pay period summarize various parts of the company's operations and list firms and persons to whom deductions were credited, with amounts. Pay rolls for administrative personnel are included on separate pages in the regular pay roll before Apr. 1923 and from Jan. 1937-Oct. 1940; the administrative pay roll Apr. 1923-Dec. 1936 and Nov. 1940-Oct. 1947 appears in separate volumes, numbered 12 and 13 of this series. Vol. 13 contains, in addition to the administrative pay roll from Nov. 1940-Oct. 1947, administrative Compensation Records for the same years.
B. Compensation Records, 1936-1943, 4 vols. While pay rolls are arranged chronologically by pay period, compensation records are arranged alphabetically by last name of employee and give wages and deductions for each employee over the entire period of his employment. They also give such additional information as the name of whom to notify in case of accident, reasons for termination, and taxable income. These volumes include personnel of all of the Day companies. The first three cover names A-F, G-M, and N-Z, respectively; vol. 4 covers selected personnel, chiefly administrative, and is not in alphabetical order. Compensation Records for most Hercules administrative personnel after 1940 are in Pay Roll vol. 13, described above.
C. Daily Summaries, Jan. 1933-Dec. 1936, Jan. 1942-Apr. 1944, 13 folders. A record of the numbers of workers at particular maintenance tasks during a period in which the Hercules mine was shut down, including assignment at other properties owned by the Hercules.
D. Daily Mill Reports, Jan. 1933-Sept. 1935, May 1937-Dec. 1937, Jan. 1942-Dec. 1943, 10 folders. These reports record the names of workers on each mill shift; the jobs to which they were assigned; the date, mines, lot numbers, and times for ore fed and milled; number of hours of mill operation or shutdown each day.
E. Employment Cards, 1918-1927, 3 boxes. A record of biographical and personal data on each employee hired by the Hercules, including address, birthplace, marital and family status, citizenship, age, previous injuries, work experience, physical description, and languages spoken. Bundled in alphabetical order by last name of the employee; one bundle not in sequence includes cards dated into the early 1930s.
A. Miscellaneous Accident Records, 1914-1923, 1 folder. Memoranda regarding the Reynolds case, 1914; request for accident information from the State of Idaho Mining Department, 1915; Hecla Mining Co. accident reports on Frank Miklas, 1923, later reinjured at the Hercules fire.
B. Accident Reports, 1917-1923, 37 folders. These reports cover accidents numbered 3131 to 4000, which occurred from November 1917 until May 1923, when the Hercules Mining Company ceased to be self-insured. The reports include a variety of forms, such as "First Notice of Injury" or "First Notice of Death," "Hospital Admittance and Discharge Notice," "Employer's Supplemental Report," "Attending Physician's Report," correspondence with the Industrial Accident Board, receipts for compensation payments, agreements on settlement of claims, transcripts of hearings, award reports, and other documents. For some accidents, correspondence and payment receipts continue as late as 1934.
C. Accident Summaries ("Detailed Account of Each Accident"), 1918-1921, 4 folders. One-page summaries showing the status of each case active in a given year, its cause and disposition. Arrangement is by accident number.
D. Personal Injury Charts, 1918-1921, 4 folders. Summary charts listing each accident victim during the year in alphabetical order and showing disposition of the case.
E. Consolidated Accident Reports, Aug. 1927-May 1930, 2 folders. There are five types of accident reports in this series, including individual accident reports from the Sherman Lead Co., 1928-1930; individual accident reports from the Dayrock Mining Co., 1929; individual accident reports from the Humming Bird Mining Co., 1928-1929; monthly statistical reports summarizing accidents at the Hercules Mining Company, 1927-1929; and Consolidated Accident Reports providing statistical summaries of accidents at the Hercules and its subsidiaries, 1928.
F. Accident Reports, Hercules Mill, Sept. 1928-Jan. 1930, 1 folder.
G. Industrial Accident Board Correspondence and Reports, 1929-1934, 1 folder. Communications with the Idaho State Industrial Accident Board regarding compensation payments for accidents which occurred prior to 1923 while Hercules Mining Company was self-insured. The reports cover each month, May 1930-Jan. 1934, and concern payments resulting from the fatal accidents of E.M. Wright (1918) and M.E. Welsh (1922). There is also a chart of extended accident compensation payments made by the Tamarack, Dayrock, and Hercules, 1933-1936.
H. Accident Payment Record, Mar. 26, 1918 to Sept. 9, 1924, 1 vol. A register of compensation payments for injuries suffered at the Hercules, Ambergris, and Humming Bird mines; this may have been used as a preliminary record for preparing information for entry into the Accident Compensation Register described below. Arrangement is chronological by date of payment, but there is also an alphabetical distribution of victim's names.
I. Accident Compensation Register ("Compensation Voucher Register"), 1918-1935, 1 vol. The first part of this volume is a record of compensation payments to injured employees or their survivors, of the Hercules, Ambergris, and Humming Bird mines, Mar. 26, 1918 to Jan. 3, 1934. Arrangement is chronological by date of payment. There are also monthly totals of payments. The latter half of the volume is a register of compensation payments by the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., May 1, 1923 to Aug. 6, 1935. Arrangement is chronological by date payment received in Burke or Wallace.
A. Policy Register, 1911-1917, 1 vol. This volume is issued by the London Assurance Company but actually contains policies of a number of firms, relating to personal property of members of the Day family as well as insurance policies of the Hercules Mining Co. Written portions of the policies are pasted in.
B. Fire Insurance Policies, 1917-1930, 2 folders. All issued to the Hercules Mining Co.
C. Liability Insurance Policy, 1912, 1 folder.
D. Appraisements, 1929-1940, 5 vols. and 1 folder. All by General Appraisal Co., Seattle, each appraisement gives new replacement values and depreciated values and sometimes insurance values of specific items of machinery, equipment, supplies, and buildings, and summary recapitulations.
Vol. 1: Hercules Mining Co., equipment not in use, 1929.
Vol. 2: Hercules plants at Wallace and Burke, comparing new replacement and depreciated values, Nov. 13, 1929 and Apr. 22, 1932.
Vol. 3: Complete appraisement, Hercules plant at Wallace, Oct. 25, 1937, including diagrams and photographs.
Vol. 4: Complete appraisement, Hercules plant at Burke and Maher-Hearn plant, Oct. 25, 1937, including diagrams and photographs.
Vol. 5: Partial appraisement, Hercules plant at Burke, July 28, 1940.
E. Miscellaneous, 1929-1932: Loose pages giving recapitulations for the entire plant and insurance exclusions, Wallace and Burke plants, Apr. 22, 1932; diagrams of Hercules plants at Burke and Wallace, Nov. 1929; diagram of Wallace plant, Aug. 24, 1932, by the Idaho Surveying and Rating Bureau. The loose sheets accompany vol. 2, above.
A. Federal Tax Records, 1913-1944, 32 folders. This series is arranged chronologically by tax year regardless of the particular tax involved. For most years there are the following principal record types: Corporate Tax Returns (standard forms, including those for income, profits, and excess profits taxes); Capital Stock Tax Returns; Annual Information; Returns, 1918-1930, summarizing dividend payments of $500 or more or other income payments of $1500 or more; and groups of "Working Papers," apparently used in preparing returns, including penciled sheets of calculations and attached copies of balance sheets, trial balances, income accounts, financial statements, and other documents. The corporate tax returns are often accompanied by correspondence, exhibits, and other documents. Many information returns have attached lists of names, addresses, and amounts paid.
B. Federal Tax Correspondence, 1914-1932, 2 folders. The federal tax correspondence is largely between the Hercules and members of the Day family and other partners or between the Hercules and the U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue and concerns distribution of dividends, the sources of dividends, the determination of tax liability of Hercules Mining Company (HMC) and of the partners, depletion allowances, personal tax returns of HMC partners and shareholders, claims for tax abatement, and whether or not there were any affiliated companies. Much of the correspondence concerns HMC's claim that, as a mining partnership under Idaho law, it should be taxed as a corporation rather than the partners bearing the whole burden.
C. Charts, 1 folder. Included are a variety of documents, many of them undated but apparently prepared for tax purposes, such as a Statement of Metallic Content and Value of Ore and Concentrates Marketed 19011912; Valuation Table of the HMC 1909-1915; Analysis of Operating Costs, Depreciation etc. 1909-1915; lists of ore shipments, 1915; lists of dividend payments for various years; worksheet of depreciation charges 1905-1917; charts of HMC ownership at different times during the partnership; Statement of Net Profits, 1919; tables of Dividend Distribution, 1913-1920; and balance sheets and financial statements. Many of these documents are typed and for many there are also penciled drafts. Similar records are often filed among the federal tax records described above.
D. Shoshone County Tax Records, 1903-1916, 1925-1929, 2 folders. The principal county tax records include: Shoshone County Tax Returns, 1903-1909, 1911-1913, and 1929; Shoshone County Final Tax Receipts, Jan. 1, 1916, issued to Hercules, Humming Bird, and related companies and concerning various pieces of real property, accompanied by a list of assessed properties for the year 1915; and receipts and correspondence from other years concerning taxes on improvements in mining claims, real estate, equipment, patented grounds, yearly net profits, and ore shipments. The folder for 1925-1929 also contains some state tax documents.
Diaries, Aug. 25, 1916-Oct. 18, 1922, 6 vols. Brief records of the weather, the whereabouts of important Hercules employees and partners, and phone calls. The diaries were apparently kept by someone in the office in Burke. Newspaper clippings about mines are enclosed.
Indexed prepared by Judith Nielsen, 1981.
See repository for information.