Bi-Metallic Mining Company Records, 1886-1922

The collection contains financial records from 1886 to 1922. The records are not chronologically complete. The financial records include a supplies journal, powder record, company horse team leasing, bullion returns, leaser’s shipments, and daily totals from the Granite and Bimets mines.

The journal consists of the department name, employee, office expenses, funds available, and beginning and ending balances. Expenses for tools and machinery, blacksmith, fuel, lumber, and freight are also in the journals.

There is also a powder record from 1917 to 1921, and leasing records for the company’s horse teams. This record contains the name of the employee requesting the powder, date, and amount of powder. The horse teams, of two horses each, were leased for a period of time to do company jobs. The daily records record the name of the team, time worked or not worked, and the job to be performed, including transporting lumber, gravel, and powder to the mines.

The collection contains records of the bullion returns of the company from the Pennsylvania Lead Company’s Works and the Omaha & Grant Smelting Company from 1894-1895. Both records include the number of bars of silver received from the mine, the date received, bar number, weight before melting, and weight after melting. The silver and gold were tested for fineness and content. The totals, including grams and losses, are also on the records. The Omaha and Grant Smelting Company also provided records on the percentage of lead, copper, and moisture in the silver and gold.

Leaser’s shipments from 1914 are also included in the collection. The leaser’s shipments, from the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and the American Smelting and Refining Company, recorded the pounds of freight shipped, including the gross weight, the percentage of moisture, and the dry weight, for both silver and gold. The value of the shipment and the working charge to ship the goods are also in the records. The collection also includes the daily totals of silver from the Granite and Bimets mines.