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Montana Ore Purchasing Company Records, 1900-1910

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Montana Ore Purchasing Company
Title
Montana Ore Purchasing Company Records
Dates
1900-1910 (inclusive)
Quantity
1.2 linear feet of shelf space
Collection Number
MC 164
Summary
The Montana Ore Purchasing Company was a Butte, Montana, mining and smelting company owned by F. Augustus Heinze and John MacGinnis. The company was involved in a long court fight with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, known as the "War of the Copper Kings." Records include incoming correspondence (1900-1910), outgoing correspondence (1905-1906), court papers, daily smelter reports (August 1905), two journals (1905), an order book (1905-1906), legal documents, and miscellany. There is a small subgroup (1901-1903) for the Butte Plumbing Company.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

The Montana Ore Purchasing Company was incorporated in Butte, Montana, in March 1893. Major stockholders included Fredrick Augustus Heinze, who held 51% of the stock; John MacGinnis, with 2% of the stock; and the remainder held primarily by Heinze's brothers, Otto Charles Heinze and Arthur Heinze. The company was capitalized at $2,500,000. In 1894, Montana Ore Purchasing Company opened a highly sophisticated smelter in Meaderville, a Butte suburb. This allowed the company to offer low-priced custom smelting work to small mining companies and placed Heinze in direct competition with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Originally, Montana Ore Purchasing Company had to lease mines as well as secure ore from independent companies in order to keep operating at an efficient capacity. However, F. Augustus Heinze was able to locate and purchase rich ore bodies in seemingly lackluster mines. For example, the Rarus Mine, purchased in 1895 for $300,000, turned out to be one of Butte's premier mining properties. In the years 1893-1897, Montana Ore Purchasing Company employed 700 men and reduced 25,000,000 pounds of copper ore per year. In addition to the Montana holdings, the company also moved into the Kootenay Mining District of British Columbia. These interests were sold in 1898. In 1906, after a decade of mining war with the Anaconda Company and the Amalgamated Copper Company, Heinze was forced to sell the bulk of his Montana properties, including Montana Ore Purchasing Company, to the Butte Coalition Mining Company, a division of Amalgamated. John MacGinnis, a vice president of Montana Ore Purchasing Company, was also president of the Silver Bow National Bank and mayor of Butte (1905-1906). He held copper and coal mining interests in Montana, Mexico, and British Columbia. MacGinnis was also an officer in the Butte Plumbing Company, a general contracting firm for plumbing, steam, and gas fittings. Others involved with the company included David J. Fitzgerald and S.A. Waters. Butte Plumbing Company went out of business in 1904.

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Content Description

Collection includes incoming correspondence (1900-1910), two letterpress books of outgoing correspondence (Sept. 1905-April, 1906), court papers, daily smelter reports (Aug. 1905), two account journals (May-Oct. 1905), an order book (May 1905-Jan. 1906), legal documents (1900, 1906), and miscellaneous materials. In addition, there is a subgroup for Butte Plumbing Company including scattered general and interoffice correspondence (1902-1903).

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

by series and subgroup

Acquisition Information

Acquisition Information:

available upon request

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Copper mines and mining
  • Mines and mineral resources--Montana--Butte
  • Smelting

Geographical Names

  • Butte (Mont.)--industries--mines and mining
  • Butte (Mont.)--newspapers


2004

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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