LOT Holabird-Kagin Americana  /  Holabird-Kagin Americana 2011 Grand Finale Auction  / 

2318

ID - Silver City,1892 - Trade Dollar M&M Co. Silver Ingot

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Bullion Start Price:15,000.00 USD Estimated At:30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
ID - Silver City,1892 - Trade Dollar M&M Co. Silver Ingot
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Trade Dollar Mining & Milling Co. First Mill Product, 1892
Made by R.B. Euler, assayer, Silver City, Idaho
By Fred N. Holabird, c 2011
Introduction
The Trade Dollar/Euler silver ingot is the finest First Mill Product ingot in private hands. Its ornate design, size, and historical importance renders it of the highest caliber.
The ingot is boldly hand engraved on the front: “First Bar of the/Trade Dollar M & M Co./ Cast Nov. 15, 1892/ Silver City, Idaho.” The reverse carries the typical assayer’s data: “Oz. 25.30/ Gold .003 Fine/ Silver 979 Fine/ Gold $1.56/ Silver $24.76/ R. B. Euler/ Assayer”.
2” x 3.75” x 0.62”, slightly beveled edges on the front, with all six sides finished with a smooth, high polish.
The Trade Dollar Mining and Milling Company.
Mining at Silver City took off with the explosive news and subsequent production of the rich ores in the Poorman Mine in 1865-6. Miners continued to prospect the region looking for more good ores, and significant developments and production was made in the Owyhee District, with its mining camp hub of Silver City. Silver City formed the most important mining center between the Boise Basin gold mines and the rich silver mines of Treasure Hill, Nevada.
The Black Jack vein on Florida Mountain, about a mile from Silver City, was prospected in the late 1860’s. Claims were filed and later patented. The Trade Dollar was perhaps originally named the Leviathan. Among the important mining claims on Florida Mountain were the Trade Dollar, Blaine, Colorado and Black Jack, all adjacent claims located along the Black Jack vein. The Blaine claim afforded good surface access to underground ores, and a lengthy tunnel was driven along the vein crossing the four properties. The Black Jack vein system was by far the biggest mineralized system on Florida Mountain.
In 1891-2, The Trade Dollar Mining & Milling Company was regularly using the mining press to promote their property and stock. Reports of progress of the Blaine Tunnel were regular in the Mining and Scientific Press and the Engineering and Mining Journal, though most of these reports were taken from regional Idaho newspapers.
In 1891 Idaho Mine financier W.H. Dewey became interested in the Trade Dollar and purchased the company within a year, possibly with other investors. The group was led by W. H. Dewey, a man who had discovered the Empire State mine nearby and done exceptionally well. In 1892, Dewey et all took over the Blaine Tunnel, a lengthy tunnel running about 2000 feet along the vein at the time. They started serious development of the ores, built a new mill about a quarter mile away, and lengthened the Blaine tunnel to nearly 4000 feet. They later bought the Black Jack claim in 1899. The Company held more than 11 patented mining claims on Florida Mountain. The Trade Dollar quickly became one of the top two producing mines in the entire Silver City region, and remained that way for nearly two decades.
Insert color cross section here from Lindgren. Cut line: Longitudinal section through the Black Jack vein system showing the Trade Dollar property and the adjacent Black Jack property. Mining in this area continued for more than a decade. From Lindgren, 1899.
Dewey was the best known mining financier and promoter of the time in Idaho. He was a cousin of Admiral Dewey, and worth about $1 million at the time of his death in 1903. But his life was not without controversy. In 1884 he was in a bar fight in Idaho, where he shot and killed a man in self defense. He was originally convicted of murder, served a year in jail, then the decision was overturned. He discovered the Empire State Mine at Silver City shortly after that.
Dewey had his hands full. As a successful mining man, he had to contend with competition from British mining interests. Historians differ on the effectiveness of the British mining interests at Silver City, but their intense involvement in the American West is well documented, particularly at places such as Treasure Hill in Nevada.
With Dewey’s investment in the Trade Dollar in late 1891 to early 1892, serious development work was in full swing. The mine needed a new mill that could produce the planned high tonnage output. In the past, the Trade Dollar shipped high grade ores to Denver for smelting. This was an unnecessary expense if a good mill could be built, and the addition of a mill that was built to process nothing but Trade Dollar Mine ores would be the prudent move. Equipment was ordered and shipped, with the first of the machinery arriving in Nampa during the early winter months of 1892.
It took more than six months to complete the new mill, but when completed, saved them 90% of the values, according to an article in the Mining and Scientific Press. “The new Trade Dollar Mill is a dandy” The first month’s run of the new mill will amount to $100,000” proclaimed the Press. The last carload of ore processed before their mill was completed ran $9828 for about 10.6 tons, shipped to Denver . Most of the work was being done on the 100 foot level at the time, and the high grade ores had to be hand hoisted to the haulage drift. The ores were so rich that Dewey was running three eight hour shifts per day.
The first day the mill was in operation, a celebration was held, a tradition headed down for centuries. The first product of the mill was poured, set aside, and inscribed in a special manner, in keeping with tradition at American mines. That special bar is the subject of this article. Few of these first mill product bars survive today.
The new mill, however, did not run perfectly from the onset as hoped. In January, 1893, slow progress and a mill shutdown was reported. The mine, however, was still running full tilt, with 26 men on the payroll taking out good ore. An article in April, 1893 stated that the average bar of bullion from the mine was worth $1173, or 9913 fine silver, 0085 fine gold. In comparison to other mines in Idaho, the Owyhee mines were fourth in production in 1894 behind Boise, Elmore and Shoshone counties. In 1893 they were second, behind Shoshone County.
The mine was in production during the miners labor strike in the Coeur D’Alene in 1892. The strike caused a complete shutdown in production, which adversely affected the State’s outcome that year. The miners settled with mine owners to retain their wages of $3.50 per day, but the shovelers wages got reduced from $3.50 to $3 per day. Another serious problem the Company had to overcome was the fast drop in the price of silver, a volatility not seen again until today (2011). The silver price dropped in 1892 almost a third, but with ores at The Trade Dollar running nearly $100 per ton on average, they were very profitable. Estimates of profitability ran from 40% and higher in the mining press. Mine superintendant J. Hutchinson was doing a superlative job managing the mine on site, and he continued to do so for years.
Dewey turned over control of the mine after 1895 to John M. Patterson, a Kentucky financier. Patterson led an effort to construct a dam and power plant necessary to provide the power for the Trade Dollar Mine. It immediately became a necessary power source, supplying other mines, as well as providing power to Boise, Nampa and Caldwell. It was an important source of power for more than two decades.
While Patterson had taken over as corporate Vice President, Dewey moved the corporate office to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dewey had gained financial support from members of the coal industry. At this point in the corporation’s history, Dewey may have brought in financier Andrew Mellon as a silent partner/investor. It was reported that Mellon was Vice president in 1897, but this was wholly unsubstantiated. Dewey was still President in 1898, with Patterson as Vice President and Thomas B. Mckaig acted as Secretary/Treasurer.
The later period of the mines activities after 1900 were not as profitable The mine saw little production after 1910.
Total production for the Trade Dollar is estimated by Mitchell at 132,580 ounces of gold and 15,421,700 ounces of silver for a total of $12,847,525.
The Assayer, Richard B. Euler
Richard Euler immigrated to the United States in 1873. Born in Germany in 1855, he found his way to Silver City where he married his California-born wife Belle in 1884 in Silver City. He advanced from a store clerk there in 1880 to working in an assay office within the next year or so. He either started his own assaying firma after he got married or purchased another’s business. In 1880, the only two assayers in town were J. N. Rupert who ran his business as a druggist and assayer, similar to W.H. Stowell in Eureka, Nevada, and J. A. Trask, who ran an independent assay office, the only one in Silver City at the time. Euler may have clerked at one of these two assay offices.
The assay business began to change in the 1870’s. As more ore deposits were being found across the American West, the ability to exploit them more profitably came from the advancement of mining geology. The mines were now able to produce more ore and thus more bullion. The increased output began to negate the need for small independent scale assay offices, as the assayers began to work for the individual mining companies full time. Euler was no exception. After running his own assay office for nearly a decade, Euler began working for the Trade Dollar company sometime in the late 1880’s to early 1890’s. By 1891 he was working for them full time during the development of the Blaine Tunnel and the attendant ore reserves. He probably had his hands full, processing perhaps up to 100 samples a day in his fire assay lab at the mine. Euler remained in Silver City until sometime after 1900, when he joined his family in Nampa, who had moved there sometime prior to 1900.
Euler Precious Metal Ingots
Presently there are only two Euler ingots known. The first of these surfaced publicly in the Ford XXI Sale in 2007. It is a presentation ingot dated 1883 from a man to his wife. The surfaces of that ingot are finely polished, in the same manner as this ingot and the others from Silver City from the 1860’s made by assayer Francis Blake, cousin of Gorham Blake.
Following the Bullion
In a Report to the Director of the Mint for 1893, F. Church, the Chief Assayer for the US Assay Office at Boise reported some interesting statistics that shows Idaho bullion movement. There was no requirement for the Trade Dollar Mine or any other mine to send or sell its bullion to any particular Federal facility. But those companies who did sell to the Feds had the following disbursement of Idaho sourced bullion:
San Francisco Mint 7.7%
Philadelphia mint 0.02%
Denver Mint 8.6%
US Assay Office, Boise City 59.8%
US Assay Office, Helena 20.9%
US Assay Office, New York 3.0%
Summary
This wonderfully engraved ingot is the finest First Mill Product ingot in private hands, and is among the finest of all the silver ingots we have had the privilege of researching. It is arguably nearly on par with the eye appeal of the famous Drake-Lord silver ingot of Leadville in its artistic presentation, though there are no pictorial representations of Silver City on this bar as there are on the Drake-Lord. It is one of only three different assayer silver ingots from Silver City. The other two Silver City assayer ingots are the King-Webb silver ingot circa 1866-7 (unique), and silver ingots made by Francis Blake, all made in the 1865-1866 period during the height of the Poorman Mine boom.
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