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3. Provenance 5. Inventory 6. Subjects |
Lead mine, La Motte, Missouri Records, 1868-1893 Size: 1 linear foot Catalog number: MSS 483 sg 28 Processed by: Rick Stattler and Steve Dalpe, March 1999 ©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
Mine la Motte was a 24,000-acre tract of land near Fredericktown in southeastern Missouri with substantial lead deposits. Mining had been carried out on the tract sporadically since at least 1723. A nearby 10,000-acre "Pine Lands Tract" eventually provided charcoal and lumber for the mines. In the early years, the property was leased to many different miners.
The Mine la Motte Company was incorporated in 1869, with Rowland G. Hazard I (1801-1888) of Peace Dale, Rhode Island the majority stockholder. In 1870, the firm's name was changed to the La Motte Lead Company. The Mine la Motte tract, in addition to its mineral deposits, included as of 1871 a company store, mansion house, hotel, church, school house and about 200 houses for the miners. Rowland Hazard II (1829-1898) seems to have purchased all of the outstanding stock in 1875 and dissolved the company, becoming sole proprietor; the mine's ledger declares "New Regime" over the page for 1875. Through all of this, it continued to be referred to as Mine la Motte, and the agent remained William B. Cogswell. The mine remained in the possession of the Hazard family through 1897, when it was sold to Samuel H. Leather.
The related Anchor Ranch Company was formed in 1885 for farming the Mine la Motte lands.
Scope and content:
This collection includes some production records, financial records and correspondence, as well as a complete land title history through 1880 and an 1871 prospectus. The records seems to be far from complete even for the time the mine was owned by the Hazard family. These records are apparently what was kept in the Rhode Island offices of the family; the daily financial records presumably remained in Missouri.
Extensive correspondence dated 1869 to 1878 regarding the mine can be found in subgroup 5, the Rowland G. Hazard I Papers.
Provenance:
These papers were donated by the Hazard family as part of the Hazard Family Papers in 1985. They had been deposited in 1975.
Processing note:
This collection is part of the Hazard Family Papers, which were processed with support from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, the Beinecke Foundation, and the extended Hazard Family.
The correspondence files were removed from the business correspondence files of Rowland Hazard II. Apparently, Hazard did not keep separate file for each of his businesses. Some material on the mine might still remain in the personal papers of Rowland G. Hazard and Rowland Hazard II.
Inventory:
Box 1, folder 1. Letter book, 1874-1875
Box 1, folder 2. Letter book, 7/1887 - 8/1894
Box 1, folder 3. Letter book, 8/1894 - 5/1899
Box 2, folder 1. Loose correspondence, 1869-1875
Box 2, folder 2. Loose correspondence, 1876-1878
Series 2: Miscellaneous
Box 2, folder 3. Agreements between Hazard and Cogswell, 1874-1881
Box 2, folder 4. Anchor Ranch Co. incorporation, 1885
Box 2, folder 5. Extracts from minutes, 1869-1871
Box 2, folder 6. Land title history, to 1880. Bound volume.
Box 2, folder 7. "Mining Rules and Regulations", printed, 1875
Box 2, folder 8. Record and memorandum book, 1875-1893.
Includes summary of letters from Cogswell, 1875-1877, sales records and accounts with commission agent.
Box 2, folder 9. Sale agreement, 1897.
Box 2, folder 10. Statement book, 1868-1885. Includes labor accounts, production reports.
Box 2, folder 11. Statement on property, 1871
Describes Mine la Motte and Pine Lands Tract in detail.
Box 2, folder 12. Testimony of Rowland G. Hazard, 1876, with notes
Describes the purchase of the company by the Hazard family.
Box 2, folder 13. Miscellaneous financial and production memoranda, 1870-1898
Subjects:
Cogswell, William B.
Hazard, Rowland II (1829-1898)
Hazard, Rowland G. (1801-1888)
La Motte Lead Company
Lead mines and mining - Missouri
Mineral industries - Missouri
Missouri - Commerce
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RIHS1822