[Arizona]. [Mining]. Hyde, Frederick E.

Report on the Mines of the Bradshaw Gold and Silver Mining Company of Arizona [manuscript title]

Prescott, A.T. August 14, 1867. [4]pp. Folio. Approximately 1000 words. Minor wear and soiling, a few stray ink stains. With numerous emendations and revisions throughout. Very good. Item #5032

A manuscript draft of a report from Old West Arizona encapsulating the perils of boom times in the Arizona Territory. Here, Frederick Hyde, an agent for the Bradshaw Gold and Silver Mining Company, composes a report of a visit beginning August 9, 1867 to the company's twelve claims in the Bradshaw District, which were situated about sixty-five miles southeast of the territorial capital of Prescott, Arizona. Hyde's reporting includes information on the development and geological composition of various claims; for example: "The Aztec Lode One outcrop is five feet wide the course North and South. No work has been done on this lode yet. White Swan Lode. This lode is yet undeveloped. The course is N&S has a dip of 50 degrees W. Specimens taken from the outcrop of quartz show carbonate of copper. The width of the outcrop is from three to seven feet. Wigwam Lode. The course of this vein is Northwest & southeast. There is not shaft yet. The specimens were taken from the outcrop where it was seven feet in width in the widest point. The quartz croppings broken open were porous containing oxide of iron."

In the portion of his report from Sunday, August 11, he relates a story of encountering Native Americans: "from forty to forty-five Indians appearing in the District it was deemed advisable to finish our business immediately & leave the place. We started as soon as possible, stopping on the way to examine the Great Eastern & Greenwood Lodes." Regarding these latter claims, Hyde reports that "we were unable to measure on account of the hurried manner in which the examination was made due to the presence of Indians in the vicinity." Hyde closes with an optimistic assessment for developing these claims, commenting on the suitability of the area for harvesting certain natural resources (aimed perhaps at wooing investors), though he makes sure to remark on the potential threat that Native Americans pose to settlers: "A living stream runs through the district on which it is proposed to place the Mill convenient to the mine. There is a large amount of timber about ten miles from the Mill Site suitable for mill or mining purposes. The land in the vicinity is suitable for farming on which the usual farm products could be raised. There is good rock in the district for building material. The Indians are yet very troublesome killing stealing & driving off the stock from the ranches where it is not watched, and at times coming in force enough to attack and kill the herders."

This was no idle threat. According to a report in the August 31, 1867 issue of the Prescott newspaper Arizona Miner, Hyde's party left Prescott on August 14 (the date of the present report) on their way west, when James H. Stimpson and eight others in the party took a detour from Beale Spring for the Sacramento District and were "attacked by a large band of Wallapais, and at the first fire Mr. Stimpson, Edward Yonker, and Frank Mesner were killed." The story also notes that "Mr. Hyde, whose horse was also shot, made his escape by taking the fleeing mule belonging to Mr. Mesner, who had just fallen."

The Bradshaw Gold and Silver Mining Company had offices in Philadelphia and New York. A prospectus for investors from 1866 lists the company was under the direction of former U.S. Treasury auditor Green Adams, and would seem to suggest that much of the initial exploration of the claims had been done by George M. "Doc" Willing, Jr., the prospector behind the supposed Peralta Land Grant. Following his adventures in Arizona, Frederick Hyde (1844-1936) went on to graduate in 1874 with a medical degree from Bellevue Hospital and then married an heiress. His obituary in the October 17, 1936 issue of the Boston Globe notes his tenure as a mining company representative in Arizona, where he "was one of five survivors of a party attacked by Hualapi Indians." The preset report, especially with its numerous manuscript edits, provides a window into the inner workings of a western mining agent in the Old West, and contains ample opportunity for studying various aspects of mining history and the hardscrabble life of prospectors in mid-19th century Arizona Territory.

Price: $1,500.00