[Colorado]. [Mining]

[Archive of Over 110 Legal Documents, Letters, and Maps Relating to Ownership of Mining Claims in Leadville, Colorado, Developed by the Ibex Mining Company].

[Leadville, Co. 1879-1903; 1919]. 111 documents in various formats, comprising approximately [200]pp. Most folded, some stapled and riveted. Light tanning and wear. Overall, very good. Item #835

An excellent compilation of well over one hundred legal documents which relate to the ownership transactions and claims on several mining tracts in the vicinity of Leadville, Colorado, which were purchased and developed by the Ibex Mining Company, and its principal investors, James J. Brown, John. F. Campion, and Absalom V. Hunter. The documents principally comprise abstracts, quit claims and other mining deeds, as well as surveys and affidavits of investment and improvement pertaining to four mining claims: the Little Johnny, the Intermural, the Independence, and the San Jose. Several documents touch on legal disputes over the mines in questions, and the archive also includes three survey maps and several pages of survey field notes. The preponderance of materials are dated to the last two decades of the 19th century and the first few years of the 20th century.

These papers document a critical period in the development of the Ibex Mining Company, during which Brown, Campion, and Hunter consolidated ownership of mine claims on Breece Hill, near Leadville, that resulted in a lucrative gold and copper mining business for its owners. The Little Johnny mine in particular became a byword for bonanza in the 1890s, and was considered one of the richest gold strikes of the time, as it shipped well over one hundred tons of high quality gold ore per day at the height of its productivity during this period. The wealth extracted from these mines allowed Brown, Hunter, and Campion (who during his lifetime became known as "Leadville Johnny" because of the fortune he amassed from Little Johnny and other Leadville mining interests) to become leading figures in Colorado mining as well as the wider world of big business and finance in the West. Campion was also a founding member of the Denver Art League, a precursor of the Denver Art Museum.

A substantial collection of Colorado mining documents, pertaining to one of the most lucrative Leadville operations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Price: $1,500.00