Scope and Content

The records of Whitman Symmes consist of five cubic feet of materials which date from 1859-1938. The collection was originally donated to the Mackay School of Mines and subsequently to the Special Collections Department. There are no restrictions on the use of the collection.

Little background information is available on the collection's provenance, although we have surmised that the records were probably assembled by Symmes in the course of his profession as mining engineer and mine superintendent on Nevada's Comstock Lode, and possibly because of his battles with mining stockholders. Arranged alphabetically by company name, the records consist primarily of deeds, agreements, financial statements, reports, correspondence, payrolls, articles of incorporation, court case documents, and assay reports for mines, mills, shafts, flume companies, and tunnel associations in Nevada, California, Utah, Wyoming, and Arizona. Not all types of documents are available for each company.

The collection includes a scrapbook of clippings of the newspaper column "Superintendents' Weekly Letters," dating from 1909-1912 which provides data on the progress of individual Comstock mines, as does a "Complete History of the Comstock Lode by Expert Mining Engineers..." from a 1908 Pacific Miner. The collection also contained six photographs of the St. John's Quicksilver Mine, near Vallejo, California, ca 1910; these were transferred to the photo archives of this department.

No personal information about Symmes is found in this collection, although there are several reports by Symmes on the Comstock Lode. Of special note is Symmes' detailed report prepared in about 1914, probably for submission to stockholders and/or the Pacific Miner, on the conspiracy against him by five stockholders. In this report Symmes writes of his career as superintendent for several mines and related companies in the Comstock Lode and details particulars on mining activities in the period of about 1908-1914.

Processed by: Susan Searcy
Date: January 3, 1989

 

Box 1

Folder No.:

1 Abernathy Company.
2 Alamo.
3 Alto Lode Mining Claims.
4 Anaconda.
5 Arizona-Comstock Corporation.
6 Arizona Mines.
7 Aspen.
8 Atchison Claim.
9 Badger Mine.
10 Baldwin Company.
11 Belcher Mining Company.
12 Birdsall Company.
13 Bowers and Company.
14 Brunswick Mill.
15 Buckeye.
16 Caledonia.
17-20 California districts.
21-23 California Mill.
24 California Mine.
25a Clermont Consolidated Gold and Silver Mining Company.
25b Comstock Merger Mines.
26 Comstock Mill.
27 Comstock Tunnel Company.
28 Confidence.
29-30 Consolidated California and Virginia Mining Company.
31 Consolidated Imperial Mining Company.
32 Consolidated New York.
33 Consolidated Virginia.
34 Comstock District.
35 Contact, Nevada, District.
36 Copper Mountain.
37 Davis, John.
38 Deeds list.
39 Dick Sides' Claim.
40 Doten, Alfred.
41 Electric Mining and Reduction Company.
42 Enterprise.
43-46 Equipment - specs and blueprints.

Box 2

Folder No.:

1 Excelsior.
2 Fair, James G.
3 Flood, J.C.
4 Georgetown.
5 Glacier Mine.
6 Golconda Extension Mining Company.
7 Gold Dust and Trojan.
8 Golden Gate Mining Company.
9 Gossage, John.
10-12 Gould and Curry.
13-16 Great Dome Oil Company, Wyoming.
17-18 Hale and Norcross.
19 Hardy Ledge.
20 Hawkeye Grounds.
21 Idaho Districts.
22 James and Murphy Claim.
23 Joe Scates Consolidated Silver Mining Company.
24 Kennedy.
25 Kentucky Claim.
26 Keyes and Graessler Mines.
27 Kinkead Mining and Milling Company.
28 Knickerbocker.
29 Lady Bryan.
30 Lady Bug.
31 Last Chance.
32 Leviathan Mining Company.
33 Lincoln Gold Mining Company.
34 "McCarthy, Mary vs Nevada Bank of San Francisco."
35 McCormick, Thomas F.
36 Mackay, John.
37 "Mackay, John vs Western Union Telegraph".
38 McFadden Mining Claim.
39 Manhattan Mining Company (Lander County).
40-41 Mariposa Milling Company.
42 May Lode.
43 Miller Mine.
44-46 Mexican Gold and Silver Mining Company.
47 Miners' Union.
48 Missing Link Mine.
49 Mt. Whipple.

Box 3

Folder No.:

1 Murphy Mining Company.
2 Noble Mines (San Diego County, Calif.).
3 North Carson Mine.
4 North Consolidated Virginia.
5 Occidental Mill.
6 Ophir.
7-18 Overman Company.
19-24 Pacific Mill and Mining.
25 Pacific Wood and Flume Company.
26 Pahranagat District history.
27-29 Pan and Battery Mill.

Box 4

1 Peck Mining Company.
2 Peytown Claim.
3 Piety Hill.
4 Prince.
5 Roman Capitol.
6 Rough and Ready.
7 Sacramento Mill.
8 Santa Rita Mine.
9 Sapphire Mill.
10 Savage.
11 Scott, Nicholas.
12 Seneca Company.
13 Sharon, William E.
14-15 Sierra Nevada Silver Mining Company.
16 Sierra Nevada, Mexican and Union Shaft.
17 Sierra Nevada Quartz Mill.
18 Spring Garden.
19 Stacy, Abrams.
20 Sutro, Adolph.
21 Symmes, Whitman.
22-23 Symmes, Whitman - journals (technical notes).
24 Toquin Claim.
25 Uncle Sam Silver Mining Company.
26 Union Consolidated Mining Company.
27-29 United Comstock Pumping Association.
30 Utah Silver Mining Company (Nevada).
31 Utah District [Marysvale, Utah].
32 Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company.
33 Ward Shaft.

Box 5

1 Wells, Fargo & Company.
2 West Union.
3 White and Murphy Claim.
4 Wide West Claim.
5 Woodworth Flume.
6 Woodside-Eureka Mining Company.
7 Yellow Jacket.
8-10 Miscellaneous deeds [Virginia City].
11-15 Miscellaneous correspondence, receipts, court documents, assay reports, notebooks, survey notes, and daily log of drilling progress (1877-1884); all with only the name of an individual, not a company or mine name.
16 Symmes, Whitman. Statement by Symmes in regard to a conspiracy against him by five stockholders, [1914]; Symmes Report on Plan of Exploration...Mexican and Union Consolidated Mines, 1914; "Complete History of the Comstock Lode by Expert Mining Engineers...," published in the Pacific Miner, 1908; and location notice for the March Fraction by Symmes, 1910.

In back of box: Scrapbook containing clippings of the newspaper column "Superintendents' Weekly Letters," 1909-1912.

Manuscripts | Special Collections

Please direct questions to Jacquelyn Sundstrand
Updated August 12, 2008