Tom Reed Gold Mines Company

TITLE: Tom Reed Gold Mines Company

DATE RANGE: 1913 - 1935 

CALL NUMBER: Y-MS 50

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 2 linear feet (3 boxes)

PROVENANCE: Unknown.

COPYRIGHT: Copyright is unknown.

RESTRICTIONS: This collection is unrestricted.   

CREDIT LINE: Tom Reed Gold Mines Company, Y-MS 50, Yuma County Library District

PROCESSED BY: Benjamin Findley, July 2014

HISTORICAL NOTE: The Tom Reed Gold Mines Company was a mining company incorporated in the Arizona Territory in 1906. The company was organized by California investors in response to the discovery of gold in the area around Oatman. The company purchased a claim on what is now known as the Tom Reed vein and in 1908 began production of high grade ore. The mine was initially successful, producing millions of dollars in gold and silver ore. 

In response to this success, the company invested a large sum of money creating a stamp mill on site, powered by water piped four miles from Cottonwood Canyon. An electric generator was also installed which provided electricity to Oatman as well as the mine.   Despite several attempts to extract ore from various promising locations, the Tom Reed vein remained the company’s only real success. By the 1920’s the company struggled with diminishing ore and had opened its mill to other companies. However by 1930 the company’s mine was not producing ore and in March 1932 the mine was closed. The company continued on until 1939 when it was formally shut down. In the late 1950s the Sawyer Exploration Company took over and reactivated the company renaming it the Sawyer Petroleum Company.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: This collection consists of a number of bound reports and ledgers detailing assorted mine records.. The Mining Coordinates ledger contains lists of various claims and their coordinates. The first ledger in the financial records contains profit and loss calculations and is organized in reverse chronological order. The Inspection record book is oversized containing reports by mine inspectors by the State regarding the various claims and shafts that make up the Tom Reed Mine. The ore records list the tonnage and composition of various car loads of ore extracted from the mine. The stock certificates are bound together containing names and dates involved in the issuing of the certificates. No series. The entries in the various ledgers are ordered chronologically.

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