[ALASKA]. BOURKE, Joseph A. Archive of Nearly 43 Autograph Letters Signed and 41 Silver Gelatin Photographs Related to Mining in Alaska by Standard Copper Mines Company. [Landlocked Bay, Valdez, Eyak, et al., AK, ca. 1900s]. Nearly 43 letters on 74 sheets, most letters by the mine’s General Manager, Bourke. 4tos and 8vos letters on various paper stock (some ruled). Sizes range from 348 x 130 mm to 196 x 127 mm. Generally worn, soiled, creased, torn, some with tape repairs. Generally good or better. These letters are related to the Standard Copper Mines Company of Alaska. Also included are a pamphlet for the stock offering, the signed contract between Joseph A. Bourke and Nellie Flake in which Bourke sells part of his claim in the mine to Flake, a stock certificate for 21 shares in the company, and an unsigned subscription form for stock shares. The letters are on a variety of related topics, including the running of the company, many to and from Joseph Bourke to his brother, Edward, and other family members; other letters are from miners and other employees to family and friends. And 41 silver gelatin photos of outdoor scenes in Alaska (presumably near Landlocked Bay) including several photos of mining equipment. Photos mounted onto loose album leaves. Photos range from 105 x 77 mm to 153 x 207 mm. Some general wear, occasional creasing, chipping. Generally very good.
“Monday Evening Ja 15th 1900 Eyck. Alaska. Dear Friend Edd, I am well and I hope this letter will find you and your family the Same… I hope I don’t have to Spend any more winters here, the weather has been pretty good, but have about three foot of Snow and more to come. I am living alone I pulled out from Jim Baker the man I was living with… and I will make every effort to get Something out of this country. a friend of mine is going out on the boat to get a Small launch and if he does get one I feel Sure I can make Some good locations next Summer. all the Nines on the coast are quartz, that is gold and Copper bearing rock. there is quite an excitement up that place where Joe is going. and I hope Joe will have better luck this time it will be a hard trip for him… good bye, Billy.” From the manuscript by an unknown author, “A Prize poem - A babe is born, its natal form [?] had usher’d in the deep [?] find happiness, its parents bless, none happiness from them ship, A girl is she, the happy thus, the circle now has join’d, A mother’s kiss, now all is bliss…” Another excerpt: “Valdez, Alaska: Nov 25 - 1901 Eddy, A boat arrived and is leaving in a hurry and I have an opportunity to write you only a few lines… We have a newspaper here in Valdez that is very poorly conducted and every one is against it, The future for a good paper is great owing to the great amount of mining advertising that will have to be done according to law, besides there is a large amount of business advertising that will have to be done according to law, besides there is a large amount of business advertising and job work. I am joining with two good newspaper men to start a paper and one of the men goes out on this boat to buy the outfit while the two of us remaining will fit up a house for the business…Yours for a time, Joe.” Another excerpt from a manuscript offering draft: “The Standard Copper Mines Co. operating as Landlock Bay Prince William Sound, Alaska. Organized in 1906 under the laws of the State of New Jersey Capital stock 3000 shares of the par value of One hundred dollars per share and non accessible Treasury stock, 1200 shares… Copper is probably the Most attractive mining industry of the present time to the inventor who seeks large and permanent returns from comparatively small investments. The requisites are a large and permanent body of ore, of a good grade in an accessible location, Cheap transportation facilities, Cheap smelting, a fair capitalization, and honest management. With these assured, there is no enterprise that guarantees such large and lasting returns, for the Money invested…”
Another excerpt which describes the surrounding country: “Valdez Alaska May 29-24. My Dear Frances… Our country is about two and a half miles out of town and adjoining the highway. A beautiful trout stream bounds the further side of the country and crossing the steam is what is known as Crooked Bridge on either side of the approach to this bridge…In passing from Valdez to the interior of the country out highway passes through a very picturesque Canyon and then on and over the Coast range of Mountains, through what I believe to be the grandest piece of scenery in Alaska (President Harding went over the route) during the winter our snow-fall is extremely heavy, The blowing gales piles the snow in high banks along the road assisted by the great snow-slide so much so that the road over the mountain is impassable…Joe.” “Valdez Alaska Aug. 1-17 My Dear Marrion… I have employed gass-boats and steamboats going into the Bristol [?] Bay and the Bering Sea… It is the time of year when the salmon Canneries are in full blast. I wish you could see the fish brought in in one of three canneries where they put up in about a month two hundred thousand cases which means twenty-six million salmon. And there are many canneries in… Whaling is also a great industry here. At one station I visited they take in between three and four hundred whales in a summer season, they extract the oil and convert the bone and meat to fertilizer… Joe. ” “Valdez Alaska Dec. 14-30. My Dear Frances… As I have informed you on other occasions, we are here in the midst of vast glaciers, The Valdez glacier distant about four miles North East of my house extends inland a distance of twenty such miles and its highest point is over four thousand feet elevation But it is simply a branch of a great glacier that extends out to the Pacific Ocean… A few days later other fox breeders on their way to Valdez stopped in at Jerry’s place and were surprised with the strangeness of the animal that came onto Valdez and quietly reported the find to our leading attorney, who immediately notified American Museum of Natural History of New York of the discovery of a strange animal measuring twenty-five feet in length that had been released from the Columbia glacier… Jerry Oleary came to town and I hunted up an illustrated text book on prehistoric animals. I had Jerry go through it and point out a picture that resembled his find. He picked out the ICHTHYOSAURUS (fish lizard) one of the very earliest animals on earth and evolved from the fish…” “Sunday Aug. 1 Copper Centre Alaska. Dear Friend Edd… you ought to see the Salmon we catch here we have about one hundred smoked and dryed for the winter which i expect will be very long the game is very Scarce now but i hope it will be better this all we See plenty of Bear and moose tracks the Indians Say there wis plenty of Moose after the fall of snow but they dont like the idea of white men Staying in here this winter as they will kill the game well…” “Standard Copper Mines Company mainly produced copper and zinc, with smaller amounts of gold and silver. This company has constructed a wharf, ore bunkers, an office, etc., on the north side of Landlocked Bay. From the wharf a wire-rope aerial tramway, 2,526 feet in length, leads up the south side of Copper Mountain. Above this tramway is another, 923 feet long, leading to the mouth of a tunnel about 2,000 feet above sea level. This tunnel is run to intercept three ore-bearing zones that outcrop on the mountain above. In August, 1908, it had reached a length of 420 feet. The lowest ore zone is intersected near the mouth of the tunnel, arid from this considerable ore has been mined and most of it has been shipped. The second zone is not clearly cut by the tunnel, which at the time of visit was thought to be entering the third zone…” (Copper Mining and Prospecting on Prince William Sound by Grant and Higgins, 1909).