History of the Blue Ledge Mine

While doing some research about Del Norte resident L.F. Cooper, I found out he and others were invested in a mining operation in a neighboring county. Furthermore the mine exists today.

Somewhere between 1896 and 1898, copper deposits were discovered in Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border. Named the Blue Ledge for it’s distinct coloring, the mine was slowly development over the next couple of years.

Ownership fell to L.F. Cooper, William H. Hamilton, and others of Crescent City in 1902. However in June 1904 the Blue Ledge was purchased by John R. Allen and Associates of New York.

Lucius Franklin Cooper was a surveyor, attorney at law, and notary public.  According to the 1885 Del Norte Directory, he owned 456 acres of land jus’ outside Crescent City.

Furthermore, Cooper’s listed as a State Assemblyman in 1880, having also served on the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and having been the county’s District Attorney. Cooper passed away November 5, 1909.

William Hamilton’s a bit harder to trace. He may well have been the head of the law firm Hamilton & Hammond in Crescent City. This is based on the fact Cooper was also a lawyer.

However, while one William Hamilton’s middle initial’s listed as “H,” the others is recorded as “A.” Adding to the confusion — a William Hamilton is listed as having married Cora Moore, January 8, 1890 – and that Hamilton has no middle initial at all.

Subsequently, the mine was expanded and in 1905 it was sold to Robert Safford Towne, president of Compania Metalurgica Mexicana (CMM). Chartered in New Jersey in 1890, CMM was part of a holding that included several railroads, a timber company, a smelter, and mines all located largely in Mexico.

At Towne’s death in 1916, his estate was appraised at $2,500,000. The value of all the property he controlled, but did not own, was even greater.

Towne’s vehicle for developing the Blue Ledge was the Blue Ledge Mining Company. He invested nearly $2 million in the operation.

Ledgers from 1905-1909, written by F.W. Carnahan, Towne’s chief engineer on the site, document expansion and exploration of the mine. Although the Blue Ledge claims were patented in 1911, the mine was inactive between 1909 and 1916.

In 1913, the mine was transferred to the Mexican Smelting and Refining Company, a subsidiary of CMM. That same year, the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO), founded in 1899 by financial baron Henry H. Rogers, became financially involved with the Blue Ledge.

Yet, according to the California State Mining Bureau’s State Report from 1913-1914, “Blue Ledge, owned by Blue Ledge Mining Company, of New York, is located in the Elliott mining district in the Siskiyou Mountain range and near the boundary line between California and Oregon.”

The report adds, “Hutton is the nearest post office. The mine is connected by wagon roar with Joe Bar, an old placer camp.  It is reported that the company has planned the erection of a smelter on the Applegate River.”

By 1900, the Guggenheims gained control of ASARCO, and in 1905 they floated securities to purchase, among other properties, the smelter at Tacoma, Washington. A 1990s Blue Ledge Mine property report lists ASARCO as the mine owner in 1913, but other sources attribute ownership to the Mexican Smelting and Refining Company.

In either case, CMM came under ASARCO control in 1923 when ASARCO was given a 60-percent interest in a number of Towne mines. Towne’s heirs, however, still held title to the properties.

CMM was integrated into a holding company, Towne Mines, Inc., which in turn was directed by ASARCO. A 1925 mining report remarks the Blue Ledge was reportedly sold to Guggenheim interests but was still assessed to the Mexican Smelting and Refining Company.

The Blue Ledge re-opened in 1930 following its lease to Dr. J.F. Reddy of Medford, Oregon and George Hughes of Spokane. The mine’s ownership history in the subsequent years remains murky.

California mining reports credit ownership of the Blue Ledge to Towne Mines, Inc. in 1935, CMM in 1944, and the Mexican Mining and Refining Company in 1947. During these years, limited exploration of the mine was conducted as well as a U.S. Bureau of Mines study that involved some sampling and drilling.

In 1956, Transcontinental Resources purchased the mine and in 1974 Blue Ledge was again sold, this time to Michelle Tracy. Blue Ledge was then leased in 1981 to Freeport Exploration.

The mine was joint-ventured to Long Lac Mineral Exploration in 1984. A Forest Service memo cites Sikaman Gold Resources of Toronto as the mine owner in August 1991.

Further Forest Service records lists attorney Robert J. Custis as the mines owner in 1998. By 2002 the ownership of the mine was back with Tracey, who was looking to sell it.

In June 2010, the federal government began cleaning up the 50,000 cubic yards of mine tailings containing concentrations of heavy metals.  The $13.6 million project is being paid for through federal stimulus funds.