An important archive relating to the career of William F. Witherell, a major figure in the mining business in Tombstone and in Arizona Territory. Highlights of the archive include:
1) An Arivaca Mill Company (Arivaca, Arizona) stock certificate, 10 7/8″ x 7.25, No. 18, dated November 17, 1880, for six shares of capital stock for H. C. Rawson. This rare certificate bears the +red seal of incorporation (Chicago 1880). The certificate is signed by George W. Huddleston, president of the company. Witherell was the superintendent of the Arivaca Mill Company. The certificate has several vertical and horizontal folds and is wrinkled from being rolled up. Otherwise it is in good condition.
2) A rare Rattlesnake Mining Company (Chicago) stock certificate, 10″ x 7″, No. 52, dated April 19, 1883, for one thousand shares ($10 each) of stock for Witherell. The certificate bears the seal of the company and is signed by George W. Huddleston, secretary, and W. L. Barnum, president of the company. The back of the certificate is signed by Witherell.
3) A letter sent from E. P. Voisard on letterhead of his Mining and Assay Office business, located in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, 7.75″ x 10.25,” dated May 12, 1883, to Witherell, concerning mining prospects in Mexico. Voisard was an assayer, notary public, and mine negotiator who lived in Tombstone for a time.
4) A four-page a letter sent from J. H. Fawcett on Arivaca Mill Company letterhead, 8 3/8″ x 11.25″, dated August 12, 1881, to Witherell in Evanston, Illinois, informing the latter that he is recovering from a recent illness and that George Huddleston, the president of the company, is planning to visit with a party of three or four individuals who would take hold of some of his mining operations in the area. Fawcett, assistant treasurer of the Arivaca Mill Company, is concerned about Huddleston’s visit because of the rainy season and the fact that it would be difficult to get the mill up and running at full capacity. He’s hoping to convince Huddleston to postpone but warns Witherell to be prepared. The letter is accompanied by a canceled postal cover with printed Arivaca Mill Company return address.
5) Arbuckle Bros. Coffee Company trade card “Arizona,” 5″ x 3″, circa 1890s. Sometime in the mid-1880s, the Arbuckle Bros. Coffee Company, New York City, began to insert trade cards in packages of coffee. Later the company created a promotional venture of issuing series of cards to induce consumers to buy its coffee. This card, featuring two scenes from Arizona history, Spanish explorers discovering cave dwellings in 1540 and U.S. Army troops attacking Geronimo’s soldiers in 1890, on the front and a brief description of Arizona on the back, is No. 21 in the series of fifty cards giving a pictorial history of the United States and Territories.
6) A letter sent from H. W. Chester, on Redington and Chester Lumber Company (Chicago), 8.25″ x 10 7/8″, dated October 2, 1883, to Witherell, expressing his condolences concerning the recent death of the latter’s child. Chester was one of the owners of the lumber company. The letter is accompanied by a canceled postal cover bearing the printed return address of the company.
7) A six-page a letter sent from J. E. Gilman, M.D., of Chicago, on his personal letterhead, 5 3/8″ x 8.25″, dated July 17, 1883, to Witherell, in which he expresses concern why the latter agreed to a tunnel plan for the Santa Rosa mine that is different from the one accepted by the board of directors. Gilman also expresses concern with expenses and asks for feedback from Witherell on the matter. It sounds like Gilman was a member of the board of the Rattlesnake Mining Company.
8) A letter sent, 8.25 x 11″, dated September 1, 1883, from George Huddleston to Witherell, urging the latter to make payment to bank account and forward reports and diagrams, as well as Witherell’s thoughts concerning the profit from the Mayflower mine.
9) A letter sent from Thomas Price, on the letterhead of his Chemical Laboratory, Assay Offices, Bullion Rooms and Ore Floors (San Francisco), 8″ x 10.5″, dated May 26, 1881, to Witherell, in which he angrily requests the immediate return of $470.10 “which I shipped you in error.” He goes on to say “why you should have accepted the coin knowing how you had arranged with your banker is beyond my comprehension.” The letter is accompanied by a canceled postal cover, stamped May 26 in San Francisco and June 9 in Arivaca, Arizona. The cover bears the printed return address of Price’s office.
10) A letter sent from F. E. Monteverde, on Pacific Iron Works (San Francisco) letterhead, 8.5″ x 11″, dated April 19, 1883, to Witherell, asking the latter to send any “handsome crystalized or massive specimens” of copper found in his mine for a cabinet collection being assembled by Monteverde, a clerk at the company. The letter is accompanied by a canceled postal cover bearing the printed return address of the Pacific Iron Works.