The "Grass Valley Gold Extracting Company" - two letterbooks of Joseph W. Higginbottom, a Director and General Manager, and William Leonard Holms, a Director, Assistant Manager, and Chemist.

Two Grass Valley Mining Letterbooks, 1891-1892.

Published by Letterbooks were the copy machines of their day. Businessmen and others used letterbooks to keep records of their correspondence. The "Copying Books" offered here were made by the William Mann Co. of Philadelphia. The chemically treated copying papers are thin, smooth, and translucent to enable reading of the text from the side opposite of the ink transfer. There are a few torn sheets, but the paper is surprisingly strong. It has a fine, crepe-like, wrinkly texture. A blotting paper was placed under a leaf, the written letter placed on top of the leaf and water applied with a brush. The three papers were placed in a press and the writing was transferred to the treated page. The Grass Valley Gold Extracting Co. was incorporated in December o

About this Item

Letterbooks were the copy machines of their day. Businessmen and others used letterbooks to keep records of their correspondence. The "Copying Books" offered here were made by the William Mann Co. of Philadelphia. The chemically treated copying papers are thin, smooth, and translucent to enable reading of the text from the side opposite of the ink transfer. There are a few torn sheets, but the paper is surprisingly strong. It has a fine, crepe-like, wrinkly texture. A blotting paper was placed under a leaf, the written letter placed on top of the leaf and water applied with a brush. The three papers were placed in a press and the writing was transferred to the treated page. The Grass Valley Gold Extracting Co. was incorporated in December of 1890 with Capital stock of $200,000. (Sacramento Daily Union, 11 December 1890). It offered "Hydraulic Chlorination" as an efficient method of extracting gold from difficult ores, sands, mud and water. The method had been patented by Scotsman James Holms Pollok of Glasgow, and most of the money for Grass Valley provided by Scottish investors. It had been used successfully in New Zealand and South Africa. The chemistry was tricky the chemist typically had to be well versed in the method. Manager Higginbottom s letterbook begins September 2, 1891; 65 pages out of 695 are used. His correspondence is primarily with backers in Edinburgh. There are long letters, with some drawings, describing the equipment being installed, technological issues, and problems that have arisen. Scattered within are bitter complaints about his employees laziness, incompetence, absence without leave, drunkenness, which are holding up the completion of the infrastructure and keeping potential customers away. Many letters complain about unpaid bills and ask Edinburgh for more money to be telegraphed. Eventually Higginbottom faults his assistant Holms with protecting the guilty employees. He must have known that Holms, born in Glasgow in 1868, and John Holms Pollok, the inventor of this version of the chlorination process, also born in Glasgow in 1868, were probably related. Holms book begins a bit earlier, August 18, 1891 and covers 235 of 500 available pages. Holms is handling a lot of business with bankers, vendors, and customers, most of the business end of the operation with little about the technological issues. Scattered in are letters to Manager Higginbottom that employees are complaining about Higginbottom s treatment of them and threatening to quit. Eventually many of Holms letters are to vendors who are wanting to be paid. On September 24, 1892, Holms takes over the Higginbottom book and writes updates for Edinburgh. Higginbottom had either quit or been fired. Both books end on or near February 25, 1892, Holms letter of February 5th the most revealing "The Editor, Dear Sir, Please be good enough to insert the following advertisement in your paper…… For sale. First Class Crushing Plant, Kraus Rolls, Breaker, Screens, Fan, Dynamo, Elevator, etc. Only crushed 50 tons ….". Bound in half red leather and cloth, worn but still soundly bound. The great majority of the letter sheets are Very Good to Fine, and quite legible.

Seller Inventory # 66eac478ea186983ee58d42104ce071a

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The "Grass Valley Gold Extracting Company" - two letterbooks of Joseph W. Higginbottom, a Director and General Manager, and William Leonard Holms, a Director, Assistant Manager, and Chemist.
• Publisher: Letterbooks were the copy machines of their day. Businessmen and others used letterbooks to keep records of their correspondence. The "Copying Books" offered here were made by the William Mann Co. of Philadelphia. The chemically treated copying papers are thin, smooth, and translucent to enable reading of the text from the side opposite of the ink transfer. There are a few torn sheets, but the paper is surprisingly strong. It has a fine, crepe-like, wrinkly texture. A blotting paper was placed under a leaf, the written letter placed on top of the leaf and water applied with a brush. The three papers were placed in a press and the writing was transferred to the treated page. The Grass Valley Gold Extracting Co. was incorporated in December o