Beschreibung:

Archive of documents relating to the Redington Quicksilver Mining Company in northeastern Napa County, California Author: Place: California Publisher: Date: c.1870-1880 Description: Large archive housed in 3 file boxes, consisting of letters, documents, balance sheets, assessments, receipts, invoices, tax valuations, partnership agreements, licenses, and more. Important archive of material from and relating to the Redington Quicksilver Mine, offering rare documentation of its day-to-day business operations. The firm was originally known as the X.L.C.R. Mining Company, located in Sulphur Canon, north of Berryessa Valley. Discovered in 1860 or 1861 by silver prospectors on land being graded for a road, the cinnabar deposits proved rich and valuable, and a company was formed and changed hands several times over the next decade. The 1881 “History of Napa and Lake Counties, California” quotes mine superintendent Charles E. Livermore, "The Redington Quicksilver Mine is located in the northeastern portion of Napa County, about eighteen miles from Clear Lake. The mine was discovered some twenty years ago, and has been worked more or less successfully ever since. Some three hundred men, with their families, forming quite a little town known as Knoxville, owned by the company, are usually clustered around this mine, thus making, with the farmers around, a community of some five hundred people….” Among various items, the archive includes: Approx. 22 letters from 1872, 60 from 1874, and 20 from 1876, most to C.E. Livermore, some to others, many from company treasurer Horatio Livermore, some on Redington Quicksilver Company letterhead. Manuscript “Inventory of Kitchen, R.Q. Co., August 31 1872,” with prices, lots of coffee, cornmeal, sugar, rice, cabbage, even some salmon. File box with dozens of monthly balance sheets from H.P Livermore, Treasurer of the R.Q. Co., plus hundreds of shipping receipts and waybills, etc. File Box with hundreds of receipts from various companies, most notably lumber and freight, offering a granular account of the business operations of the R.Q. Co. Lot Amendments Condition: Normal wear for such an archive, overall very good. Item number: 339203a