Early ownership of
the Reco mine

The Reco mine and its adjacent claims had convoluted ownership with fractional interests in each property constantly changing hands. Deals were announced but may not have been consummated; interests had a habit of reverting to previous owners without explanation. Here is an attempt to sort some of it out … or maybe just make things more confusing.

 

Louis von Ruecau, Oscar O. Hill, and Charles K. Brown staked the Ruecau claim (later renamed the Reco) on 5 Jul 1892 and recorded it two days later. They sold it to John Morgan Harris and Fred T. Kelly on 16 Jul 1892 for $2,700 with $900 down and the other installments due in October 1892 and October 1893. There was no mention of brothers Sam and George Wharton in the agreement yet they must have helped bankroll the deal. [1]

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According to a contemporary newspaper account: “The mine [was] recently purchased by Wharton Bros. of Spokane, Ned [sic] Harris of the Coeur d’Alenes, and a Mr. Kelly ...” [2]

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Kelly alone sold a one-third interest to Samuel Wharton for $950 on 17 Oct  1892. [3] Nine days later, Johnny Harris sold a one-third interest to Samuel K. Green of Spokane for $1 but while Green was involved with other mines in the Slocan, including the Washington, his name doesn’t appear anywhere else in connection with the Reco. Presumably the deal was cancelled or Johnny reacquired the interest. [4] In November 1892, Evan Jones sold an undefined part-interest in the Reco to a Mr. Udin of Spokane but Udin is not heard from again. [5]

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The Reco was combined with six other claims (the Texas, Deadman, Wild Goose, New Denver, Ephraim, and Clifton) to form the Reco group, although to keep things confusing, each claim often had several owners.

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Whatever the outcome of the earlier transactions, on 12 Nov 1892, Harris and Kelly bonded their interests in five of the seven claims of the Reco group to Patsy Clark for $50,000, the money be split evenly between them. At this time Harris and Kelly were said to each own one-third of the Reco and one-fourth of the Texas, Ephraim, Clifton, and New Denver. Clark paid $4,000 down on the day of the deal, also evenly split between Harris and Kelly. [6]

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By an agreement of 14 Feb 1893, Sam and George Wharton were to acquire a one-third interest in the Ruecau and a quarter-interest in other claims from Harris and Kelly, suggesting George Wharton’s purchase of Kelly’s one-third interest the previous fall had been voided. [7]

 

Patsy Clark made a separate deal on 24 Apr 1893 with the Whartons to bond their portions of the same claims for the curious sum of $30,828.84, with $5,828.84 due within 20 days. [8]

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However, Clark forfeited both deals, having paid another $5,000 in cash and done $9,000 worth of work. [9] That set the stage for Harris and Kelly to go to work on the Reco mine on their own and make their fortune.

Harris and Kelly agreed to sell their two-thirds of the Reco and a half-interest in the other claims to George Wharton for $2,240 on 14 Apr 1894 but the deal was voided in April 1895. Harris and Kelly repaid the money with interest. There was no indication why the deal was called off. [10]

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Ownership in the related claims is more complicated still. On 18 Aug 1892, Johnny paid Evan Jones $1 for a quarter interest in the Ephraim and gave Sam Wharton the same sum for a quarter interest in the Texas and Deadman. [11] Johnny then sold a quarter interest in all the claims except the Reco to S.K. Green on 26 Oct 1892 for $1, a deal that was probably called off. [12] Evan Jones sold his remaining one-sixteenth interest in the Clifton, New Denver, and Texas claims to Harris and Kelly on 24 Dec 1894 for $1. 

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The incorporation of the Reco Mining and Milling Co. in 1896 saw all the claims consolidated in a publicly traded company. 

 

The odd claims out were the Deadman and Wild Goose, staked by Sam Wharton and Johnny Harris in June 1892. Evan Jones somehow acquired a quarter interest, which he sold to Wharton on 18 Aug 1892 for $1. [13] Johnny sold his quarter interest to S.K. Green on 26 Oct 1892 but the deal was probably cancelled. [14] The Deadman appeared to be a dud at first but the discovery of an eight-inch streak of ore caught the attention of some American capitalists, J. Frank Cutler and Stanley Miller, who were variously described as being from Spokane or Connecticut. [15] In July 1894, they bonded the mine, promising to pay Harris and Kelly $30,000 for their two-thirds share and $16,000 to Sam Wharton for his remaining one-third. Cutler became the manager. [16] The option to buy was exercised in January 1895, six months before it was due. [17]

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But here’s the weird part: in late December 1894, Robinson Morton Sherman reportedly bought a half-interest in the Deadman and Wild Goose for $7,000 from Harris and Kelly and a quarter-interest from Evan Jones. Yet the transactions were officially recorded as occurring for $1. [18]

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Sherman may have simply been a silent partner of Cutler’s but all the quarter and half interests don’t add up given what we were previously led to believe. Was someone selling fractional shares that they didn’t own? In any case, Cutler continued on as manager. On 10 May 1895, Sherman acquired another quarter interest in the Deadman and Wild Goose from the Whartons for $1. [19]

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Though the Deadman began as a part of the Reco group, it joined the Noble Five group, to which it was also adjacent, when the Noble Five Consolidated Mining Co. was organized in August 1896. [20] R.M. Sherman served as business manager and J.F. Cutler as secretary. [21] However, the Deadman lay mostly idle until 1910, by which time the politically prominent Dunsmuir family owned it. [22]

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NOTES

[1] Bill of sales book, p. 34, held by the Kootenay Lake Archives, Kaslo
[2] Spokane Review, 30 July 1892

[3] Bill of sales book, p. 222, held by the Kootenay Lake Archives, Kaslo

[4] Ibid., p. 226-27

[5] Coeur d’Alene Miner, 19 Nov 1892

[6] Copies of Conveyance, New Denver, Vol. 2, p. 196-97 held by Kootenay Lake Archives, Kaslo

[7] Bill Barlee mining research collection, John Morgan Harris sous fonds, University of B.C. Rare Books and Special Collections, Box 2, File 2

[8] According to transfer book held by the Silvery Slocan Historical Society.

[9] By the estimate of The Miner (Nelson) of 10 Mar 1894.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Bill Barlee mining research collection, John Morgan Harris sous fonds, University of B.C. Rare Books and Special Collections, Box 2, File 2

[12] Bill of sales book, held by the Kootenay Lake Archives, Kaslo, p. 226-27

[13] Bill Barlee mining research collection, John Morgan Harris sous fonds, University of BC Rare Books and Special Collections, Box 2, File 2

[14] Bill of sales book, held by the Kootenay Lake Archives, Kaslo, p. 226-27

[15] Kootenay Star (Revelstoke), 28 Oct 1893 and Vancouver Daily World, 4 Aug 1894

[16] Slocan Times (New Denver), 15 Sept 1894

[17] The Miner (Nelson), 12 Jan 1895

[18] The Ledge (New Denver), 10 Jan 1895 and The Miner (Nelson), 19 Jan 1895 

[19] The Ledge (New Denver), 23 May 1895

[20] Vancouver Daily World, 10 Aug 1896

[21] Grand Forks (B.C.) Miner, 9 Jan 1897

[22] Victoria Daily Times, 16 Nov 1910​​