Charles F. Potter and Isaac B. Potter Papers, 1887-1940, bulk 1905-1925

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Summary

Creators:
Potter, Charles F. (Charles Franklin), 1861-
Abstract:
This collection contains the business and legal papers of legal and financial counselors Charles F. Potter (1861-1949) and his brother Isaac B. Potter (1856-1940), concentrating on several water and power companies in California, Arizona, and Nevada, with the bulk dating from 1905-1925.
Extent:
3,974 pieces in 10 boxes
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains the business papers of lawyers Charles F. and Isaac B. Potter, brothers who were legal and financial counselors with extensive business interests in Colorado, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, and California. The papers concentrate on several water and power companies in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Although more than half of the collection contains daily business correspondence, there are also various reports on geothermal power resources and water rights issues in California and in the Owens River Valley in particular. The collection also includes agreements, deeds, incorporation papers, mortgages, organizational records, property and title holdings, and surveys.

Several water and power companies represented in the collection include: Cain Irrigation Company, California-Nevada Canal, Water and Power Company, Deseret Water, Oil and Irrigation Company, Goleta Consolidated Mining Company, Hillside Water Company, Hydro Electric Company, Mono Power Company, Nevada-California Electric Corporation, Pacific Power Company, and Southern Sierras Power Company.

Biographical / historical:

Isaac B. Potter (1856-1940) was born in 1856 in Watervliet, New York, son of Oscar Fitzallen and Antoinette Bucklin Potter. Having graduated from Cornell University, he was admitted to the New York bar in 1880. He practiced law in New York, being member of firm of Potter & Alexander (1880-1883), Potter & Potter (1884-1886), Potter, Caldwin & Miner (1889-1893), and Potter & Miner (1903-1908). In 1888-1896, he served as chairman of Road Improvement Committee, League of American Municipalities, and wrote first pamphlet advocating road improvements (Gospel of Good Roads, 1890-1891). He was the founder of the Good Roads Magazine. In 1907, he was president of the League of American Wheelmen. In 1907-1910, he served as legal counsel for American Union Life Insurance Co. and other corporations.

In 1908, he opened offices in Denver and Los Angeles and practiced as a partner in Potter, West & Potter until 1911 when he formed a partnership with his brother Charles F. Potter.

Charles Franklin Potter (born 1861-1949) was born on September 25, 1861, in Watervliet, New York. He studied civil engineering and law under private tutors, as apprentice in law office, and through aid of Columbia University law lectures. For two years he was employed by the New York State Department of Public Works as civil engineer in design and construction of bridges, water works, sewers, and highways. In 1883, Charles F. Potter was admitted to New York State bar and practiced law in New York. Later he was associated with large interests in Texas and was legal counsel for many mining corporations in Colorado and Nevada, including Nevada Power Mining & Milling Co. (1904), the Nevada-California Power Co. (1907), the Southern Sierras Power Company and the Interstate Telegraph Co. (1911), the Nevada California Electrical Corporation, the Cain Irrigation Co., Pacific Power Corporation, and other companies in the Southwest. Charles F. Potter was director of the Mono Power Company in 1920. He formed a partnership with his brother Isaac B. Potter in 1911.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from N. A. Kovach, February 8, 1945.
Arrangement:

Arranged in 10 boxes in alphabetical order by company name with a few reports filed at the end. Several of the folders were assigned an identification number, and in order to preserve the original filing system, these numbers are included in parentheses following each folder title.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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