Inventory of the Pioneer Reduction Company Records
Sara Gunasekara
Processing of this collection was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and administered by the
Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives
program.
Department of Special Collections
General Library
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616-5292
Phone: (530) 752-1621
Fax: (530) 754-5758
Email: speccoll@ucdavis.edu
© 2013
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Creator:
Pioneer Reduction Company
Title: Pioneer Reduction Company Records
Date (inclusive): 1892-1935
Extent:
0.8 linear feet
Abstract: The Pioneer Reduction Company processed gold ore in Nevada City, California. The
collection contains organizational records (by-laws, check stubs, bullion book, and stock certificate register)
as well as correspondence regarding the plant's operation.
Physical location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as many
are stored offsite.
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special
Collections.
Davis, California 95616-5292
Collection number: D-559
Language of Material: Collection materials in English.
History
Benjamin Hall was born near Manchester, England on May 28, 1867 to Robert and Rachel (Sykes) Hall. He arrived
in Nevada City, California in April 1880. He began his career as a mechanical engineer in a quartz mill in
Calaveras County. In 1892, with Joe Northey, Northey's son, and William Black, he purchased the Maltman
Reduction Works, a plant established in 1858 in Nevada City. In 1893, they incorporated it as the Pioneer
Reduction Company. Hall served as President.
Hall also owned a reduction plant in Unionville, Nevada.
He passed away on March 31, 1956.
Source:
Lardner, W. B.(William B.)
History of Placer and Nevada Counties California: with biographical sketches
of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from
the early days to the present
. Los Angeles: Historic Record Co., 1924.
Scope and Content
The collection contains organizational records (by-laws, check stubs, bullion book, and stock certificate
regsiter) as well as correspondence regarding the plant's operation.
Arrangement of the Collection
The collection is arranged in two series: Organizational Records and Correspondence.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public
access catalog.
Pioneer Reduction Company--Archives
Hall, Benjamin--Correspondence
Mines and mineral resources--California--Nevada County
Mineralogy--California--Nevada County
Gold mines and mining--California--Nevada County
Nevada County (Calif.)--History
Uncovering California's Environmental Collections Project
Access
Collection is open for research.
Processing Information
Processing of the Pioneer Reduction Company Records was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
and administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). UC Davis Special Collections was
awarded a Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant from 2010-2012, "Uncovering California's
Environmental Collections," in collaboration with eight additional special collections and archival repositories
throughout the state and the California Digital Library (CDL). Grant objectives included processing hidden
collections related to the state's environment and environmental history. The collections document an array of
important sub-topics such as irrigation, mining, forestry, agriculture, industry, land use, activism, and
research. Together they form a multifaceted picture of the natural world and the way it was probed, altered,
exploited and protected in California over the twentieth century. Finding aids are made available through the
Online Archive of California (OAC).
Sara Gunasekara processed this collection with assistance from student employee Michelle Xie.
Acquisition Information
Extracted from D-016, Mining Records Collection in 2013.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Pioneer Reduction Company Records, D-559, Department of Special Collections, General
Library, University of California, Davis.
Publication Rights
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to
publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of
California, Davis as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Series 1.
Organizational Records
1892-1935
Physical Description:
8 folders
Scope and Content Note
Arranged chronologically.
Box 1:1
Clean Up and Bullion Book
1892-1904
Box D Folio 2
Certificate from the California Secretary of State
1893 June 13
Box 1:3
Stock certificate register
1893-1935
Box 1:4
Check stubs
1912 September 10-1913 August 4
Box 2:3-4
Notes and ephemera
undated
Series 2.
Correspondence
1898-1930
Physical Description:
111 letters
Scope and Content Note
Arranged in three subseries: Outgoing, Incoming, and Third Party.
Subseries 2.1
Outgoing
1916-1926
Physical Description:
8 letters
Scope and Content Note
Contains letters written by Benjamin Hall on behalf of Pioneer Reduction Company. Arranged alphabetically
by correspondent.
Box 2:5
Ballue, Albert
1924 September 19
Box 2:6
B.K.H Company
1917 September 3
Box 2:7
Griffith, N.H.
1917 August 16
Box 2:8
Leonard, M.A.
1926 July 6
Box 2:9
Navajo Copper Mining Co.
1916 October 25
Box 2:10
Red Ledge
1920 September 20
Subseries 2.2
Incoming
1898-1930
Physical Description:
100 letters
Scope and Content Note
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
A number of the letters from Albert Ballue discuss the operations of Hall's plant in Unionville,
Nevada.
Box 2:13
Edward P. Allis Company
1898 March 29
Box 2:14
Alpha Hardware and Supply Co.
1917 February 6
Box 2:15
Amador County Lime Kiln
1913 December 28
Box 2:16
American Concrete Filler Co.
1916 October
Box 2:17
American Spiral Pipe Works
1906 October 31
Box 2:18
Atkins, Kroll and Co.
1917 February 2
Box 2:19
Bagdad-Chase Gold Mining Company
undated
Box 2:20
Baker Iron Works
1906 April 24
Box 2:21
Ballue, Albert
1923 June 7
Box 2:22
Ballue, Albert
1923 June 17
Box 2:23
Ballue, Albert
1923 August 23
Box 2:24
Ballue, Albert
1923 September 11
Box 2:25
Ballue, Albert
1923 September 24
Box 2:26
Ballue, Albert
1924 January 12
Box 2:27
Ballue, Albert
1924 April 25
Box 2:28
Ballue, Albert
1924 June 1
Box 2:29
Ballue, Albert
1924 July 23
Box 2:30
Ballue, Albert
1924 August 4
Box 2:31
Ballue, Albert
1924 October 15
Box 2:32
Ballue, Albert
1925 January 24
Box 2:33
Ballue, Albert
1925 February 24
Box 2:34
Ballue, Albert
1925 April 23
Box 2:35
Ballue, Albert
1925 May 7
Box 2:36
Ballue, Albert
1925 May 16
Box 2:37
Ballue, Albert
1925 May 31
Box 2:38
Ballue, Albert
1925 June 21
Box 2:39
Ballue, Albert
1925 October 23
Box 2:40
Ballue, Albert
1926 February 21
Box 2:41
Ballue, Albert
1926 April 9
Box 2:43
Black, J.A.
1905 August 22
Box 2:44
Braun-Knecht-Heimann Co.
1914 September 7
Box 2:45
Braun-Knecht-Heimann Co.
1917 January 26
Box 2:46
Braun-Knecht-Heimann Co.
1917 February 5
Box 2:47
Broderick, W.H.
1917 January 15
Box 2:49
Cahill and Hall Elevator Co.
1899 January 2
Box 2:50
California Jewell Filter Co.
1917 February 3
Box 2:51
California Slimes Concentrating Co.
1924 August 25
Box 2:52
Coalinga Oil Company
1899 June 17
Box 2:53
Coalinga Oil Company
1899 July 4
Box 2:54
Connolly, T.E.
1926 July 23
Box 2:55
Darrow, Frank M.
1923 October 17
Box 2:57
Joseph Dixon Crucible Company
1917 July 24
Box 2:58
Eagle Salt Works
1904 August 15
Box 2:59
Empire Mines
1911 January 14
Box 2:60
F.W. Braun Co.
1904 February 24
Box 2:61
Flotation Oil and Chemical Co.
1917 October 25
Box 2:62
Griffith, H.H.
1917 July 27
Box 2:63
Hug Water Wheel Co.
1906 October 30
Box 2:64
Jackson, Francis Gordon
1907 December 23
Box 2:65
Jardine Machinery Company
1914 April 18
Box 2:66
Justinian Caire Company
1909 November 12
Box 2:67
Kinney Coal Company
1924 July 28
Box 2:68
W. Stokes Kirk
1905 March 8
Box 2:69
A. Klipstein and Company
1918 August 21
Box 2:70
Lane, T.M.
1920 August 28
Box 2:71
Leonard, M.A.
1926 July 1
Box 2:72
Leonard, M.A.
1926 July 12
Box 2:73
Leonard, M.A.
1926 July 12
Box 2:74
Leonard, M.A.
1926 July 22
Box 2:75
Leonard, M.A.
1927 April 5
Box 2:76
Leonard, M.A.
1927 April 15
Box 2:77
Leonard, M.A.
1928 February 14
Box 2:78
Leonard, M.A.
1928 March 17
Box 2:79
Linde Air Products Company
1915 December 14
Box 2:80
McFarland, W.K.
1925 June 29
Box 2:81
McNeel's Financial Service
1923 November 10
Box 2:82
Monarch Engineering and Manufacturing Co.
1910 January 10
Box 2:83
Navajo Copper Mining Co.
1916 October 16
Box 2:84
Neville and Co.
1905 May 4
Box 2:85
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
1921 April 15
Box 2:86
Penn Mining Co.
1900 March 5
Box 2:87
Platt Iron Works Co.
1906 August 3
Box 2:88
Power and Mining Machinery Company
1905 December 29
Box 2:89
Prinz and Rau Manufacturing Co.
1904 January 11
Box 2:90
Red Ledge
1920 September 23
Box 2:91
Richmond Chemical Company
1917 February 13
Box 2:92
Ross, John
1921 September 22
Box 2:93
Southwest Turquoise Co.
1914 August 27
Box 2:94
Squaw Creek Mining Co.
1906 March 15
Box 2:95
State Compensation Insurance Fund, State of California
1914 February 9
Box 2:96
State Compensation Insurance Fund, State of California
1917 August 11
Box 2:97
State Compensation Insurance Fund, State of California
1917 November 9
Box 2:98
State Compensation Insurance Fund, State of California
1917
Box 2:99
Syracuse Smelting Works
1914 August 13
Box 2:100
Talcott, F.
1927 January 12
Box 2:101
Tenabo Mill and Mining Co.
1914 July 27
Box 2:102
W.S. Tyler Company
1913 August 30
Box 2:103
Universal Silvers Company
1923 February 22
Box 2:104
Victor Steel Company
1914 July 8
Box 2:105
Western Masons' Mutual Life Association
1900 August 29
Box 2:106
Unidentified
1922 August 31
Box 2:107
Unidentified
1922 October 5
Box 2:108
Unidentified
1922 October 21
Box 2:109
Unidentified
1923 March 8
Box 2:111
Unidentified
1930 January 20
Subseries 2.3
Third Party
1924-1926
Physical Description:
3 letters
Scope and Content Note
Three letters that are written to Albert Ballue regarding Hall's plant in Unionville, Nevada. Arranged
alphabetically by author.
Box 2:113
B.M. Machinery Manufacturing Co. to Albert Ballue
1926 March 9
Box 2:114
Curtis Machinery Company to Albert Ballue
1925 June 2
Box 2:115
Gillett, George to Albert Ballue
1924 October 8
