Finding Aid to the Charles Frederick Fisk Papers, 1863-1960

Finding Aid written by Lara Michels
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
© 2007
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Finding Aid to the Charles Frederick Fisk Papers, 1863-1960

Collection number: BANC MSS 70/110 c

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Finding Aid Author(s):
Finding Aid written by Lara Michels
Finding Aid Encoded By:
GenX
© 2016 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Charles Frederick Fisk papers
Date (inclusive): 1863-1960
Collection Number: BANC MSS 70/110 c
Extent: 10 cartons and 10 oversize folders (linear feet: 14) 1 digital object (1 image)
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: Papers of Charles Frederick Fisk, rancher in Corcoran, California, land developer, mainly in the Tulare Basin area of California, and mine owner in Calaveras County, California.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html. 
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Charles Frederick Fisk papers, BANC MSS 70/110 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Alternate Forms Available

Digital reproductions of selected items are available.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
Fisk, Charles Frederick, 1885-1969--Archives.
Fisk, Charles, 1814-1897
Fisk, Frank Willis, b. 1857
Fisk family
Charles G. Storie Company
Corcoran Land and Farm Company
New Penn Mines
Penn Chemical Company
Agriculture--California--San Joaquin Valley
Gold mines and mining--California--Alpine County
Gold mines and mining--California--Amador County
Gold mines and mining--California--Calaveras County
Gold mines and mining--California--Tuolumne County
Gold mines and mining--Nevada--Comstock Lode
Mines and mineral resources--California--Alpine County
Mines and mineral resources--California--Amador County
Mines and mineral resources--California--Calaveras County
Mines and mineral resources--California--Tuolumne County
Mines and mineral resources--Nevada--Comstock Lode
Petroleum--California--San Joaquin Valley
Ranching--California--San Joaquin Valley
Real property--California--Calaveras County
Real property--California--Kings County
Real property--California--Oakland
Real property--California--San Joaquin Valley
Corcoran (Calif.)
Murphys (Calif.)
Silver Mountain (Calif.)
Account books
Blueprints
Deeds
Letters
Maps

Accruals

No additions are expected.

Processing Information

Processed by Lara Michels in 2012.

Biographical Information

Charles Frederick Fisk, born in 1885 to Frank Willis Fisk (b. 1857) and May P. Shearer of Murphys, California, was a rancher in Corcoran, California; a land developer, mainly in the Tulare Basin area of California; and a mine owner in Calaveras County, California. His grandparents, Charles Fisk (1814-1897) and Mary Ann Eaton (1818-1893), came to California from Maine around 1863. The couple settled first in Yolo County and then in Silver Mountain City in Alpine County, where Charles Fisk ran the Fisk Hotel and served on the school board. In 1869, the couple relocated to Murphys in Calaveras County. They had eleven children.
Frank Willis Fisk, Charles Frederick's father, was the youngest of Charles and Mary Ann Fisk's children. He grew up assisting his father in his mercantile business and became a merchant and postmaster in Murphys. Frank Fisk also served on the Board of Supervisors for Calaveras County from 1886 to 1900. In 1879, Frank married May P. Shearer, a native of Murphys and daughter of Volney Shearer, an early California settler. Frank and May had two children, Effie May and Charles Frederick.
Charles Frederick Fisk attended the University of California, Berkeley and married fellow student Adelaide Stafford. In 1916, Charles and Adelaide bought ranch property in Corcoran, California. By 1930, they had returned to Alameda County, where Charles was working for the real estate firm of Charles G. Storie, which specialized in downtown Oakland business properties. Charles maintained ownership of the Corcoran Ranch until the early 1940s and added additional land investments to his portfolio during the 1920s and 1930s. He transferred all of his land investments from his personal ownership to his new corporation, the Corcoran Land and Farming Company in 1939. In 1948, Charles Frederick Fisk (along with Elmer von Glahn and Richard Harp) entered into a lease on the Penn Copper and Zine Mine in Calaveras County. He operated the mine as the New Penn Mines and the Penn Chemical Company.

Scope and Content of Collection

Early Fisk family papers, including correspondence and other papers of Charles Frederick Fisk's grandfather, Charles Fisk; materials on the Fisk ranch in Corcoran, California, including some files on bee-keeping and goat farming; a small number of files on the Corcoran Land and Farming Company; files relating to Charles Frederick Fisk's ranch land investments and prospective investments; materials relating to Fisk's work as a salesman for the Oakland real estate firm of Charles G. Storie; some files on oil and gas leases negotiated by Fisk in the San Joaquin Valley Kings; files on a range of mines and prospective mining properties, mostly in the California Mother Lode and in the Nevada Comstock Lode; and material documenting the operations of the New Penn Mines and Penn Chemical Company in Calaveras County.

carton 1, folder 1-42, oversize-folder 10

Family papers, 1863-1928 Series 1

Scope and Content Note

Mostly correspondence and papers of Charles Fisk (1814-1893) dating from 1863 to 1893, but also a small amount of correspondence of Mary Eaton Fisk, Effie Fisk, Frank Willard Fisk, and Fred Fisk. These early papers also include deeds dating from 1863 to 1928 mostly for properties in Silver Mountain City and Murphys, California; mining stock certificates; Calaveras County tax reciepts from 1864 to 1878; billheads from the 1860s through the 1880s; promisory notes and contracts; estate documents; inventories of the contents of the Fisk Hotel in Silver Mountain City and a lease documenting the rental of the Fisk Hotel property to Joseph McClay and John Fearn in 1876; and a document appointing Charles Fisk a trustee of the Franklin School District in Alpine County, California in 1864.
carton 1, folder 43-56, carton 2, folder 1-7

Fisk Ranch (Corcoran, California), 1916-1939 Series 2

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence and other files documenting the operations of Charles Frederick Fisk's ranch in Corcoran, Kings County, California. Includes general correspondence as well as special files of correspondence on Fisk's ventures in goat farming and bee keeping. Also includes files on Sorgo planting and the operation of the ranch's wells.
carton 2, folder 8-13

Corcoran Land and Farming Company, circa 1938-1941 Series 3

Scope and Content Note

Legal correspondence, incorporation papers, stock certificates, and general correspondence.
carton 2-3, folder 14-49, 1-46, oversize-folder 7-9

Ranch Real Estate and Investments, circa 1934-1945 Series 4

List of Oversize Property Maps, mostly circa 1920-1950

  • Assorted Madera County (OS folder 7)
  • Elk Grove, California (OS folder 7)
  • Atwell Island Tract (OS folder 7)
  • Natomas Consolidated of California (OS folder 7)
  • Vasco Ranch (leasholds) (OS folder 7)
  • Lands of Chamberlain Carr Company, Kings County, California, 1907 (OS folder 8)
  • Ranches owned by C. W. Clarke, San Luis Obispo, California (OS folder 8)
  • MacDonough Ranch, Contra Costa County (OS folder 8)
  • Victoria Island (OS folder 8)
  • Delta Country showing route of Borden Highway, 1926 (OS folder 8)
  • Thornton Orchard Farms, Sacramento and San Joaquin Counties (OS folder 8)
  • Recreational Map of the Delta Region (OS folder 8)
  • Empire Water System canal plan (OS folder 8)
  • Properties of Sutter Basin Corporation (Sutter County) (OS folder 8)
  • Pleasanton lands not under option, 1928 (OS folder 8)
  • Heinlen Ranch, 1931 (OS folder 8)
  • Ranch of G.W. Stretter, Sutter Basin (OS folder 8)
  • Sacramento Valley and Delta Region showing reclamation districts (OS folder 8)
  • Map of Chowchilla Water District, 1952 (OS folder 9)
  • Tentative Road Map of Merced County, 1954 (OS folder 9)
  • Chowchilla/Madera plat of ranch properties (OS folder 9)
  • Ownership Map for Charles Frederick Fisk, 1955 (Merced/Madera border) (OS folder 9)
  • Map of Miller and Lux, Inc. San Joaquin Valley Lands in Stanislaus, Merced, Madera and Fresno Counties(OS folder 9)
  • Ranches in Santa Clara County (OS folder 9)
  • Lands of William Dunphy Estate, Central Nevada, 1911 (OS folder 9)
  • Map of the Carmel Cattle Company Land, Kern County, California, 1915 (OS folder 9)
  • Rancho Las-Yeaguas, 1917 (OS folder 9)
  • Plat map of the Devil's Den Area, Kern County, California, 1938 (OS folder 9)
  • Properties of Vallecito Coalition Mining Company/Butte Mining Company/Butte Development Corporation/Amador Mining Company, 1929 (OS folder 9)
  • Plat of the Consolidated Reclamation District Number 812 (OS folder 9)
  • Map of La Hacienda Company Property, Kings County, 1918 (OS folder 9)

Scope and Content Note

Files on Charles Frederick Fisk's ranch real estate investments and prospects, mostly in the Tulare Lake area of California. Includes files on individual properties as well on lists of ranch and farm properties for sale. Files might include correspondence as well as deeds and other agreements relating to the sale and leasing of Fisk's ranch properties.
oversize-folder 9

Map of Miller and Lux, Inc. San Joaquin Valley Lands in Stanislaus, Merced, Madera and Fresno Counties. circa 1920-1950 BANC MSS 70/110 c

Additional Note

This material was selectively digitized from a larger resource or collection.
carton 3-4, folder 47-62, 1-3, oversize-folder 10

Charles G. Storie Company, circa 1926-1937 Series 5

Scope and Content Note

Files from Charles Frederick Fisk's years as a real estate agent with Charles G. Storie Company. Mostly files on Downtown Oakland commercial properties in the late 1920s and early 1930s, including the Ray Building, the Tapscott Building, the Pacific Building, the Hebern Building, the Lakeside Building, the Kahn Hotel, and the Drive-In Market building.
Plat maps of Oakland (area around Broadway) (OS folder 10)
carton 4, folder 4-29

Oil and Gas Leases, circa 1935-1956 Series 6

Scope and Content Note

Mostly oil and gas leases and accompanying correspondence for Charles Frederick Fisk's properties in Kings County, California.
carton 4-6, folder 30-58, 1-16, oversize-folder 1-5

Mines and Mining Properties and Prospects, circa 1910-1966 Series 7

List of Oversize Mine Maps and Plans, mostly circa 1920-1945

  • Sunnyside Mining Company, Idaho (OS Folder 1)
  • Thunder Mountain District, Idaho (OS Folder 1)
  • Comstock: Brunswick and Flowery Loads, Nevada, 1923 (OS Folder 1)
  • Comstock and Gold Hill United Mines Company (OS Folder 1)
  • Arizona Comstock Corps Properties, Virginia City, Nevada (OS Folder 1)
  • Map of the Comstock Lode by E.R. Lovewell (1911) (OS Folder 1)
  • Geological Map of the Comstock Lode by E.R. Lovewell (OS Folder 1)
  • Como Mining District, Lyon County, Nevada (OS Folder 2)
  • Assay Map of Ginaca Mine, Mariposa County, California (OS Folder 2)
  • State Mining Bureau Map of Tuolumne County (OS Folder 2)
  • Map of the Mother Lode of California showing production to date of main Mother Lode mines, circa 1926 (OS Folder 2)
  • Washington and Jenny Lind Mine (OS Folder 2)
  • Virginia Mine, Coulterville, California (OS Folder 2)
  • Eureka Quartz Mine (OS Folder 3)
  • Josephine, Thorn and Doss, Mariposa County (OS Folder 3)
  • Eagle-Shawmut Mine (OS Folder 3)
  • Carson Hill Gold Mines, Calaveras County (OS Folder 3)
  • Morgan-Melones Mine (OS Folder 3)
  • State Mining Bureau Map of Calaveras County (OS Folder 3)
  • Ten Miles of the Mother Lode, Amador County (OS Folder 3)
  • Zeila Mine, Jackson, California (OS Folder 4)
  • Plymouth Consolidated Mines (OS Folder 4)
  • Hines and Gilbert (El Dorado County, California) (OS Folder 4)
  • Keystone Mine (Amador County) (OS Folder 4)
  • Vendalia Mine, El Dorado County, California (OS Folder 4)
  • Newton Mine, Amador County, California (OS Folder 5)
  • Geologic Map of the Grayhouse Area, Amador County (OS Folder 5)
  • Utica Mine, Angels Camp, California (OS Folder 5)
  • Lacine Gold Mine, Nevada County (OS Folder 5)
  • California Division of Mines Map of Northern California showing placer mining areas, 1932 (OS Folder 5)
  • Mother Lode between Altaville and Melones (OS Folder 5)
  • Calaveras County, California: The Heart of the Mother Lode (Calaveras County Chamber of Commerce) (OS Folder 5)
  • Droege Mine, Green Mountain Mining District, Plumas County (OS Folder 5)
  • Properties of Vallecito Coalition Mining Company/Butte Mining Company/Butte Development Corporation/Amador Mining Company, 1929 (OS folder 5)
  • Gold Mines Located and Described by Charles V. Averill, 1933 (OS folder 5)
  • Mogul and Monitor Mining Districts, Alpine County, California (OS folder 5)

Scope and Content Note

Files on mines, mining properties and prospects, and mining companies, mostly in the California Mother Lode region, but also, to some extent, in Nevada and in Siskyou County, California. Includes files on individual mines as well as on mining subjects. Files generally date from the late 1920s to 1955.
carton 6-10, folder 17-42, 1, oversize-folder 6

New Penn Mine and Penn Chemical Company, circa 1948-1959 Series 8

Scope and Content Note

Files relating to Charles Frederick Fisk's New Penn Mine and Penn Chemical Company near Murphys, California. Materials include production reports, assay reports, correspondence, equipment orders and information, financial records, incorporation records, and some administrative files.
Oversize maps and plans of the New Penn Mine are in OS folder 6
carton 10, folder 2-19

Assorted Financial Records and Miscellaneous, circa 1930-1950 Series 9