Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
American Smelting & Refining Company. Tacoma Smelter records
mssTacomarecords
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: American Smelting & Refining Company. Tacoma Smelter records
Dates: 1915-1928
Collection Number: mssTacomarecords
Creatorr:
American Smelting and Refining Company. Tacoma Smelter
Extent:
75 items in 1 box
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection of photographs and retention letters deals with the Tacoma Smelter in Ruston, Washington,
that when finally closed in 1985, was one of the largest Superfund sites in America.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information,
please go to following
web site .
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item], Tacoma Smelting Plant and American Smelting & Refinery records, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Purchased from Ken Sanders Rare Books, January 2015.
The American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) plant located in Tacoma, Washington was originally the Ryan Smelter, a
lead-refining company, established by Dennis Ryan in 1887. William R. Rust (1850-1928) purchased the site in 1889 and changed
the name to the Tacoma Smelting and Refining Company. In 1905, Rust sold the plant for $5.5 million to ASARCO, which converted
the lead-refining plant to copper smelting and refining. The Tacoma smelter also produced arsenic trioxide, sulfuric acid
and precious metals throughout most of the 20th century.
The ASARCO Tacoma plant was declared a Superfund site in 1983 and was demolished on January 17, 1993.
There are 46 8"x10" black and white photographs (three are duplicates) of the expansion of the plant and the construction
of the smokestack. All of the photos but two are identified and date between1915 to 1917.
The retention copies primarily consist of correspondence between H.Y. Walter, who was the manager of the Tacoma plant, and
Edgar L. Newhouse, Jr., who was a mining magnate in Salt Lake City, Utah. The subject matter concerns business operations
including negotiating rates and offering quotes to the White Caps Mining Company. The dates of the correspondence range from
1907 to 1928 (bulk 1919-1923).
Walker, H.Y.
Newhouse, Edgar L., Jr.
American Smelting and Refining Company. Tacoma Smelter
Boston Consolidated Mining Company
Hedley Gold Mining Company
Tacoma Smelting Company
White Caps Mining Company
Arsenic
Copper
Electrometallurgy
Metallurgical plants--Design and construction
Mines and mineral resources--Washington (State)
Smelting
Smelting furnaces
Tacoma (Wash.)--History
Correspondence (letters)
Photographs