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Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company. Records, 1898-1918
MANUSCRIPT Boxes 2289-2310
Collection Overview

Title:

Records, 1898-1918
Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company records, 1898-1918

Creator/Contributor:

Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company, creator

Creator/Contributor:

Burcham, R. L. (Rose L.), 1857-1944

Creator/Contributor:

Singleton, John, 1847-1914

Creator/Contributor:

Czarra, Conrad.

Creator/Contributor:

Wier, Charles.

Creator/Contributor:

Rand Mercantile Company

Creator/Contributor:

Thiel Detective Agency

Abstract:

The Yellow Aster records are organized into the following series: LEGAL (bulk 1895-1918): Corporate, Property, Legal actions--Yellow Aster vs. O. B. Stanton (1898), Yellow Aster vs. Crane Company (1904). FINANCIAL (1898-1915): Accounting, Debits, Credits, Correspondence--R. L. Burcham to C. W. Crusoe; Yellow Aster and Conrad "Con Man" Czarra. PERSONNEL (1903-1918): Job Applications, Reports and invoices of the Thiel Detective Agency, 1903-1907. (From mid-1903 to May 1918, the Miner's Union was on strike against the Yellow Aster. Investigators from the Thiel Detective Agency were placed among the miners to determine union membership and discover potential labor disruptions.)
PRODUCTION (bulk 1917): Daily Time Reports, Shift Boss Drill and Timberman Reports, Shift Boss Labor Reports, Main Magazine Powder Reports, etc. CORRESPONDENCE (1902-1916): Outgoing (copies bound into books), most addressed to the Yellow Aster office in Los Angeles, Incoming (bulk 1902), Miscellaneous (1933 - 1934). EPHEMERA. REALIA. OTHER COMPANIES: Records from companies associated with the Yellow Aster or its principals: Rand Mercantile Company, the Randsburg Water Company, the Rand Mountain Mining Company and California Rand Silver.

Date:

1898 (issued)

Contents:

2289-2291. Legal. -- 2292-2296. Financial. -- 2297-2299. Personnel. -- 2300. Production. -- 2301-2305. Correspondence. -- 2306. Ephemera. -- 2307-2308. Realia. -- 2309-2310. Other companies.

Subject:

n-us-ca
Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company -- Records and correspondence
Rand Mercantile Company -- Records and correspondence
Thiel Detective Agency -- Records and correspondence
Gold mines and mining -- California -- Randsburg
Randsburg (Calif.) -- History
Labor unions -- California -- Randsburg -- History
Strikes and lockouts -- California -- Randsburg -- History

Note:

The Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company evolved from mining claims located in April 1895 in the Rand (Olympus) Mountains of eastern Kern County, California. It originally operated as the Rand Mining Company but incorporated in Nevada on 16 November 1897 using the name of one of its principal claims, the Yellow Aster. Principals and directors were Charles Austin Burcham, Dr. Rose La Monte Burcham, Frederic M. Mooers, John Singleton, and John M. Miller. The original stockholders also included Edward L. Mooers (son), and Frances L. Mooers (wife).
By 1901 the company had constructed both a thirty stamp mill and a one hundred stamp mill, and developed two extensive water systems to operate those mills. The Yellow Aster soon became recognized as the major producer of gold in California. But its early days were also rife with litigation, and a miners strike from 1903-1918 was one of the longest in mining history. The Yellow Aster was also unique in that it was one of the few major mines to be retained and developed by the original locators; and that a woman, Dr. Burcham, was the driving force in its management.
The principals of the Yellow Aster also became involved in other local business interests, such as the Rand Mercantile Company. This "company store" served as the mine's purchasing agent and provided consumer goods for the miners. Other business interests included the Rand Development Company, the Randsburg Telephone Exchange, the Randsburg Water Company, and The Randsburg miner, the local newspaper. Due to these extensive business holdings, the principals of the Yellow Aster were prominent in the early history of Randsburg.
Apparently the high-grade ore was exhausted early, and its proceeds used to develop the mine, mills, and water system. The Company's fabled "wealth" then consisted of a large amount of low grade ore yet to be turned into profit. By World War I the use of the larger mill was discontinued due to rising operating costs and increasingly the remaining mining activity was conducted by leasees on a royalty basis. The corporate charter of the Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company was forfeited in 1934, but revived later that year, and the mine was subsequently operated by the Anglo American Mining Company. Operations ceased in the late 1930s. Currently the Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company remains a viable legal entity, and the mine is operated as a "open-pit" by the Glamis Gold Company.
Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company records, 1898-1918.
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.

Type:

Stock certificates.

Physical Description:

print
22 boxes (ca. 4250 items) : maps, plans

Language:

English

Identifier:

MANUSCRIPT Boxes 2289-2310

Origin:

California

Copyright Note:

Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.