Montezuma Copper Mining Company of Santa Fé, New Mexico facts for kids

The Montezuma Copper Mining Company was a business started in 1861 in the New Mexico Territory. Its main goal was to dig for valuable metals like copper, gold, and silver, as well as coal. They planned to do this in several counties: Santa Ana, Santa Fé, San Miguel, and Rio Arriba.

Company History

The Montezuma Copper Mining Company was officially formed on January 26, 1861. This happened just before the start of the American Civil War. Many important people from the New Mexico Territory were involved in starting the company. Some of the first members included Oliver P. Hovey, Anastacio Sandoval, and Ceran St. Vrain. The company began with a starting value of $500,000.

Some of the people involved, like the Spiegelberg brothers, were also interested in other mining companies. It's believed that their interest in copper mining might have led them to acquire a large piece of land called the San Marcos Pueblo grant. They likely knew about reports from people like William F. M. Arny, who traveled through the area and reported on the minerals he found. Indian agents, like Arny, often helped promote mining projects in New Mexico.

In 1863, Richard Jenkins, who was the chief engineer for the company, published a report about their work. By 1864, the company's value had grown to $1,500,000. At that time, Ephraim Marsh was the President, and Richard Jenkins continued as the Chief Engineer.

How the Company Was Formed

The company was created by a special law passed by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature on January 26, 1861. This law, called "An Act to Incorporate the Montezuma Copper Mining Company," set out all the rules for how the company would operate.

Here are some of the main things the law allowed the company to do:

• Own Land and Mine: The company could buy, rent, or use land in the counties of Santa Ana, Santa Fé, San Miguel, and Rio Arriba. On these lands, they could mine for copper, lead, gold, silver, tin, iron, or coal. They could also sell or trade what they found.
• Capital Stock: The company started with a capital stock of $500,000, divided into 5,000 shares, each worth $100. The law also allowed them to increase this to $1,500,000, or 15,000 shares.
• Meetings and Voting: The first meeting for the company's owners (called stockholders) was held in Santa Fé in January 1861. At these meetings, each stockholder got one vote for every share of stock they owned. For a meeting to make decisions, at least half of the total shares needed to be represented by stockholders present.
• Selling Stock for Unpaid Fees: If a stockholder didn't pay money they owed to the company (called an assessment), the company could sell their shares to cover the debt.
• Building Roads: The company was allowed to build roads to and from its mines. They could build these roads on their own land, or on public lands, but they needed permission to build on land owned by other people or companies. If they built a road on public land that was later bought by someone else, the company still had the right to use that road.
• Timeline to Organize: The law stated that if the company didn't officially organize and start operating by December 31, 1862, it would lose all the special rights and powers given to it by the law.

This law helped the Montezuma Copper Mining Company get started and laid out the rules for its mining operations in New Mexico.