Approx. 49 leaves, retained carbons of manuscript orders on printed forms from the Superintendent's Office at the mine. 35x21 cm (13¾x8¼"), modern leather-backed marbled boards.
Fascinating and revealing record of monthly supply orders for on of the historic gold mines in California, one of the deepest mines in the Mother Lode. The orders begin on February 27th, 1899, and continue to October, 1900, with many of the orders being multiple leaves. The needed supplies range from blasting caps and tanks of quicksilver to hammer handles and scoop shovels.
The Kennedy Gold Mine in Jackson, California is named for Andrew Kennedy, an Irish immigrant, who reportedly discovered a quartz outcropping in the late 1850s near what is now State Route 49. The Kennedy Mining Company was formed in 1860 when he and three partners began digging shafts near today's mine property entrance. The mine operated sporadically until it closed in 1878. In 1886 fifteen people invested $97,600 to reopen the mine under the corporate entity of the Kennedy Mining and Milling Company.
In 1898 the company began sinking a new shaft 1,950 feet east of the original shafts. This East Shaft would eventually reach a vertical depth of 5,912 feet (1,792 m), the deepest vertical depth gold mine in North America at the time. The company operated the mine until 1942 when the U.S. Government closed gold mines because of the war effort. It has since been re-opened as a tourist attraction.