Willoughby: Shareholders

My grandfather, after being selected to head the Midnight Mine, spent much of his time talking people into buying shares in the company. That went on for over a decade, as it took that long to complete the nearly two-mile tunnel to its intended target, a known ore body in Little Annie Basin. As the son of a Colorado gold-rush father, he was filled with the passion for finding elusive underground treasures.

While trained as a mining engineer, he followed the newest “rush,” the oil boom in Kansas at the beginning of the century. He lucked out with one profitable well. What he learned in the process was that there many in his generation with similar backgrounds, having parents who sought gold and silver in Colorado. So, when he began making the rounds to find investors, he knew whom to target. The following are some of the 1920s shareholders he enticed as evidenced by letters in my achieves.

Cose to Aspen was W.W. Frey in Basalt. Frey operated Frey’s Cash Store that sold dry goods, shoes, boats, notions, groceries and a new product, gasoline. In 1923, he was a major organizer to sell lettuce and cauliflower raised in the Frying Pan and Roaring Fork valleys. He was mayor of Basalt for some years and later was an Eagle County commissioner. The Midnight was not his only mining investment; he was one of the 70 shareholders, during that period, in the Hope Mine. In the letter sent to my grandfather, he sent $20.00 ($285 in today’s dollars). That was one payment for the 500 shares he was buying in installments.

Grandfather pressured his brother, who had taken over the family business in Denver — tin and galvanized iron works — and a cousin in Minneapolis.

Harold Long, the owner of Buss’ Service Station (and Dodge and Plymouth sales) in Glenwood, a rising business at that time, bought 100 shares.

He enticed a major shareholder, George Bowman, of Palisade. Bowman was one of several prospectors who came to the Aspen area in 1879 but leaving due to the possible threat of the Utes. He started the irrigation system in Palisade, owned a peach orchard, and was a founding member of Palisades National Bank. He was a director of the Midnight for many years, and his son continued on as a director after his death. In Bowman’s 1926 letter, he noted that he had, a year earlier, bought $100 in shares and agreed to buy $200 more. He also said if the company needed more capital, then he could provide more. “I will do it, of course this is on account of faith in the project and in you to do it.”

L.A. Townsend of Grand Junction responded to a request for more money in 1923 with $12.50 and the intention of sending in more because, “I notice the silver and lead market are both looking encouraging.”  Townsend was the traveling superintendent for the Mutual Creamery Company, a chain with headquarters in Salt Lake City. He spent time traveling all over the Western Slope. In 1926, the Plateau Voice reported he was interested in a bentonite mine south of Grand Junction. At that time, it was being used for “waterless soap,” and he was intending to start up that business. He, unexpectedly, died the following year.

A Mr. Calkins, after a letter requesting more funding, sent in $95.50 for 400 shares. He ran a business in Thermopolis, Wyoming, called Rothrocks that sold Victrolas and Victor Records. It also featured the Gulbansen player-piano, “easy to play, nationally priced.” Gulbansen player-pianos from that period today are selling for around $25,000.

Glen Elhart of Cedaredge bought $200 in shares in 1923. He was the owner of Cedaredge Hardware Company that sold farming equipment and was an International Harvester dealer for tractors. In WWI, he was in the medical corp. In 1925, he and four others from Cedaredge were inspecting a claim they bought near Red Cliff reporting, “some good ore is in sight.”