Title: Spring Valley Iron and Ore Company Records
Inclusive Dates: 1902-1934

Creator:

• Spring Valley Iron and Ore Company (Pierce County, Wis.)

Call Number: River Falls Mss BI

Quantity: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)

Repository:

Housed at the University Archives and Area Research Center, Chalmer Davee Library, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, ; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-River Falls, Chalmer Davee Library / River Falls Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Records of the Spring Valley Iron and Ore Company, an iron mining and manufacturing firm in Pierce County, Wisconsin, including correspondence between owner Frederick H. Foote and manager Charles Brown, financial records, and miscellaneous legal documents concerning land sales and a legal suit.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-rf00bi

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By 1902 the Spring Valley Iron and Ore Company in Pierce County was a successful operation involved in mining iron ore, manufacturing pig iron, and selling iron ore and scrap and pig iron. At that date the owner of the company was Frederick H. Foote, an absentee who rarely returned to Spring Valley, but travelled extensively, especially in Florida and New York State. However, he conscientiously kept informed of the company's affairs and made all its major decisions. His son William Henry Foote managed the company for him from 1907 to 1908, when Charles Brown replaced him in these responsibilities. After Foote's death in 1924, his son William Henry, acting as executor, kept Brown as manager and left most company decisions to his discretion. Apparently, William, his sister, and his brother's heirs, all equal inheritors, sold the company in the mid or late 1930's.

The company records have been the main source for this history, but they include no information before 1902 or after 1934.

The records of the Spring Valley Iron and Ore Company, 1902-1934, include correspondence, financial records, and miscellaneous legal documents.

The correspondence consists mainly of Frederick H. Foote's directions to his manager and of his requests for information about costs, supplies, and the physical plant in Spring Valley. There are also some incoming and outgoing letters of his children and Charles Brown concerning company affairs. Incidentally included in this correspondence is information on three generations of the Foote family; on local, state, and national politics; on weather conditions in Wisconsin, Florida, and New York State; on state and national regulation of business and attempts to collect meaningful statistics on current business conditions; and on economic conditions in Wisconsin and the nation generally, especially before World War I and from 1924 to 1934.

The financial records from 1904 to 1910 document the company's weekly expenses and receipts in bank statements and a bank book, journal entries, shipping records with attached contract abstracts, and weekly sales sheets. Two documents indicate the amount of taxes the company paid from 1910 to 1921 and in 1931.

The legal documents include a copy of Frederick H. Foote's will, documents relating to several land sales in the Spring Valley area, and a packet of documents concerning a 1500 dollar settlement for personal damage the company had to pay to a man injured on company property.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Everett Brown, Spring Valley, Wisconsin, February 9, 1972. Accession Number: M72-75

Processing Information

Processed by Eleanor Niermann, October 16, 1972.

	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	1907, June 20-1912, Dec. 27
Box   1 Folder   2	1913, Feb. 2-1919, Dec. 16
Box   1 Folder   4	1920, May 23-1929, June 24
Box   1 Folder   3	1930, Jan. 16-1934, Oct. 5
	Financial Records
Box   1 Folder   5	Bank Statements and Bank Book, 1908-1919; 1933-1934
	Journal entries
Box   1 Folder   6	1904, Nov. 7-1906, Dec. 29
Box   1 Folder   7	1907, Jan. 19-1915, Oct. 19
	Shipping Records and contract abstracts
Box   1 Folder   8	1905, Sept. 27; 1906, April 17-Dec. 13
Box   1 Folder   9	1907, Jan. 8-1911, Jan. 21
Box   1 Folder   10	Taxes, 1910-1921; 1931, Nov. 9
Box   1 Folder   11	Weekly Sales Sheets, 1907-1908
Box   1 Folder   12	Legal Documents, 1902, May 31-1924, Dec. 29