Inventory of the

LOUIS B. BENTLEY 
PAPERS

Manuscript Collection
Ms 14

Introduction

Bentley, Louis Boyer (1869-1955)										 
	Papers, 1926-1955													 Ca. 4 linear feet

	Assay records, blueprints, maps, correspondence, general store files, legal documents,
mining reports of the Organ Ore Company and other mining companies, stock certificates,
printed materials scrapbooks and photographs belonging to Louis Boyer Bentley, Organ,
New Mexico assayer, merchant and mine agent.
	Blaming mismanagement for the failure of various mining operations in the Organs,
Bentley and others started the Organ Ore Company, in the 1920s.  The company sought to
mill low grade ore in Organs, saving the cost of transportation for the raw ore.  Bentley
also acted as an agent for Eastern owners of mines in the Organ Mountains.

Access and Use

Open.  This material may be examined by researchers under supervised conditions in the
Search Room.

Copyright.  Consult RGHC staff.

Acquisition

A73-3		Gift of Herman Weisner, Jan. 1973
A73-36	Gift of Herman Weisner, June 1973
A75-95	Received from Dr. Thomas K. Todsen, Dec. 1975
A76-11	Loaned by Herman Weisner, Jan. 1976
A76-14	Loaned by Herman Weisner, Feb. 1976
A76-18	Gift of Herman Weisner, Feb. 1976

Related Materials

Herman B. Weisner Papers, Ms 249.  RGHC, New Mexico State University Library.

Processing

Merleen Dibert, assisted by Veronica Soto.  June 1980.

Biographical Sketch

	Louis Boyer Bentley was born in St. Louis, Missouri on October 28, 1869.  His father
was secretary of St. Louis Lead and Oil Company.  In 1874, the family moved to
Hastings, Michigan, where the senior Bentley went into the lumber business with his
brother.  Bentley attended school until 1887, when his father died and he moved with his
mother to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  There, Bentley secured a job with an electric
construction company.  In 1891, Bentley returned to Hastings and organized the Hastings
Electric Light and Power Company.  Bentley married two years later.

	Disposing of his interest in the Electric Light Company in 1899, Bentley moved to
Chicago where he worked for a year in a chemical laboratory.  After quitting that, he
returned briefly to Hustings and then headed to Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek,
Colorado.  Disliking the Colorado climate, Bentley  and a friend headed for Prescott,
Arizona.  On the way to Prescott, the pair met C.B. Rogers, Superintendent of the Torpedo
and Modoc Mines in New Mexico's Organ Mountains.
	
	Rogers offered both men jobs and Bentley became an assayer, bookkeeper, foreman
and general handy man for the mines.  Bentley eventually took over the commissary and
boarding house, as well as serving as Postmaster.  When work shut down at the Modoc,
he started a store in Organ.  In 1909, he began his Custom Assay Office.  Bentley also
served as a Deputy Sheriff for the small mountain community.  During the 1920's he
helped create the Organ Ore Company, to mill low grade ore still plentiful in the Organ
Mountains.
Scope and Content Note
	The Louis B. Bentley papers reflect the various activities of the Organ merchant and
mine agent.  One series contains the records of Bentley's assay office, and another series
includes blueprints and maps.  Most of the blueprints are tracings for the Organ Ore Co.
and a large portion of the maps are geological drawings of the New Jersey Zinc Exploration
Co.  Correspondence dates from 1906-1955, but is fragmentary, excepting three letterpress
books covering the periods 1906-1916.  A principal correspondent of Bentley's was Gen.
Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody, President of the Aztec Mining Company. Bentley acted
as a mine agent on DunwoodyÕs behalf.  Since most of Bentley's career was spent in the
store business, the General Store File series contains bills and receipts, checks, circulars,
correspondence, daybooks, a records book entitled "Dead Beats," and xerox copies of
store licenses.  There are few legal documents in the collection, but an interesting legal item
is a copy of a court case in which Bentley sued the state of New Mexico for taking over
land he had patented.
	
	The Organ Ore Co. and other mining reports segments contains information on mining
in the Organ Mountains.  Most of the reports concern the potential profits that could be
made from mining the area's natural resources.  Besides such promotional literature, the
reports also contain geological data and maps.  Nearly all the items in the series are from
the periods when the Organ Ore Co. was established to take advantage of low grade ore
still unmined in the Organs.
	
	Besides Bentley's personal involvement in Organ mining, he was interested in the 
general science of mines.  The collection also contains mining catalogs, a copy of United
States Mining Laws and other booklets that deal with mining.  In three large scrapbooks,
Bentley saved articles on mining that he thought were useful or might provide valuable
reference information.

Description of Series
Container 		Series

1-2				Assay Records, 1909-49								  	     (10 folders)
					  Contains records of metal ores assayed in Bentley's assay office in 
					Organ.  Also includes an inventory of mineral specimen.  Arranged
					chronologically.

2-3				Correspondence, 1906-55									 (5 folders)
					  Includes letters from Gen. H. H. C. Dunwoody and three 
					letterpress books. Arranged chronologically.

3					General Store Files, 1884-1943								 (8 folders)
					  Contains bills and receipts, bill file, checks, circulars, 
					correspondence, daybook, "Dead Beats" book and xerox copies 
					of store licenses.  Arranged alphabetically by subject.

4					Legal Documents, 1906-24								 	  (1 folder)
					  Arranged chronologically.

4-5				Organ Ore Co. and Other Mining Reports, 1907-1957	     (12 folders)
					  Includes reports from both federal and state Bureaus of Mines, 
					Lead, Zinc, and Copper Deposits of the Organ District, NM,  New 
					Jersey Zinc Exploration Co. maps, Report of Investigation 
					of Property and Plans of Organ Ore Company, Report of 
					Investigation of Property and Plans of Organ Ore Company,
					Report on the Magnetic Survey of the Organ Mountain Mining 
					District, Report on Organ Ore Company and the Torpedo Mine 
					of Organ, NM, stock certificate books and Torpedo Copper Silver 
					Mines' Report and Smelting Returns.  Arranged alphabetically 
by title.




Container			Series

5					Printed Materials, 1909-22								 	 (7 folders)
					  Includes booklets and catalogs.  Arranged alphabetically by title.

6-8				Scrapbooks, ca. 1905-ca. 1945							 	 (3 folders)
					  Contains scrapbooks of mining articles.  
				
Map Case			Blueprints and Maps, 1901-48								 (2 folders)
					  Contains blueprint tracings created for Organ Ore Co. and
					maps, including geological maps, created by the New Jersey Zinc
					Exploration Co.  Unarranged.

6-14				Photographs, 





























Container List


Box/Folder	Contents																   Items

Assay Records, 1909-49

1/1			October 20, 1907-March 16, 1909										    1
1/2			January 12, 1910-February 16,1912										    1
1/3			February 20, 1912-ca. December 31,1914								    1
1/4			January 1, 1915-December 21, 1917										    1
1/5			December 23, 1917-July 15, 1918										    1
1/6			July 15, 1918-December 24, 1925										    1
1/7			January 1, 1926-December 31, 1933										    1
1/8			January 3, 1934-July  6, 1940											    1

2/1			July 6, 1904-February 22, 1949											    1
2/2			"Inventory of Mineral Specimens in the Organ Assay Office,"
				  October 12, 1944														    1

Correspondence, 1906-55

2/3			General, 1910-1955														  44
2/4			Dunwoody, H. H. C.1912-1922											  60
2/5			Letterpress copybook, ca. 1906-ca. 1927									    1

3/1			Letterpress copybook, December 1908-1912							    1
3/2			Letterpress copybook, January 1912-January 1916						    1

General Store Files, 1884-1943

3/3			Bills and Receipts, 1906-14, 1943										  16
3/4			Bill File, 1884-88															    1





General Store Files, 1884-1943 (Continued)

Box/Folder	Contents															           Items

3/5			Checks, 1912-1927														    3
3/6			Circulars, ca. 1913-21, 1950												  17
3/7			Correspondence, 1909-25, 1934-39										  12
3/8			Daybook, 1907
				Journal, 1919-1922														    2

4/1			"Dead Beats," ca. 1903-ca. 1919											    1
4/2			Licenses, 1904-15, 1927-33, 1939										    4

Legal File Documents, 1906-24

4/3			General, 1906-24														  	     8

Organ Ore Company and Other Mining Reports

4/4			Bureau of Mines Reports, 1932, 1946, 1951								      3
4/5			Lead, Zinc, and Copper Deposits of the Organ District, New 
				  Mexico, n.d.																      3
4/6			New Jersey Zinc Exploration maps, 1947-49							    13
4/7			Reports from Other Companies, 1912, 1919-20, n.d.					    14
4/8			Report of Investigation of Property and Plans of Organ Ore
				  Company, Organ, NM, 1927, Organ Ore Co. brochures,
				  stockholder's reports, shipment and sales lists, 1907, 1917, 1920, n.d.	   
13
4/9			Report on the Magnetic Survey of the Organ Mountain Mining
				  District, Do–a Ana County, NM by E. J. Longyear Co., Minneapolis, 	 			  	 
Minnesota, 1947											   				      1
4/10			Examination of the Little Buck Mining Claim, 1947, claim map, 
				  1957																		    	5

5/1			Report on Organ Ore Company and the Torpedo Mine of Organ,	
				  New Mexico, 1921														    	1
5/2			Report on Organ Ore Company and the Torpedo Mine of Organ,
				  New Mexico, supplement, n.d.												1
5/3			Report on Organ Ore Company and the Torpedo Mine of
				  Organ, New Mexico, n.d., Investigation of the Torpedo Copper 			 			  	 
Deposit, Organ Mining District, Dona Ana, NM, 1951, loose 
				  papers, 1920, 1936, 1953, n.d.								 			    6
5/4			Stock Certificate Books, July 1919-December 1931						    2

Organ Ore Company and Other Mining Reports (Continued)

Box/Folder	Contents																    Items

5/5			Torpedo Copper Silver Mines:  Report and Smelting Returns,
				  n.d.																		    3

Printed Materials, 1909-22

5/6			Address of Francis P. Garvan, September 7, 1921						    	1
5/7			Catalog of Scientific and Technical Books, 1914 edition				    	1
5/8			Constitution of the State of New Mexico, 1914							    	1
5/9			Mineral Collections, August 1906										    	1
5/10			Plough's Black and White Birthday and Dream Book, undated			    	1
5/11			Results of Spirit Leveling In Florida, 1912								    	1
5/12			U. S. Mining Laws, 1909													    	1

Scrapbooks, ca. 1905-36

6/1			Clippings, ca. 1909-36													    27
6/2			"A,"  ca. 1905-ca. 1936													    	2

7/1			"B,"  ca. 1909-ca. 1945													    	1

8/1			"C,"  ca. 1909-1944														    	1

Blueprints and Maps, 1901-48

Map Case		Blueprint Tracings, 1901-48											    	    30
Map Case		Maps, 1919-48															    10

Photographs,

9/1			MINES	
				    Bader, Hachita, N. Mex., n.d.												8
9/2			    Bennett-Stephenson, Organ Mts., N. Mex., ca. 1914, n.d.			    16
9/3			    Copper Bar, Organ Mts., N. Mex., n.d.								    16
				    Dunwoody, H. H. C., properties of, Organ Mts., N. Mex., n.d.		    11
9/4			    Excelsior, Organ Mts., N. Mex., n.d.										5
9/5			    Henry Heuer, Organ Mts., N. Mex., n.d. 									1
9/6			    Leadville and unknown mine, Black Range, N. Mex, n.d.				2
9/7			    Little Buck, Organ Mts., N. Mex., n.d.									6

Photographs,      (Continued)

Box/Folder	Contents																     Items

9/8			MINES
				    Memphis, Organ Mts., N. Mex., n.d.										6
9/9			    Merrimac, Organ Mts., N. Mex., n.d.										2
9/10			    Modoc, Organ Mts., N. Mex., 1902, n.d.								    28
9/11			    Santa Rita and unknown mines, Silver City, N. Mex., 1911, n.d.			5
9/12			    Torpedo, Organ Mts., N. Mex., 1920-25, n.d.							    39
9/13			    Miscellaneous, ca. 1903, n.d.										  	    55

10/1			ORGAN, NEW MEXICO
				    Bentley compound and store, ca. 1902, 1932, n.d.					    23
				    Bentley family, 1900-02, 1908, 1916, 132, n.d.						    31
				    Residents, ca. 1888, 1902, 1910, 1927, n.d.							    79
				    Residences and scenery, ca. 1905, n.d.								    27

11/1			ORGAN MOUNTAINS, NEW MEXICO
				    La Cueva, 1907, n.d.													    16
				    Mines   see Container 9, Mines
				    Miners, n.d.															    21
				    Oil well and refinery, n.d.													3
				    Ranches and ranching, 1910, n.d.										    23 				   
Scenery and scenic views, n.d.											    39
				    Soledad Canyon, n.d.														4
				    Van Patten ranch and resort, Dripping Springs, n.d.					    11

12/1			MISCELLANEOUS			
				    Arizona, n.d.															    26
				    Burro Mts., N. Mex, n.d.													4
			   	    Hillsboro, N. Mex., n.d.													2
				    Rio Grande Valley, southern N. Mex., 1916, n.d.						    17 				   
Roadbuilding and contruction, southern N. Mex., n.d.				    23 				    San
Andreas Mts., Tularosa Valley and White Sands, N.Mex., n.d.	    21
				    South Dakota, 1880-88, n.d.												8 	


					

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