Page 10 - HMC 125 Year Book Narrative_042816.indd

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Patsy Clark
On October 14, 1891, Patsy Clark, Amasa Campbell,
and John Finch formed Hecla Mining Company to acquire and trade mining claims in North Idaho’s newly discovered Silver Valley. The company’s longevity is no accident. We believe our strategy is what’s behind our enduring success. Because, for a company to last long enough to celebrate its centenary – let alone make it to 125 – it must be doing something right.
The company’s next hundred years will be marked by a series of successes as well as challenges. But one thing remains constant: persistence in the face of sometimes overwhelming odds.
Hecla’s founders took a gamble in capitalizing their nascent mining company with half a million dollars:
In those early years, it certainly wasn’t apparent that
the Silver Valley would become a major mining district
– producing 1.2 billion ounces of silver by the turn of
the 21st century – or that Hecla would enjoy a long and fruitful history in the same district where it got its start. But within three months of its founding, the company’s stock nearly doubled. And before the first decade was over, it had paid its first dividends – just as Campbell had predicted. Hecla, founded as steam power was giving way to electricity and mule teams were being replaced by mechanized equipment, was hitting its stride as it embraced the rapid changes of the time. And then, on July 13, 1923 (a Friday) fire swept through the town
of Burke, Idaho, destroying the Hecla mine buildings, damaging the hoist, and laying waste to the Burke business district – as well as 50 homes. Hecla was out of
commission nearly six months. The company rose from the ashes, built a new, fireproof plant twice as large as the old one, and began hoisting ore again on January 27, 1924. As if that weren’t enough, workers completed an 8,203- foot crosscut from the bottom of the Hecla Shaft to the 4000 level of the Star mine. It was the longest tunnel in the world at the time, and it was done in 32 months.
By the 1930s, Hecla had become involved in its first
real silver venture, having acquired the Polaris mine
at the start of the decade. The Great Depression,
though, wreaked havoc on everyone. In 1932, operating profits throughout the Coeur d’Alene Mining District plummeted to around 10 percent of what they were
just two years earlier. Hecla emerged from the decade battered and bruised, with nearly 20 percent of its profits going to state and federal taxes, and thousands of tons of lead and zinc left unsold.
Amasa Campbell
John Finch
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THE COMPANY’S NEXT HUNDRED YEARS WILL BE MARKED BY A SERIES OF SUCCESSES AS WELL AS CHALLENGES. BUT ONE THING REMAINS CONSTANT: PERSISTENCE IN THE FACE OF SOMETIMES OVERWHELMING ODDS.