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45-737: Simeon Reed bought the Bunker Hill Mine and Mill , and incorporated the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Company on 29 July 1887. John Hays Hammond was hired to manage the mine, and a new concentrator, The Old South Mill, became operational in 1891, capable of 150 tons per day. Hammond became president on 2 July 1891, followed by Nathaniel H. Harris on 15 June 1893, when company headquarters were located in San Francisco. William Henry Crocker , of Crocker National Bank , served as treasurer, in addition to being

90-490: A Pinkerton detective , and a nonunion worker. Protesting a 1 April 1892 wage cut, after a 1 Jan. 1892 lockout , the union men forced the closure of the Bunker Hill mine. Governor N.B. Willey declared martial law and the military moved in to restore order. The mine was operational again on 19 July 1892. The office of the mining inspector during the period 1893 to 1909 was occupied by men who were closely identified with

135-747: A hostile takeover bid. On 28 May 1968, Bunker Hill stockholders agreed to the merger ending Bunker Hill's 81 years as an independent company as Bunker Hill was replaced by Gulf Resources Corp. on the exchange. Bunker Hill reported financial losses of $ 4.563 million in 1970, $ 3.85 million in 1971, and $ 9.037 million in 1973. The company then recorded profits of $ 25.953 million in 1974, $ 6.912 million in 1975, and $ 6.037 million in 1977, before recording another loss of $ 9.037 million in 1977. The Bunker Hill mine and smelter complex closed in 1982, due to lower metal prices, and lower EPA limits for lead. Over 2000 people were then left unemployed. Simeon Reed Simeon Gannett Reed (April 23, 1830 – November 7, 1895)

180-524: A $ 250,000 mill of the Bunker Hill mine. The miners set off three thousand pounds of dynamite, destroying the mill. Two men were killed, one of them a non-union miner, the other a union man accidentally shot by other union miners. Fire also destroyed the company offices. Governor Frank Steunenberg declared martial law, and federal troops took over on 4 May 1899. Over 700 men were arrested, and three People's Party commissioners and sheriff, were impeached and removed from office. A new and more efficient mill

225-578: A bomb rigged to the side gate on 16th Avenue. Harry Orchard , a former miner from the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), was arrested in Caldwell shortly after for the assassination, and the investigation was conducted by Pinkerton agent James McParland . Orchard at first claimed innocence, but after solitary confinement and intense interrogation by McParland, Orchard signed a 64-page type-written confession detailing years of being

270-591: A brief oration at the funeral in Caldwell on January 2, 1906. A monument to Steunenberg was dedicated in December 1927 in Boise; the outdoor bronze statue faces the front steps of the Idaho State Capitol from across Jefferson Street. Its inscription is as follows: Frank Steunenberg Governor of Idaho 1897 – 1900 When in 1899 organized lawlessness challenged the power of Idaho, he upheld

315-581: A clerk for Ladd, and in 1859 he became a partner in the company, which was then known as Ladd, Reed, & Co. In May 1860, Reed, Jacob Kamm , and John C. Ainsworth founded the Oregon Steam Navigation Company , a conglomerate of several river shipping companies plying the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Reed held 128 shares in the company, which even during the economic depression of 1873 produced $ 300,000 in dividends. Reed

360-636: A newspaper in Knoxville until 1886, when he moved west and settled in Caldwell , Idaho Territory , where he joined his younger brother Albert K. Steunenberg (1863–1907) in taking over the Caldwell Tribune for six years. Steunenberg became active in politics as a member of the 1889 Idaho Constitutional Convention which led to Idaho's admission to the Union in 1890. In 1890, he was elected to

405-457: A paid assassin and dynamiter for the WFM. Orchard claimed he was hired to kill Steunenberg by leadership of the WFM, and he had been in previous jobs that resulted in at least 17 other deaths. Orchard said his orders for the killing of Steunenberg came from "Big Bill" Haywood , general secretary of the WFM, Charles Moyer , president of the WFM, and George Pettibone , a labor activist who had

450-704: A prior conviction related to an 1892 labor dispute in Coeur d'Alene . At McParland's urging, the three were arrested in Denver in February 1908, and hurriedly extradited to Idaho for trial. The nationally publicized trial took place in Boise over several months in mid-1907 and included new U.S. Senator William Borah for the prosecution and Clarence Darrow for the defense. On the witness stand, Orchard repeated his written confession, admitting to years of setting bombs for

495-588: A private academy, graduating when he was 13 years old. After working and training as an apprentice in several vocations, he married Amanda Woods at the age of 20, with the couple not having any children. Woods was 18 at the time and a distant cousin of John Quincy Adams . When he was 22, he collected supplies to sell in California and sailed there, setting up a store in a tent in Sacramento , while Amanda remained back east. Reed sold his goods and grain to

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540-606: A sewer system in 1913. They then paid for a YMCA baseball diamond and playground in 1916. During WWI , the company offered rent-free housing for dependents of employees serving in the military. Between 1915 and 1923, the Bunker Hill Co. paid an average annual dividend of about $ 1.5 million, about 50% of the initial capitalized stock of $ 3.2 million. The company built and operated its own lead smelter in Smelterville, Idaho , starting on 5 July 1917, but continued to use

585-691: A ten-hour shift, seven days a week. Years later Harry Orchard , who had assassinated former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg , claimed to have helped to light the dynamite charges at the Bunker Hill mill. However, two Coeur d'Alene residents testified that Orchard was with them in Mullan, Idaho playing poker when the mill was dynamited in Wardner. Orchard also admitted to bombing Bradley's home on 7 Nov. 1904, which left Bradley blind and deaf for two months and scarred his face and body. Idaho passed an 8-hour work day law in 1907, and in 1919, Bunker Hill agreed to

630-723: The ASARCO smelter in Tacoma until 1 February 1930. In 1920 the company gained a controlling interest in the Northwest Lead Co., which made lead plumbing supplies and white lead . The company then was able to mine, mill, smelt, refine, manufacture, and market lead. The company then constructed an electrolytic zinc plant after purchasing the Star Mine in Burke. Bunker Hill formed an equal partnership with Hecla Mining to develop

675-566: The Bunker Hill Company , and moved its headquarters into the Bunker Hill Building at 660 Market Street (San Francisco) . On 29 March 1955, John D. Bradley, Frederick's son, took over as company president. In 1956, the Bunker Hill Co. bought Northwest Lead Company and Associated Lead & Zinc, which became their chemical products division. After a 7-month strike, Northwest Metal Workers took over representation of

720-640: The Idaho House of Representatives as a fusion candidate, endorsed by both the Democratic and Populist Parties, and he served one term. In addition, he served for several years as chairman of the Caldwell town council. With labor union support, in 1896 Steunenberg was nominated as both the Democratic and Populist candidate for governor . He won the November election at age 35 (the youngest in

765-546: The fourth governor of the State of Idaho , serving from 1897 until 1901. He was assassinated in 1905 by one-time union member Harry Orchard , who was also a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association . Orchard attempted to implicate leaders of the radical Western Federation of Miners in the assassination. The labor leaders were found not guilty in two trials, but Orchard spent

810-532: The 1800 Bunker Hill workers in 1960, before becoming United Steelworkers of America Local No. 7854 in 1970. At that time, Bunker Hill employed about 2800 employees at its Kellogg complex. Corporate headquarters moved from San Francisco to Kellogg in 1962. On 26 July 1965, the company sold 1,590,000 shares in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange . That led Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp. to purchase Bunker Hill stock in

855-477: The 8-hour day with the Mine, Mill and Smeltermen's Union No. 18, which included travel to and from their work site within the mine. The Bunker Hill Co. employed a total of about 7000 people from 1902 to 1912, with about 460 men working the mine in 1915. In 1907 built a hospital, and a YMCA building that included a gymnasium, swimming pool and bowling alley. The company improved the water system in 1912, and constructed

900-653: The Bunker Hill Mining Company had paid more than $ 600,000 in dividends, and was considered profitable. Miners working in the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines were receiving fifty cents to a dollar less per day than other miners. The Bunker Hill Mining Company operated the only mines in the district that were not unionized, and the only mines that paid less than union scale of $ 3.50 per day. The Bunker Hill company employed Pinkerton labor spies to identify union members, who were immediately fired. The Western Federation of Miners launched an organizing drive at

945-460: The Bunker Hill Mining Company. After declaring that the company would rather "shut down and remain closed twenty years" than to recognize the union, Superintendent Albert Burch fired seventeen suspected union members. He demanded that all other union men collect their back pay and quit. On 29 April 1899, union miners hijacked a Northern Pacific train in Burke and drove it to Wardner , the site of

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990-587: The Star Ore and develop the zinc plant, calling the company the Sullivan Mining Company. The Star ore was accessed and mined from an almost 8000 foot tunnel from the lower workings of Hecla Mine. The tunnel was started in 1921, and the zinc plant was operational by October 1928, and used Dr. U.C. Tainton's process. The Tainton process used sulphuric acid to combine with the zinc, forming a sulphate solution, followed by electrolysis to remove

1035-488: The WFM. He was then cross-examined by defense lawyers for 26 hours, spread out over a week's time. In addition to Orchard, the prosecution presented 80 more witnesses to corroborate Orchard's description of numerous attacks. Darrow and the defense team called over 100 witnesses of their own. Closing arguments lasted two weeks, the most talked about of which was by Darrow. Modern commentators have praised Darrow's closing argument, which used powerful emotional rhetoric focused on

1080-725: The area where Reedville, Oregon now stands, with Reed as namesake. On November 7, 1895, Simeon Reed died while in California at his retirement home, "Carmelita" , in Pasadena . His estate, worth millions of dollars, was left to Amanda, with instructions to use it to assist in the cultural and intellectual development of Portland. Amanda died in 1904 without much progress towards Simeon's instructions. In 1908, Amanda's estate established Reed College in Portland. William M. Ladd (son of Reed's former partner William S. Ladd) provided

1125-666: The area. In April 1899, members of the Western Federation of Miners destroyed the company's mill at Wardner in the Silver Valley . In response, Steunenberg declared martial law and because the national guard was deployed to the Philippines due to the Spanish–American War of the preceding year, Steunenberg asked President William McKinley to send federal troops to quell the unrest . This action

1170-542: The company owned 107 houses, the land under another 188-220, and allowed employees to purchase them. In 1949, the company reached an agreement with the miner's union to provide dependent medical care in addition to a sickness and accident policy, with the company covering half the costs. In the 1950s, the company bought out the Hecla Mining Co.'s interest in the Sullivan Mining Co., changed its name to

1215-489: The company. During WWII , Bunker Hill added an antimony electrolytic plant, and because of the manpower shortage, employed about 200 women. In 1942, the miners were finally able to organize, voting to join the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers . After the war, the company built a boarding house capable of accommodating several hundred, 5 apartment houses, and 48 single family homes. By 1956,

1260-564: The construction of local churches, and started a loan program so employees could own their homes. Frederick Worthen Bradley, a college-educated engineer, became president in 1897 and remained so until 1933, when Stanley A. Easton took over. On 11 July 1892, violence erupted during a strike at two nearby mines, the Gem and the Frisco in Burke-Canyon , resulting in the deaths of 3 union members,

1305-422: The demand for steel he anticipated due to Villard's Northern Pacific railroad. But Reed's Oregon Iron and Steel Company at Oswego suffered a lack of investment and never started production of the steel rails Reed expected; Reed lost half a million dollars in the venture. Reed and Ladd also operated a hobby farm of more than 8,000-acre (32 km ), on which they raised livestock and held harness races, in

1350-711: The gold miners, but decided to relocate to what was then the Oregon Territory after a few trips there to purchase supplies. Late in 1852, Reed started a mercantile in Rainier, Oregon , along the Columbia River downstream from Portland . After a short time, he relocated to Portland and became friends with William S. Ladd , a local merchant. In 1854, Amanda sailed to San Francisco to reunite with Reed, and accompanied Caroline Ames Elliott, Ladd's sweetheart who he married in San Francisco. In 1855, Reed became

1395-404: The industry. A cave-in on 23 Feb. 1894, at the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mine took the lives of three men, shortly after the first state mining inspector took office in 1893. A coroner's jury investigated the incident and issued a report which stated, in part, We earnestly and emphatically call upon Mine Inspector Haskins to visit these mines immediately and demonstrate that he is willing to enforce

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1440-470: The lands on which the college stands today, and almost all of Reed's estate was passed on to the college, Reed having left no heirs. Simeon and Amanda Reed are buried near the family plot of Jacob Kamm in Portland's River View Cemetery . Reed Street, in Northwest Portland , is named for him. Frank Steunenberg Frank Steunenberg (August 8, 1861 – December 30, 1905) was

1485-462: The law if there should be any infraction thereof, and that he wears not the collar of any individual or corporation... The Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mine manager commented upon annual inspections of the enormous mining complex, declaring that the visits were "rather a perfunctory affair" which accomplished little. He argued that an employer would never run an unsafe mine because economic considerations prevented it. Bradley also wrote Harris, "In working

1530-486: The major stockholder. When the mining boom began in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho mining district, the area was lightly inhabited. The Bunker Hill and the Sullivan companies built a boarding house for miners in 1887. By 1894, the company employed 332 workers, and in the late 1890s, the company built single-family houses to attract family men. In 1900, the company opened a company-built Kellogg school building, contributed to

1575-561: The mine we are sure to kill a certain percentage of our men." Between March 1893 and Feb. 1894, 15 fatalities occurred at the mine, yet the mine continued to operate under the fellow-servant rule doctrine. A stronger inspection law was passed in 1909. Yet, between 1911 and 1912, there were 11 fatalities. Only with the passing of the Idaho State Workman's Compensation law, was indemnity determined for each injury or death, rather than settled by company benevolence. In 1899

1620-439: The moral superiority of the unions' position. However, contemporary reaction was universally negative. The Chicago Tribune called it "the most unseemly, abusive, inflammatory speech ever delivered in an American courtroom." Despite most observers' opinions that the verdict would be guilty, the jury returned an acquittal for Haywood in late July. Pettibone was defended in a separate trial by Judge Orrin N. Hilton of Denver and

1665-655: The rest of his life in prison. Born in Keokuk, Iowa , and raised in Knoxville , Steunenberg was the fourth of 10 children of Bernardus and Cornelia (Keppel) Steunenberg, with five brothers and four sisters. He attended Iowa State College at Ames and then went on to become a printer's apprentice and publisher. In 1881, he was hired by the Des Moines Register in Des Moines . Steunenberg later published

1710-560: The state of Delaware, the company set aside 300,00 shares of preferred stock for employees. Bunker Hill stock was listed on the New York Curb Exchange in 1926. By 1926, the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining Company was Idaho's largest employer. During the Great Depression , Bunker Hill kept production at pre-depression levels to keep its workers employed at the same wages, even if it meant an operating loss for

1755-531: The states history) and became the first non- Republican elected to that office and was re-elected to a second two-year term in 1898. Steunenberg served during a period of considerable labor unrest , particularly in the mining industry in northern Idaho . As a result, many corporations, fearing that Steunenberg's government would not support them if there was a strike , increased their wages for workers. The Bunker Hill Mining Company , however, hired only non-union labor and kept wages lower than unionized mines in

1800-603: The zinc. The product was called Bunker Hill 99.9 percent zinc. Tainton was paid a 10% royalty in return for Bunker Hill to have exclusive rights within the county. A cadmium recovery system was added to the zinc plant in 1929. In addition to the Star ore, Bunker Hill acquired zinc-lead-silver mines in the Pine Creek District, which they developed from an extension of the Kellogg tunnel. In 1924, while incorporating in

1845-557: Was also acquitted, and charges were dropped against Moyer. Orchard pleaded guilty and received a death sentence in a separate trial, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison. In 1952, at 86 years of age and 45 years after the Haywood trial, Orchard wrote in his autobiography that all of his confession and his trial testimony were true. He died in prison in 1954. At the request of the Steunenberg family, attorney Borah gave

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1890-643: Was also vice president of the firm. He built a mansion at First and Harrison streets in 1868, where the other wealthy residents were also constructing large homes. In April 1880, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company merged with the companies of Henry Villard and Ben Holladay to form the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company . This created a single transportation conglomerate encompassing river shipping, stagecoach , and railroad ventures. Reed focused his energy now on meeting

1935-590: Was an American businessman and entrepreneur in Oregon . A native of Massachusetts , he made a fortune primarily in the transportation sector in association with William S. Ladd . Reedville, Oregon , and Reed College in Portland, Oregon are named after Reed. Simeon Gannett Reed was born on April 23, 1830, in East Abington , Massachusetts . He was born into a wealthy family and received his education at

1980-502: Was in operation in 3 months, with a greater capacity. Additionally, miners were required to take an oath of non-union membership in order to get a permit to work. The eight-hour day had been a major issue for the Western Federation of Miners throughout the West. In 1900, after the Western Federation of Miners had been crushed in Coeur d'Alene, the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mine operated with

2025-402: Was seen as a betrayal by Steunenberg's union supporters. Martial law remained in place through the end of his term, and Steunenberg did not seek a third term in 1900. Nearly five years after he left office, Steunenberg was killed outside his house in Caldwell at 1602 Dearborn Street ( 43°39′27″N 116°40′56″W  /  43.6576°N 116.6823°W  / 43.6576; -116.6823 ) by

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