North Butte Mining Company Stock Certificate Poste Poster

A fascinating collectible: A 1907 stock certificate issued by the North Butte Mining Company. Read its history below. This poster would look great on any home or office wall, especially for someone connected to, or interested in, mining, banking, Wall Street, or scripophily (collecting old stock certificates). The North Butte Mining Company, in Butte, Montana, was incorporated under Minnesota law on April 1, 1905. The first year the mines produced over 30 million pounds of copper worth $5 million and paid dividends of $1 million, an almost unheard of amount for a new mining company. Production hit a peak in 1909 with 33 million pounds of copper and dividends of $1.6 million. By 1911 the investors' $6 million investment in stock had been paid off. In 1915 the company suffered the first of two major disasters. On October 19, 1915, a portion of a shipment of dynamite was ignited accidentally on the surface next to the Granite Mountain shaft, killing 15 miners. On June 9, 1917 a spark ignited a fire at the 2300 foot level of the Granite Mountain shaft. Smoke from the fire quickly spread throughout the mine and approximately 160 miners lost their lives. Because of the joint operation of the Granite Mountain and Speculator mines, the disaster has always been known as the Speculator fire. Although the company quickly repaired the damage to the Granite Mountain shaft, production never returned to pre-fire levels.