Talk:Congress Mine

Untitled
I was surprised to find, in adding links to other articles, that there was no information for the Congress Mine in Arizona. The Congress Mine played a very important role in the early days of Arizona and was one of the main driving forces for the North South Railroad being built (officially called the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway). This railroad is still an important transportation artery for Phoenix, Arizona over a hundred years later (now part of the BNSF Railway system and it still passes through Congress, Arizona). Mining was what really developed Arizona and quite possibly the main reason Arizona is a separate state instead of being included in one of the surrounding states (as was often propossed). The mineral wealth of the Arizona Territory gave it the clout to remain independent and the Congress Mine was one of the most important mines in Arizona history. Tomfassett (talk) 14:00, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Behind the scenes of the Congress Mine
There was so much information I ran across which related to activities or principles (owners and managers) of the Congress Mine that I left out for fear of overloading the article with minutiae. A lot of this pertains to the railroad that served the mine as well as the local mine railroad owned by the mine, and the political maneuverings of the mine's owners either on its behalf or by using the mine for gains beyond the minerals it produced. To interested parties I would assume that this is the proper place for such related information, not in the main article (or it would become the size of a book which very few would want to read). As I run across references in my notes I'll try to add them here, especially if they are speculative as then others could either discuss or refute the information with their own references. If nobody shows any interest, I'll just add them for my own pleasure... ;- ) Tomfassett (talk) 14:14, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Formatting changes
Thanks to NortyNort for doing a great job of cleaning up my messy formatting of the main page. The information was condenced from hundreds of notes hastily added to unrelated research and I had stuff pigeon holed all over the place. ;- ) Tomfassett (talk) 13:25, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Why so many references for such a short article?
In case anyone cares, while researching information for inclusions in the history of the Congress Mine I came across numerous contradictions. This was common in early newspapers as they were often apt to make a front page headline story out of rumors passed on to them by just about anyone on the street. One example is the proponderance of news stories about the sale of the Congress Mine to Senator Warner Miller of New York. Judging by what I read in the newspapers of the time, this all happened in the middle of a big political battle (relating to the governorship and the fight for statehood) going on between politically aligned newspapers around Arizona. At the time, most if not all newspapers in the Territory were either owned or controlled by prominent members of the two competing political parties (the Democrarts and Republicans). If one published a story that looked favorable to their side, the competition would search high and low for any little scrap to refute or at least discredit it. In this environment rumors often became just as good as "the real thing." Because of this I usually looked for reports that were published in newpapers controlled by both sides and then closely monitored the following days to see if anyone published a report to the contrary. If there wasn't an "uproar" about it, or if it continued to be reported unchanged in succeeding articles, I figured that gave it more of a chance of being the truth. This is why there are numerous references attached to some of the more critical points (especially if I found references to the same information in other newspapers some years apart).

Tomfassett (talk) 13:51, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Arizona Territorial Governor Nathan Oakes Murphy's relationship to the Congress Mine
Arizona Territorial Governor Nathan Oakes Murphy was the brother of Frank Morrill Murphy, the man reported to have brokered the sale of the mine from its early developers to Joseph "Diamond Joe" Reynolds, as well as a later owner of the mine and builder of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway. I found fleeting references that stated Oakes Murphy had a stake in the mine as early as when he was still the territorial governor. After the Frank Murphy-E. B. Gage syndicate bought the mine from Diamond Joe's widow, there were numerous reports that Oakes Murphy acted in one capacity or another as a principle in the company that owned the mine. These were sporadic reports and I was never able to cross-confirm them with other references. One short article (ranting about a complaint by a competing newspaper) defended the "rumor" that the governor received over one hundred thousand dollars for his help in using his position as governor to bring about the sale of the mine to an out of state company. Today this would create an uproar--back then it was "business as usual." Obviously it was not strickly forbidden by law or the governor would have been charged with a crime. He was removed as the territorial governor by Teddy Roosevelt (territories did not have the same rights as states) around the time of the sale but this was widely reported to be from a disagreement on fundamental political views and there was never any mention about his association with the mine. Unless I discover more I will assume this to be the case. Tomfassett (talk) 14:36, 3 April 2011 (UTC)