The Colorado Grand Cañon Mining and Improvement Company, 1891.

ArchivalResource

McCormick, James Andrew, 1852-. The Colorado Grand Cañon Mining and Improvement Company, 1891.

The Colorado Grand Cañon Mining and Improvement Company, 1891.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50930616

Sometime before the death of James Andrew McCormick in 1945, he wrote down his recollections of the 1891 expedition The Best Expedition, named after its leader, James S. Best, intended to stake mining claims along the Colorado River and in the Grand Canyon, especially at the site of the purported ledge of silver. However, the expedition lost one of their two boats in Cataract Canyon, Utah and gave up the river part of the expedition at Lee's Ferry, Arizona before entering the Grand Canyon. The expedition to the Grand Canyon was completed on horseback and ended in failure when after arriving at the mouth of Bright Angel Creek from the North Rim, it was discovered that the ledge of silver was mica and schist. After this failure and embarrassment, there was a conspiracy of silence from most expedition members and details of what actually happened were never made public. James Andrew McCormick wanted to set the record straight about what happened on the Best Expedition and wrote this manuscript of his recollections. He included 20 photographs he had taken on subsequent trips down the Colorado River, as he did not have the original photographs from the Best Expedition. Most of the manuscript concerns the Best Expedition, but he did include in the last seven pages, some musings and speculations on geology of the Grand Canyon region.

.25 linear ft.

Colorado School of Mines, Arthur Lakes Library