The Hecla Mining Company traces its history to the date this stock certificate was issued : October 14 , 1891 .
Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture as World War I created an increase in demand for the metal . Things were good in the Coeur d ’ Alene , and the company ’ s dividends were up .
Then , in July 1923 , a fire swept through the town of Burke , Idaho , destroying the Hecla mine buildings and laying waste to the town ’ s business district . Six months later , the company was back in business with a new , “ fireproof ” plant that was double the size of the old plant . According to John Fahey in Hecla : A Century of Western Mining , after lengthy court battles , Hecla worked with its sister company , Bunker Hill , to carve and timber “ an eight-by-nine foot passage , wide enough for electric trains with spurs for passing ” to the Star mine . Upon its completion 32 months later , the 8,203-foot crosscut became the longest tunnel in the world . It cost the company $ 531,887 .
The 1930s wreaked havoc on — and created opportunity for — Hecla and the rest of the Coeur d ’ Alene District . During the Great Depression , operating profits in the district crashed to 10 % of what they had been . However , with McCarthy still at the helm , Hecla entered into a venture with the Polaris mine , enabling its entry into the Idaho “ Silver Belt .”
By 1934 , the Newmont Mining Corporation got involved in the Silver Belt in a venture with Hecla and the Polaris mine . Although Newmont and Hecla ’ s relationship had begun in 1925 with a failed venture in the Minnie More mine , Hecla ’ s directors welcomed Newmont as a working partner — a collaboration that lasted nearly 50 years .
In 1940 , McCarthy died and Eugene Hanley took over running the company . During World War II , mining did not boom as it did during World War I , largely because no mining company could hire enough men to work the mines during the war . In 1944 , the original Hecla mine south of Burke bottomed out at 3,600 feet , after producing nine million tons of ore in the span of 40 years . The following year , Hecla- Polaris crews began driving the Silver Summit shaft at what was a record speed of 160 feet per month . In just over 11 months , they reached a depth of 1,596 feet . In 1946 , Hecla went on a buying spree , acquiring 131 claims with options on other mines .
Hanley retired in 1951 , and accountant Les Randall assumed the helm of Hecla . By then , many mining interests in the district , including Hecla , had invested in other mining companies and diversified into other businesses . In one such case , Hecla invested approximately $ 490,000 to explore the old Coeur d ’ Alene and Rainbow mines in the Silver Belt , but the venture was a bust . Its forays into other industries had mixed results , taking resources away from its primary mining business .
Randall ’ s main focus became finding a new mine , and in 1954 Hecla acquired
34 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Winter 2017 | www . MoAF . org