Information Sheet

 

 

R         Blow & Kennett Mining Company.

369                  Record book, 1858‑1861.

                                    One volume.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are records of lead shipped by Blow & Kennett from Granby in Newton County, Mis­souri, to points on the Osage and Missouri rivers, and to stations on the Pacific Railroad and the South West Branch of the Pacific Railroad.  The records include the names of teamsters and to­tals of lead received by forwarding agents and on hand at Granby.

 

The Blow & Kennett Mining Company was the largest concern oper­ating in the min­eral district of southwestern Missouri before the Civil War.  The company was formed by Pe­ter E. Blow and F. B. Kennett to operate mines and smelters on lands leased from the Atlantic and Pa­cific Railroad.  Their holdings centered on grounds which became the site of Granby.  Blow & Kennett operated six Scotch hearth smelters in which they handled the product of their own mines as well as ore purchased from smaller operators.  By 1861, the company had refined thirty‑five million pounds of lead.  The Civil War seriously curtailed production, al­though both sides used lead from the region.  F. B. Kennett left the business in 1865, after which it was re­or­ganized by Peter E. Blow and others as the Granby Mining Company.

 

The record book for shipments by Blow & Kennett is a printed, ledger‑size volume.  The pages bear the printed heading “Lead, shipped by Blow & Kennett, from Granby, Newton Co., Mo.”  There are columns on each page for the date of the shipment, the teamster by whom the lead was shipped, advance payments to drivers, and the amount of lead, in “pigs” de­livered to freight and shipping agents at Jefferson City, Linn Creek, and Boonville.

 

The cover and beginning pages are missing from the volume.  The earliest entry extant is 22 April 1858.  The last entry was made on 22 January 1861.  Beginning in July 1858, additional shipping points are noted.  They include Warsaw, California, Syracuse, and Tipton in 1858, Springfield, Osceola, Greenfield, and Little York in 1859, and James­town (St. James), Dillon, and Rolla in 1860.  There were also occa­sional shipments to Kansas City, and Van Buren, Ark.  Running totals were kept for the amount of lead shipped to each point.  The latter part of the vol­ume lists receipts for lead received by freight and forwarding agents.  Among those han­dling Blow & Kennett’s lead were McClurg, Murphy & Company at Linn Creek, Orrick Brewster & Company at Boonville, William E. Trett & Company at Warsaw, and Cloney, Crawford & Com­pany at Jefferson City.  Shipments on the Pacific and South West Branch railroad lines are noted under the names of the freight agents.  Some sales of lead are also noted in the last section of the volume.  Customers included the St. Louis Shot Tower Com­pany, The City of St. Louis, Waters & Fox, R. Conkling & Company, and the Collier Com­pany.

 

 

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