British Investments and the American Mining Frontier, 1860-1901 : Evolution of International Business, 1800-1945 (The Rise of International Business) [Library Binding]

Clark C. Spence (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415190096 | ISBN-13: 978-0415190091 | Publication Date: April 2000 | Edition: 1

Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for the University of Idaho Press

This significant study offers information on the British investors who brought capital to America's mining industry in the late nineteenth century. The author devotes primary attention to the promotional activities that led to the organization and operation of more than 500 English joint venture stock companies between 1860 and 1901.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Clark C. Spence is Professional Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author or Mining Engineers and the American West: The Lace Boot Brigade, 1849-1933.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 288 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415190096
• ISBN-13: 978-0415190091
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,714,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome Back for a Classic, July 19, 2006

By 

D. Michael Dunning "Professor Mike" (Woodinville, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: British Investments and the American Mining Frontier, 1860-1901 (Paperback)

It's good to welcome back this classic of U.S. mining history. Clark C. Spence's British Investments and the American Mining Frontier, 1860-1901 has been the starting place for looking at foreign investment in American mining ever since its publication in 1958, when it won the American Historical Association's distinguished Beveridge Award.

In order to progress, American mining in the West needed lots and lots of development capital. Local capitalists in the states and territories provided some of the initial upfront capital. Gold Rush enriched San Francisco stepped into the breach, but increasingly ever more capital was needed. Mining promoters turned to the East and to Europe, particularly Britain, for funding.

Bill Robbins' Colony & Empire: The Capitalist Transformation of the American West provides a good discussion of this evolution in funding resources as he explores his theme of the capitalization and globalization of the West. And this is where Spence comes in, examining the promotional efforts to engage British capital, as well as the problems associated with distant and foreign investment. Amidst the general discussion, he particularly focuses on the Emma Silver Mining Company, Ltd., in Utah as a case study. Ironically, while British capital played a key role in developing the American mining industry during these years, very few of the 500+ British companies involved made any money.

W. Turrentine Jackson's recently reissued classic Treasure Hill: Portrait of a Silver Camp, which is also wonderful to have back in print, provides further illustration of the role and problems of British investment, in this instance the Eberhardt & Aurora Mining company in the White Pines Mining District in Nevada. Jeremy Mouat's Roaring Days: Rossland's Mines & the History of British Columbia is also enlightening since it offers a comparison with British investment across the border from Washington and Idaho in British Columbia.

Spences's British Investments in the American Mining Frontier, 1860-1901 is essential to understanding the history of American mining history, as is his more recent Mining Engineers & the American West: The Lace-Boot Brigade, 1849-1933, which has also been republished by the University of Idaho Press. Now the Mining History Association offers the Clark C. Spence Award for the best book published on American mining history.