North Cananea Consolidated Mining Co.

Product Details

Nicely engraved antique stock certificate from the North Cananea Consolidated Mining Co. dating back to the 1930's. This document, which has been signed by the company President and Secretary, was printed by Goes, and measures approximately 11" (w) by 8 1/2" (h).

This certificate's vignette features an eternal flame.

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Historical Context

The North Cananea Consolidated Mining Company was incorporated in Arizona, with operations in Cananea, Sonora.

The company had a couple of claims that produced silver-ore that contained values of copper, but the company never became commercially viable.

The first non-indigenous inhabitants of the present day Cananea, arrived in 1760 from other parts of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial México). Jesuit priests discovered gold and silver, and opened mines using the indigenous peoples for labor. In the 19th century General Ignacio Pesqueira, from nearby Arizpe, retired to Cananea. He fought against the Apache who raided the area. One time, while following them into the mountains, he discovered the abandoned Spanish mines and by 1868 he had renewed the extraction of minerals in the Cananea mines.

General Pesqueira's wife, Elena Pesqueira Pesqueira, "discovered" a nearby mountain range (Sierra) and the General named the highest peak La Elenita ("The Little Helen", 9,327 feet above sea level) in her honor. The other peak is named La Mariquita ("The Little Mary", 8,123 feet above sea level).

In 1889 William Cornell Greene purchased the mine from General Pesqueira and founded the Nogales, Sonora-based company, The Cananea Consolidated Copper Company, S. A. (CCCC or 4C). In June 1906, a labor dispute erupted into the violent cross-border Cananea strike, that resulted in the death of 23 people and dozens injured, in a fight between the strikers and a posse led by Arizona Rangers from the United States. A corrido titled La cárcel de Cananea ("Cananea jail") written in 1917 and commemorating the incident has since become famous. At the time of the strike the population of 23,000 included 7,000 Americans and 5,000 Chinese.

On October 31, 1901, the area became a municipality with Cananea town as its seat. On July 11, 1957, Cananea town became a city.