Elgin Bryce Holt
Elgin Bryce Holt (September 4, 1873 – October 6, 1945) was an American geologist, mine owner and engineer, amateur scientist, anthropologist and entrepreneur who reorganized and managed the Cerro de Plata Mining Company in Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico. Biography Holt was born in Harrison, Arkansas, the sixth of Lydia Elizabeth (née Ryan) and "Judge" Isham Right Holt's eight children. In 1879, the family moved to a homestead raising cattle along the San Francisco river near Alma, New Mexico. In 1892, the family moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, allowing the four youngest children to attend the New Mexico Agricultural College. Very successful in mining silver in Mexico, he was known as the "Silver King of Sonora". A member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the American Association of Engineers, Holt died in Los Angeles, California and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Education In 1897, Holt was a member of the fourth graduating class of the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now New Mexico State University) having completed the Mining Engineering course. He earned degrees in Geology and Mineralogy. His senior thesis was entitled "The Potassium Cyanide Method of the Determination of Copper". During his senior year Holt was manager of the college football team and editor-in-chief of the New Mexico Collegian in 1897, the college student newspaper. Early career In 1903, Holt and a former classmate W. C. Mossman, left for the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, to join Zach Mulhall's Congress of Rough Riders and Ropers in the show's "broncho riding act". Holt began his career renting his father's cattle business, working the family herd with his brother Isham for six years. During that time, Holt completed a post-graduate course in assaying. Holt's older brother Ernest had a number of mining interests in Sonora, Mexico but was killed in 1900 by a revolver that was said to have fallen from his cot and exploded. Holt sold his cattle and traveled to Sonora, Mexico in 1902 to investigate his brother's mining holdings, which had passed to the Yaqui Gold Company. After serving as Deputy Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona in 1903 and 1904, Holt traveled to Santa Ana, Sonora, Mexico in June, 1905. Mining career In 1909 Holt and his brother Walter formed the Holt Bros. Mining Engineers company in Magdalena. They also operated an assay office in the same location, allowing them to hear about developments in the mining regions of Sonora. The brothers prospected for themselves. They made a rich strike of silver at the Compania mine west of Noria Station. The three inch vein of ore was said to be 30% silver. They also managed mining operations at a number of area mines, including the Sierra Prieta copper mine in Magdalena. In 1909 Holt also served as superintendent and general manager of the Cabrillo Mining company, located 30 miles west of Estacion Llano in Sonora, Mexico. Holt had "discovered and taken charge" of the property in 1907. He ran a