Elmer E. Cole

Born:

December 21, 1863, in West Milan, New Hampshire

• Mother: Emily Lydia Phipps (b. October 17, 1841 in Milan, NH; d. November 18 1885 in Milan, NH)

  • Grandfather: James M. Phipps (b. September 3, 1816 in Chatham, NH; d. May 3 1885 in Milan, NH)

  • Grandmother: Lydia G Wheeler (b. 1820 in Shelburne, NH; d. December 7 1889 in Milan, NH)

• Father: Lewis Hutchinson Cole (b. ~1839, New Hampshire; d. July 12, 1902 in San Diego, CA)

  • Grandfather: Simon Cole (b. September 2, 1813 in Stark, NH; d. February 21, 1882 in Portland, ME)

  • Grandmother: Sally Fogg (b. January 28, 1817 in Ossipee, NH; d. August 8, 1904 in Berlin, NH)

Marriage:

1. Laura Jan Mayhew

   • Born: Debruary 22, 1868 in Cincinnati, Ohio

     • Father: David Mayhew (b. ~ 1837)

     • Mother: Kate Mayhew (b. ~1843)

   • Married: November 9, 1892 in Hennepin, Minnesota

   • Children:

     • Lloyd E. Cole (b. September 15, 1893 in Minneapolis, MN; d. March 20, 1937 in Riverside County, CA)

     • Harold Lester Cole (b. September 30, 1895 in Minneapolis, MN; d. September 1979 in Los Angeles, CA)

   • Died: August 24, 1962 in Los Angeles, CA

Business:

• Office: California Bank Building #215 (1901-1904)

• Office: 317 South Broadway (Homer Laughlin Building #514) (1904-)

Personal Real Estate Transactions:

• 636 Rampart Street, purchased ~June 14, 1902 (LAT, 6/15/02, Pt. II, p. 1)

  • From: Hawley Hardware Company

  • What: 50x125 ft. lot with ten-room dwelling, "as an investment."

  • Related transaction: purchases "part lot 12, block 5, Wilshire boulevard tract" for $10 from Hawley, ~September 11, 1902 (LADT, 9/12/23, p. 10)

  • Note: later social reporting says "Mr. and Mrs. Elmer E. Cole of Minneapolis, Minn. . . . are living there. They will be welcome acquisitions to local society." - Los Angeles Express, September 24, 1902

• 680 Rampart Street

  • Listed as home address, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 1906 (Part II, Page 6)

Real Estate:

• (in the week before) March 18, 1906:

  • Purchasers 1,300 acres in Athens for approx. $270,000

  • "This property lies along Western avenue between the Huntington-Redondo lines. It is understood that it is the intention of the new owners to place the land on the market in smaller tracts in the near future." (LAT, 3/18/06, Pt. V, p. 1)

• (in the days before) April 25, 1906:

  • Sells 1,535.5 acre tract south of Playa Del Rey for $250,000 (LAT, 4/25/06, Pt. II, p. 5

Business:

Imperial Consolidated Oil Company

• Incorporated ~ January 31, 1900 (LAT, 2/1/00, p. 12)

  • Directors: Clinton Johnson, Elmer E. Cole, F.M. Hook, J.M. Brown and W.G. Rifenburg

• Cole resigns as Secretary ~September 7, 1900 (L.A. Evening Express, 9/7/00, p. 2)

Crown Petroleum Company of Los Angeles

• Incorporated ~November 30, 1900 (L.A. Evening Express, 12/1/00, p. 3)

  • Directors: Jas. G. Williams, Elmer E. Cole, B.A. Adams, L.G. Williams and L.M. Cole

  • Capital stock: $500,000; $100 subscribed

Pioneer Mining and Milling Company

• Incorporated ~November 12, 1902 (L.A. Evening Post-Record, 11/13/02, p. 3)

  • Directors: Elmer E. Cole, Geo. G. Lawrence, C.P.B. Bartlett, Arthur L. Hawes and Charles A. Hughes.

  • Capital stock: $500,000; $100 subscribed

Jefferson Mining and Milling Company

• Incorporated ~November 17, 1902 (LADT, 11/18/02, Pt. II, p. 2)

  • Directors: Elmer E. Cole, Geo. G. Lawrence, C.P.B. Bartlett, Arthur L. Hawes and Charles A. Hughes.

  • Capital stock: $500,000; $120 subscribed

Westlake Mining Company

• Incorporated ~October 11, 1904 (Los Angeles Evening Post Record, Octover 12, 1904, page 2)

  • Directors: Valentine Peyton, Elmer E. Cole, Arthur L. Hawes, Russ Avery and Geo. G. Lawrence

    • Capital stock: $200,000; $166,700 subscribed

The New York mine

• Los Angeles Daily Times, August 12, 1905 (Part II, page 10:

  • "NEW YORK MOUNTAIN MINES

The owner of the New York mine, in the mountain range of that name, located in San Bernardino county, have issued bonds to the amount of $60,000 to carry on development. The mine has been operated for several year, and has several hundred feet of tunnel and drifts, and is equipped with tramways throughout. It is said to have made a number of shipment of ore, with good returns. The chief 
owners of the mine are the Doakes of Riverside.

Elmer C. Cole and associates of this city have located a claim a short distance from the New York property, about three miles from Manvel, and about the same distance from Leastalk, the junction of the Sante Fe and Salt Lake railroads. The outcroppings are said to be from four to twenty feet in width, and ore runs from $20 to $40 a ton. This is at or near the surface, work having just commenced, and it is impossible as yet to say what will be found at depth. The owners say they are confident: that they are not organizing any company, and have no intention of doing so; that they have not even given the property a name, but they are going ahead with their development with their own capital.

'Our property is as yet only a prospect, and we do not call it in any sense a mine, ' said Mr. Cole yesterday. 'We have only gone in a few feet so far, and what is further in remains to be seen, but we are very well satisfied with what we have found to date. There is every indication of good ore in large bodies. An interesting point is the similarity of the ore in the district with that of the Bullfrog. There are many Bullfrog men now in the New York Mountains, and they all note the resemblance and comment upon it, but there is one advantage that we have over the Nevada district, and that is that the ore is here right on the surface. Many say they have never seen any place where it shows up better.

'The country around Leastalk and the New York Mountains is beginning to attract a great deal of attention, and many prospectors are coming in all the time. Where the cool fall weather begins I feel certain that there will be a tremendous rush to the district of men who hitherto have had their attention on points in Nevada and other sections.

'There are a number of new claims being taken up all the time in this region, many by men known here. The entire district is so directly tributary to Los Angeles that its development means much to the city."

• Cole lists "a group of claims near Leastock" that appear similar to those discussed above in a classified ad in the Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1907 (Part IV, Page 12)
  
  

AS STOCKBROKER

• Cole advertises as a stockbroker throughout 1902-1904 at the California Back Building address.

• In 1904, Los Angeles attempted to control the stock broker market, with a crackdown on what were called "bucket shops" (unauthorized brokerages). A city ordinance went into effect on June 11, 1904 prohibiting certain types of brokerages Amongst those who "kicked the bucket" was Cole, according to the Los Angeles Times (June 12, 1904, Part II, p. 1)

  • However, the very next day, the paper issued a correction (of sorts):

    • "Not a Bucket Shop. The name of Elmer E. Cole . . . should not have been included in the list of bucket shops which have 'kicked the bucket.' Mr. Cole has removed his office to the Laughlin Building, but never did a blackboard business." (June 13, 1904, Page 14)

  • Further corrections were made in the Times (June 14, 1904, p.2)

Mount Washington Company

• Incorporated ~March 27, 1906 (LAT, 3/28/06, Pt. II, p. 5)

  • Directors: Robert and Joseph E. Marsh, Elmer E. Cole, John Howze, John H. Purdy, Samuel G. Wood and Arthur L. Hawes.

  • Capital Stock: $225,000; $700 subscribed

• Purchase 568 acres of land in "Riverside Heights" in the first days of April 1906 for an amount between $350,000 and $425,000.

  • From: Charles Stimson

  • Through: Robert Marsh & Co. (who would act as agents)

• Week of June 4, 1906: Cole sells the land of Mt. Washington to the Mount Washington Company, for $423,000 (LAT, 6/10/22, Pt. V, p. 1). The land was sold for Cole by Robert Marsh & Co. to the corporation.

The Berkshire Oil and Land Company

• Incorporation: unknown

  • "The company is capitalized for $1,200,000. Among the owners are W. Oates, W. H. Dean, Col Seebert and Mr. Cole." - Los Angeles Times, August 5, 1908 (Part II, Page 11).

  • From the Los Angeles Times, August 5, 1908 (Part II, Page 11):

    • "On Mount Washington. [The company[ is placing a rig on the 260 acres purchased some time since from Elmer Cole at the northwest base of Mount Washington, just outside of the city limits, to drill the first well at once. The location is virgin territory, just back of Highland Park and between that section of the city and Glendale, four city blocks distant from the Los Angeles River, where the Southern Pacific, Santa Fé and Salt Lake tracks run. The Eagle Rock cars of the Los Angeles Railway skirt the tract 400 feet from the derrick's site. Surface signs, such as seepage and rock, lead experts to believe that oil is there."

Civic:

Commerce:

• Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce

  • Elected to membership, ~February 12, 1902 (LADT, 2/13/02, p. 10

• Los Angeles Stock Exchange

  • Member, listed January 6, 1904 (LA Times of the same day, Page 12)

• Automobile Club of Southern California:

  • Chairman, Membership Committee, 1904 (LAT, June 10, 1904, Front Page)

  • Received after purchase a Stodard-Dayton car, purchased through J.T. Bill & Company

Politics:

• Republic City Convention delegate, Precinct 27 (LADT, 10/22/02, Pt. II, p. 1)