page_title: Isaac T. Stoddard
section_title: Arizona mining
hierarchical_section_title: Isaac T. Stoddard / Arizona mining
caption_attribution_description: English: Issac Taft Stoddard, circa 1900, in Stoddard, Arizona
context_page_description: Isaac Taft Stoddard was an American businessman. Born in the State of New York, he started in the insurance industry there and in Connecticut before turning his attention to copper mining in the Arizona Territory. He owned either personally or with investors several mines in Yavapai County, built the first smelter in that part of the state, and secured the investment of over $1,000,000 in the mines to increase production. Another business venture was assisting out-of-territory corporations in incorporating in the territory. He served as the twelfth Secretary of the Arizona Territory from 1902 to 1904, but was forced to resign amid criticism over conflict between this business and his position as Secretary. He continued in mining and incorporating, and later became president of a telephone and telegraph company.
context_section_description: Around 1879, Stoddard began to develop a series of business interests in Arizona Territory.  These interests would grow to include two groups of patented mines and the first copper smelter in Central or Northern Arizona. One operation was the Copper Mountain Mine, whose claim he owned along with his uncle, M. S. Taft. Stoddard organized the Copper Mountain Mining Co. in 1882 to work the mine, primarily with investors from Hartford. Taft oversaw the day-to-day operations in Arizona, until he resigned in 1883, leaving Stoddard in charge. The mine was located near the Agua Fria River, which provided a sufficient water supply for operating the mine and smelter. Another mine was operated by the Stoddard Copper Company.
  Stoddard resigned from the insurance firm in 1884 and lived seasonally in both Arizona and New York City. In 1892 he moved permanently to the company town of Stoddard, Arizona Territory.
  The smelter, built in 1882 and the first in Yavapai County, was initially built with a 30-ton water jacket and was later enlarged to 50 tons. Stoddard financed development of the mining operations by securing investments from people in his native New York, including U.S. Senator Thomas C. Platt. The smelter was built based on surface deposits that were not profitable and saw little use in its first twenty years. $350,000 was spent developing the Copper Mountain Mine for mining of copper ore extracted through excavation and tunneling.  In 1901, the mine was reported to be owned by the Stoddard Copper Mining Company, of which Stoddard was the majority owner. Stoddard also personally owed the nearby Binghamton mines, 3 miles (4.8 km) away, named after the city of Binghamton, New York, which is approximately 20 miles (32 km) from where he was born. Stoddard was reported to have spent almost $1,000,000 on developing mines in the region in the prior two decades, mostly from East Coast investors.
  In 1906, the Stoddard Copper Company was dissolved and replaced with the Stoddard Mines Company. Stoddard was vice president and his son Celora Martin Stoddard was secretary and treasurer, while the president was William H. Reynolds. Reynolds, from Brooklyn, New York, represented Brooklyn in the New York State Senate from 1894 to 1895 and was a real estate investor in New York before becoming Stoddard's partner in the Arizona mining ventures.
  In 1908, Stoddard secured another $300,000 for further development of the Binghamton mine, allowing the main mine shaft to be extended to a depth of 700 feet (210 m).
  After Stoddard's death, the company was again reorganized into the Copper Mountain Mines Company, with Celora Stoddard as president and Reynolds as vice president.
caption: Stoddard, circa 1900, in Stoddard, Arizona
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