JUNE 2026 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Western News, Mar. 29, 1941 Hecla Mercantile & Banking Co. –Founded 1886 Photo Courtesy of Glendalemontana.com In 1886 the Hecla Mercantile and Banking Company, a separate subsidiary of the Hecla Consolidated Mining Company, was organized with capital stock of $100,000. The company was a consolidation of Gaffney and Purdam of Melrose; Armstrong and Losee, and Noah Armstrong and Company of Glendale, and Wilson, Rote and Company of Hecla. These represented three mercantile firms and one bank. The General Manager of the Hecla Mining Company, Henry Knippenberg, served as this new company's president. A consolidation of four companies headed by Henry Knippenberg, President and General Manager, owned the Melrose location and two more stores, one in Hecla and one in Glendale. A huge warehouse sat across Hecla Mercantile & Banking Company at Glendale. Henson Sappington standing in doorway. Melrose location of the former Hecla Mercantile & Banking Co. Photo Courtesy of Glendalemontana.com Accessed via: https:// chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ from the Melrose location between the road and the railroad tracks, and supplied all three of the stores. In 1893, silver prices slumped when the
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