Introduction 



The Founder of the Boyce Thompson Institute 



Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Inc., was founded and en- 

 dowed by Colonel William Boyce Thompson of Yonkers, New York. His 

 total gift to the Institute in property and endowment amounted to some- 

 what more than ten million dollars. The Institute was formally dedicated 

 on September 24, 1924.2 



The writer is often asked, "Who was Colonel Thompson and why was he 

 so much interested in research on plants?" Colonel Thompson * was born 

 in Alder Gulch, near Virginia City, Montana, in 1869, and spent the first 

 seventeen years of his life in the wild frontier towns of Virginia City, 

 Glendale, and Butte, Montana. It is not strange that his main interest was 

 in mining, for that was the industry of the region; besides, his father formed 

 an mvestment company that dealt in mining properties. After a period at 

 Phillips Exeter Academy and Columbia School of Mines, Colonel Thompson 

 returned to Montana and engaged in various mining operations there until 

 1899. At this date he moved to the East; operating in New York and 

 Boston, he began dealing in mining stocks and developing mines. His first 

 success was the development of the Shannon Mine at Clifton, Arizona, 1899 

 to 1903. This netted enough to pay off all indebtedness of the Thompson 

 Investment Company with an additional net personal asset of $70,000. The 

 stockholders profited similarly. This was only pocket change compared 

 with what was to come later. In the development of this property, efficiency 

 of operation was the keynote of success, as was the case in his future opera- 

 tions: for example, when copper prices were low, the cost of production 

 must be reduced to meet the price. 



Later the Colonel developed or aided in developing a series of mines 

 that were highly profitable: Nipissing, Ely, and Mason Valley, Nevada, 

 Bingham Canyon, Utah, and Inspiration and Magma in Arizona. The last 

 two were models in efficiency, and the efficiency grew out of careful and ex- 

 tensive researches preliminary to carrying out the plan of operation and 

 building the concentrators and refineries. The former especially because 

 of its size gave great returns in dividends during World War I. If the 

 Colonel's savings at this point reached the fifty million mark, they were 

 to be greatly increased by his part in the development of Texas Gulf Sulphur 

 and by the organization of the Newmont Mining Corporation, the latter 

 an investment corporation handling mining stocks. 



* The data for the brief biography of Colonel Thompson are taken mainly from Hermann 

 Hagedorn's book, "The Magnate: William Boyce Thompson and His Time, 186^1930." » 

 The author includes some statements based on his personal contacts, 



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