The Edgar S. Booker Papers (1890-1924) contain textual materials that document the structural development of the Bellingham Bay region, the gold mining industry in the Ruby Creek District of Mt. Baker and the exploitation of Mexican timber and mineral wealth at the turn of the twentieth century. The bulk of the textual materials are made up of building contracting construction estimates and bids which could be useful in tracking the growth of the Bellingham Bay region as well as the interconnections of local businesses over a period of twenty-five years.

The materials relating to Ruby Creek gold mining help to document the transformation of small claim placer mining to large scale consolidated-claims gold mining. The collection of placer claim notices as well as reports to shareholders could be useful in delineating ownership of the original mining claims and their eventual transference to the Granite Creek Gold Mining Company which would allow researchers access to the Mt. Baker gold fields and the excitement elicited in miners and company investors. There is also a file relating to the Mexico-based Sonora Gold Mines Limited and the Chicago Gold-Placer Mining Company which may have been invested in by Edgar Booker’s son, Guy Booker.

The timber materials relate to Edgar Booker’s involvement in the Tehuantepec Land & Timber Co., Inc. which owned hundreds of thousands of timber acreage in Mexico. Edgar Booker’s interest in Mexican timber as well as the potential for mining in the region give a view to the potential of foreign investment and the diversity of this particular gentleman’s financial breadth. Researchers might find the reports on Mexican timber to be a resource in understanding the contemporary view of nature as a financially exploitable enterprise.