Seeley Wintersmith Mudd

(1861-1926)

1983 Charter Member, Mining's Past

Seeley Mudd was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, on August 16, 1861. He graduated from Washington University with a degree in engineering in 1883. After two years, he decided his interest was in producing ore, not processing it. In 1885, he moved to Leadville, Colorado, where he began his mining career in earnest at the Small Hope Mine.

In 1904, Mudd became the Pacific Coast engineer for Guggenheim Exploration Company. In 1905, he hired a young engineer, Henry Krumb, and one of their first projects was to check on Daniel C. Jackling's plan to mine the vast Bingham Canyon copper deposit by open pit methods. Based on Mudd's recommendation, the Guggenheim Company financed the development of the Utah Copper Company.

In 1909, he became involved in sulfur mining, which eventually led to the formation of Texas Gulf Sulfur, with Mudd as its first executive officer. His last undertaking was the development of the copper deposits on the Island of Cyprus and the formation of Cyprus Mines Corporation.

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