Elgin Bryce Holt
Elgin Bryce Holt (September 4, 1873 – October 6, 1945) was an American geologist, mine owner and engineer, amateur scientist, anthropologist and entrepreneur who reorganized and managed the Cerro de Plata Mining Company in Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico. Biography Holt was born in Harrison, Arkansas, the sixth of Lydia Elizabeth (née Ryan) and "Judge" Isham Right Holt's eight children. In 1879, the family moved to a homestead raising cattle along the San Francisco river near Alma, New Mexico. In 1892, the family moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, allowing the four youngest children to attend the New Mexico Agricultural College. Very successful in mining silver in Mexico, he was known as the "Silver King of Sonora". A member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the American Association of Engineers, Holt died in Los Angeles, California and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Education In 1897, Holt was a member of the fourth graduating class of the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now New Mexico State University) having completed the Mining Engineering course. He earned degrees in Geology and Mineralogy. His senior thesis was entitled "The Potassium Cyanide Method of the Determination of Copper". During his senior