H e a r s t   M i n i n g  B u i l d i n g

With the argonauts of the days of 1849 came one George Hearst, a plain, honest man and good miner. In various places and with varying success he worked for nine years, when fortune, which had toyed with him long, fairly lavished her favors. His mining and farming interests expanded and prospered. In 1861 he married Miss Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson, that saintly soul whose queenly beneficence has meant so much to the university. In 1865, he was elected to the state legislature; on March 23, 1886, he was appointed United States Senator. He died, to be mourned by the whole country, on February 28, 1891. It is to his memory that the Hearst Memorial Mining Building is dedicated.

Hearst Memorial Mining Building, University of California, 1929.

         In 1896 Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst broached a plan for the consideration of the regents, for the permanent development of the university campus. After an international competition the Benard scheme was adopted, and John Galen Howard was appointed supervising architect. The first building to be completed was a memorial to Senator George Hearst. The Hearst Memorial Mining Building was formally opened and dedicated on Friday, August 23, 1907. President Wheeler directed the ceremonies, and John Galen Howard, Dean Christy, T. A. Rickard, and William Randolph Hearst were the speakers. Mr. Rickard, in concluding his address, said:

"May this building be consecrated to the service of efficient citizenship and to the industrial development of the Pacific coast, of America, of the world. May this School of Mines have no enemy save the ignorant, and for a friend the people of California."

    It is the home of the College of Mining, the domicile of the Department of Mining and Metallurgy; it is a monument to the achievements of a great man and a miner, an inspiration to all who enter.

    The Hearst Memorial Mining Building as constructed in 1907 at a cost of $671,000. With its equipment and furnishings and adjuncts, it represents an outlay of $1,000,000. It was the intention of its donor that it be devoted exclusively to mining and metallurgy for instruction and research. It is well suited to this purpose. The students and faculty of the college constitute a happy family in the campus community. Human relationships are cultivated, and lasting friendships between the members result. The loyalty of alumni has on many occasions contributed to the solidarity of the College of Mining as an entity in this overgrown University of California.

From July 1929 article by Dean Frank H. Probert, The Mining Congress Journal