J. W. Bible Grant County, New Mexico

J. W. Bible, president of the Hanover Mercantile Company at Hanover, New Mexico, came to Grant County in the Territory in 1891 in the interests of the Southwestern Coal & Iron Company, Hanover Improvement Company and the Silver City & Northern Railroad Company.

When the Silver City & Northern Railroad was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company in 1891, Mr. Bible took a lease on the Hanover Improvement & Southwestern Coal & Iron Companies' properties and also leased individual holdings. About 1900 the Empire Mines Company was formed by Mr. Bible and this company purchased properties in this district, including the Ivanhoe mine. Later, however, this company sold all of its holdings to the Rio Grande Copper Company and Mr. Bible continued as general manager for this company.

In 1904 the Hermosa Copper Company acquired these holdings and Mr. Bible continued as general superintendent for the last mentioned company. In 1900 he was the organizer of the Grant County Telephone Company and is now its vice-president. He has been the promoter of business progress and improvement along various lines here and in 1898 organized the firm of Murray & Bible, general merchants, at Hanover, predecessors to the Hanover Mercantile Company, of which Mr. Bible is now president. He is one of the most far-sighted and energetic business men of this locality, and has made a success of every enterprise in which he has been connected. As a mining man he is one of the most practical and thoroughly informed men in the southwest. In 1900 he was appointed a member of the Territorial Immigration Board by Governor Otero and is now serving as treasurer of the board. He is also a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.

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Source: History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People, Volume II, Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907.