C. W. Herndon

Charles W. Herndon was an American lawyer and politician from Arizona. He served a single term in the Arizona House of Representatives during the 4th Arizona State Legislature.^[1]

Charles W. Herndon was born in 1877, the son of John C. Herndon, a prominent Prescott attorney, and Florence M. Wilson. The family moved to Prescott in 1883.^[2][3] When John Frank Wilson took over his role as the territorial delegate to the Fifty-sixth Congress in 1899, Herndon accompanied him as his private secretary.^[4][5]

In 1910, he moved his law practice from Prescott to Kingman.^[6][7] In 1911, Herndon ran to become the attorney for Mohave County, winning in the general election in December, in which he ran unopposed.^[8][9] In 1914, he ran for re-election, defeating S. D. Stewart in the Democrat's primary, and then easily defeating Republican Ross S. Blakely in the general election in November.^[10][11][12] In August 1916, Herndon resigned as county attorney.^[13][14] From 1915 through 1917 Herndon was part of several groups which incorporated mining entities in Arizona. Those entities included the Arizona-Cerbat Mines Company,^[15] Victor Copper Company,^[16] Red Gap Gold Mines Company, Oatman Standard Mines Company,^[17] and Arizona C. O. D. Mines Company.^[18]

In August 1918, Herndon announced his intention to run for the Arizona State Senate seat from Mohave County.^[19] In a hotly contested primary, Herndon beat out four other Democrats for the nomination, and then won November's general election.^[20][21] In 1918 and 1919 Herndon was part of the formation of three companies in Arizona, two mining and one oil development: the Arizona-Brunswick Mining Company,^[22] the Chloride Tunnel Company,^[23] and the Community Oil Company.^[24] He ran for re-election in 1920, but lost in the Democrat's primary in September to James Curtin.^[25][26] From 1920 through 1927 he was involved in the creation of numerous other companies in Arizona, Nevada, and California, including the Silver Trails Mining Company (AZ-1920), which operated the Diamond Joe Mine in Mohave County,^[27][28] the Sickels Silver Mining Company (AZ-1920),^[29] the White Hills Mining Company (AZ-1921),^[30] the Cedar Mines Consolidated company (AZ-1921),^[31] the River Range Mining Company (AZ-1921),^[32] the Arizona-Rand Mine, Inc. (AZ-1921),^[33] the Anna Jane Mining Company (AZ-1921),^[34] the Signal Mines Company (NV-1922),^[35] the Stoney Leasing and Mining Company (AZ-1922),^[36] the Arizona Highlander Mining Company (AZ-1925),^[37] and the Filimore Mining Company (CA-1927).^[38] Herndon died on July 25, 1927, in his mother's home in Prescott, Arizona, after being ill for several months.^[3][39]