Page 12 The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume II, Issue II November 1999 La Plata La Plata, the Spanish word for silver, was a small mining town nestled in the southern end of Cache County less than a mile from the northern boundary of Weber County. This mining town, located just over the summit of the mountains above Middle Fork, flourished from 1891 until 1893. During its three-year heyday, it caught and held the attention of all northern Utah. Today the ghost town of La Plata reposes in relative obscurity, remembered by only a few, having little historical significance, and even less historical evidence of its brief existence. In 1891, the chance discovery of lead and silver ore at La Plata opened the doors of prospective mineral wealth to Ogden and Logan, and thus La Plata’s story rightfully begins. Differing accounts are numerous and only agree that in mid-July 1891, a sheepherder named P. O. Johnson stumbled across a rich surface body of galena ore. The Standard records that a piece of rock was loosened by his sheep or chipped by his horse. The Logan Journal reported that when Johnson picked up the rock, he noticed that it was unusually heavy and, apparently guessing its value, put it into his pocket as a “sinker” for good luck. Upon returning to his base camp, Johnson showed the specimen to this boss and foreman W. H. Ney, who immediately realized its worth. Ney offered to become partners if Johnson would take him to the place where he had found it. Johnson agreed and took Ney up to the head of Bear Gulch above Paradise. After surveying the surface showings, the two proceeded to dig a trench two feet wide, eight feet long, and eighteen inches deep with the only tool they had–a broken-handled shovel. Much excited about the prospects, Ney and Johnson returned to camp, left another sheepherder in charge of the flock, and went immediately to Logan to stake their claim. The Journal reports that the two men reached Logan and “displayed a specimen of galena ore that was almost pure.” Their claim was registered in the Paradise Mining District by H. C. Jackson as being discovered and located July 20, 1891. Although they refused to give its exact location to the newspapers, word soon leaked out of the strike’s whereabouts and the rush was on. Within two months, what had once been a quiet mountain valley became the center of a boom that saw hundreds of miners swarm over a five-mile area searching for those “glittering glades of glistening galena.” By August 12, 1891 the sheepherder named Johnson had sold his interest to Mayor I. D. Haines, George and Moses Thatcher of Logan, and Tom Harrison for $600. What became of Johnson after that is a matter of speculation. But one thing is certain, he would not have recognized that quiet hillside at the head of Bear Gulch six months after he left it. The town grew up quickly along the main streets. By October 17, 1891, there were reported to be twenty-eight log cabins and as many tents. By the first of January, when most people had left for warmer climates, the Journal could report seventy buildings and a population of 150 substantial citizens, including 19 women and 13 children, although later reports indicate a decline to 100 residents. The winter of 189192 was a long one with temperatures as low as -22 degrees Fahrenheit, and snow three to four feet deep. By July 1892 the population had increased to 600 citizens. Three rows of cabins stood on the west side and two rose on the east side of the La Plata hillside. By the summer of 1892 there were seven or eight places of businesses serving liquor and allowing gambling. There were also assorted boarding houses, hotels, barbershops, dry goods and grocery stores, and restaurants. Miners below the surface made $3.00 a day, not including room and board, while surface workers earned $2.50. It was estimated that for $12.00 monthly a miner could live well in La Plata. In the book, “A History of Weber County” by Richard C. Roberts and Richard W. Sadler it is stated, . . . that during August 1891, one hundred people a day traveled through Ogden to La Plata to get a look at the town and the mining area. The route to La Plata was not easily traversed from either Logan or Ogden. Travelers taking the Weber County route began at Ogden, traveled up Ogden Canyon to Huntsville, and then up Middle Fork Canyon to La Plata. Although both county governments were petitioned to build roads to the mining camp, Cache County was successful in having the first road built by 17 September 1891. The Weber County road through Middle Fork Canyon was completed on 30 October 1891 and even then was considered a very difficult route. The roads were needed to carry supplies and people to La Plata and then to carry the ore by wagon to a railhead in either Logan or Ogden. Businesses including sawmills, stores, and saloons sprang up. The Ogden Standard and the Logan Journal both promoted the mining boom and worked to tie the boom to their respective communities. During the initial boom period, newspaper reporters suggested that as many as 1,200 to 1,500 curious people visited the La Plata area on a daily basis. The excitement and fever related to the mining boom spread through Ogden and Logan as well as smaller communities in each area. Supplies, visitors, equipment, and mail were carried to La Plata from both Ogden and Logan. David O. McKay was one of the mail carriers who hauled mail from Huntsville to La Plata, and he reported that he carried the mail from Huntsville to the mining camp on horseback three times a week. Promotional efforts notwithstanding, most of the elements that eventually contributed to La Plata’s demise were already present by the winter of 1892-93. It was only a matter of time before the town collapsed. The first storm clouds darkening La Plata’s horizon developed over the questionable classification and ownership of land on which the town and some of the mines were located; was it mineral or agricultural-grazing land? In August 1891, the Standard recognized and reported that La Plata rested on lands claimed by the Central Pacific Railroad. By an act of Congress on July 1, 1862, and amended July 2, 1864, the Central Pacific was granted twenty-square-mile alternate sections of land to help finance the building of the transcontinental railroad and telegraph line, mineral lands excepted. Apparently in 1884 D. P. Tarpey purchased title to the area from the Central Pacific, and in 1887 sold it to John H. White who still held the title at the time of the La Plata strike. On June 23, 1892, White filed suit in Ogden District Court, against Fred Thackwell, Willis Booth, John T. Rich, et al., of the Sunrise Group Mines, for trespassing on his land and removing valuable mineral deposits. White’s lawyers contended that since the land had been classified as agriculturalgrazing when the title had been purchased, any subsequent discovery would not affect the title. Attorneys for the miners claimed that it was obviously mineral land, and therefore, under federal law, they had the right to its use. At about the same time, Fred Thackwell, et al., brought suit in the Salt Lake Land Office against the Central Pacific which was trying to obtain original patent on the land, maintaining the same position as White had. Because these suits lasted from 1892 to 1894, with restraining orders in effect, part of the time that closed most mines, La Plata all but dried up and died. Eventually, White settled for the $4,000 bond that the companies had put up to continue work; and the Salt Lake Land Office–whose decision in 1892 was appealed and upheld by the General Land Office in Washington, D.C., in 1894 and by Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith in 1895–ruled in favor of the miners. These major cases, numerous smaller disputes over mines crossing claim lines and running into each other underground, and the threat of appropriation of land by the railroad created tension and litigation in La Plata that caused a loss of jobs and a loss of faith in the future of the camp. In 1892 and 1893 the U.S. faced a period of economic change. The presidential term of Benjamin Harrison (1889-93) left the country in dire straits with high tariffs, an unstable treasury, hard times for farmers and industry, and too much “cheap money.” In attempting to stabilize the economy in 1893 Grover Cleveland obtained the repeal of the Sherman S i l v e r Purchase Act of 1890, w h i c h obliged the U . S . Treasury to purchase 4,500,000 ounces of s i l v e r monthly and to issue treasury n o t e s redeemable in bullion. Demand for s i l v e r dropped immediately. In the ensuing depression and silver panic of 1893 many businesses, national banks, and m i n i n g towns failed. In response to the depression, manufacturing businesses reduced their production, therefore reducing the demand for the coal, iron, and lead used in many areas of industry. With slack demand for both silver and lead, market prices dropped drastically and La Plata’s economy began to buckle. Local businessmen began to pull out and investors withdrew their capital for more stable investments. Along with this general depression of the economy, declining silver and lead prices, and the years of litigation, La Plata also suffered from natural weaknesses. By 1893 the veins of galena ore had begun to dwindle in the smaller mines. Larger operations equipped with gasoline-powered hoists and pumps kept up the work, but as they dropped lower they too began to draw increasing amounts of water and their veins diminished. The physical environment of La Plata also created problems. Winters were long and harsh, and the difficulty of transportation through the canyon roads raised the cost of shipping ore until it was no longer competitive on the already declining markets. In the face of these basic problems, the town of La Plata faded soon after it was born. With many of the same problems that confronted La Plata, some boom mining towns managed to live on even after their ore ran out because of the businesses, farms, or railroads that had been established during their heyday. But La Plata did not last long enough to create any kind of permanent establishment with which to support itself after the mines failed. The real boom in La Plata lasted only a couple of seasons and was followed by a sporadic “afterlife’ that persisted into the twentieth century. In all, It is estimated that the La Plata mines produced about $3 million worth of ore.