Show GROWTH OF THE COPPER INDUSTRY oin jn the early days of mining in this great intermountain country the big rush was for silver properties for mines productive of this metal where the ore was exceptionally rich in its silver contents and free milling in its characteristics of course high grade gold ore was much sought for but as the royal metal rarely existed in large quantities quin titles rich enough to pay for working the efforts of d the prospector and the miner were very largely directed to the discovery of silver ore running up into the hundreds of ounces to the ton on the result being that many bonanza mines of today were overlooked and neglected lead was not wanted for the reason that no means were then obtainable for its reduction to bullion and to haul it by wagon hundreds of miles through a mountainous country and over almost impassable roads to market was impracticable unprofitable as well as almost impossible the same conditions existed as to copper the result being 0 that for a quarter of a century or more known deposits of lead and copper ores were not worked or oven even located with the coming comin of railroads however with advances made in metallurgy and improvements made in methods and processes for the treatment of lead and copper ores a growing demand became evident for properties productive of these metals at the first lead mines had the preference largely owing to the low lov quotations for copper of late years however with the inora increased ad demand for copper for fa electrical purposes and because of the immense amounts of the red metal used in manufacturing and export purposes and the introduction of processes greatly cheapening its production and the additional fact that low grade ores can now be successfully mined and worked the demand has increased to such an extent that the capacity of producers has been taxed to the utmost while the price of the commodity has been steadily advancing with such conditions existing there is no wonder that of late there has been a scramble among mining men and investors for properties of this character and that every mining camp in this western country has been the scene of wonderful activity in the search for copper mines and that every prospect and every section giving L evidence of copper bearing have been secured by purchase or tied up under bond and lease by those fully realizing what it means to be the owner of a big copper producing mine for several years the copper mines of the lake superior regions and the magnificent copper camp of butte montana have been regarded as the leading copper producers of this continent now however these localities will have to look after their laurels in this respect as new copper areas have of late been discovered which bid fair to outrival both the lake superior regions and butte several western states are making wonderful strides in this direction and utah is not lagging in the race for supremacy as exploitation and development work in in a number of localities in this state have disclosed such mammoth zones of copper bearing ores that it is beyond the ability of our most experienced experts to compute the tonnage and value bingham for instance has disclosed wonderful mines of copper ore of late and two mammoth smelting smelling sm elting plants are now treating the output of two of the leading copper producing properties in this section while another plant larger still in its capacity is now in course of erection copper gulch and other sections in beaver county promise to become a second butte in their copper production many of the mines of tin tic district produce large quantities and of high quality washington county has its copper mines and they are so valuable that they are being quickly absorbed by big eastern syndicates the la sal mountain sin the southeastern portion of the state are known to be rich in their copper deposits while their are other portions of our commonwealth which can lay claim to the possession of copper properties of unquestionable merit with the increased demand for copper with the recent discoveries made of mines productive of this metal and with the increased activity in mining ing and industrial affairs it is no wonder then that a steady and substantial growth is noticeable noti cable in the great west in the copper in industry |