Show early history of bingham mines A few days ago the mining review received a letter from a subscriber in arizona in which a request was made for information regard regarding nL the history of the early days of bingham bin ham before the camp gained such which have existed to within a year or two but this brief space of time concentrators and aid other modern plants such as steam and electric hoists for the mines have been put in and capital has 4 J of E 2 old jordan and galena taken nine years A ago go renown because of its copper bearing por phylies phy ries such information and data is often diff difficult to obtain but in going over the bound volumes of the mining review we find a fairly good g description of early day mining in the old reliable as bingham is popularly called in the issue of december 30 1900 which we reproduce for the benefit of our readers who are not acquart ed with the early history of the camp as follow the name bingham canyon is synoni with the early mining history of utah but the greatness of its future and richness of its mineral deposits reflected by the past are just beginning to be realized in full measure by the mining world picture a long winding road cutting the camp zigzag zig zag fashion and on either side and beneath the roadway in fact vast bodies of ore that yield not only silver but copper lead and am gold while at the upper end hydraulics have washed out the pure yellow metal by the ton that is bingham it has existed as a mining camp for upwards of thircy shirly years and while millions in the precious metals have been taken from its various mines as a developed mining camp it is still in its infancy the lack of mills and proper appliances for the treatment of the ores of the camp have been responsible for the conditions N 7 Vs bingham canyon as it looked years ago been interested to such an extent that it is now a question of only a short time before the camp will become one of the foremost in the middle west the ores as stated are rich in the four metals while the placer product rivals in richness that of california in its golden days in this connection it may be mentioned that the largest gold nugget unearthed in the state was washed out at bingham it was known as the clays nugget and weighed eight ounces it was found in 1871 by dan clays a pioneer of the camp according to mr clays the first discovery of mineral in bingham then a wilderness but now a prosperous mining camp was made in 1864 by soldiers of general connors army no attention was paid to the discovery at the time shortly afterwards however a brother of mr clays while on the road with a wagon train camped where upper bingham is now located and discovered the placers he located bated d extensively and took our large quantities of gold dust he marketed the gold in salt lake city and his coming in so frequently with such large quantities of gold soon attracted attention and many followed him to the diggings but it was not until 1871 that anything like a general influx or boom set in then thousands flocked to the canyon most of the placer ground had ben been taken up and the new newcom com ers turned their attention to the quartz ledges which abound on both sides of the canyon the float was rich in itself and the veins when opened proved a source of revenue to the miners who had available only the primitive methods for ore reduction it was sometime after the richness of the district became known before the first mill was put in the promoters were buell 1 and bateman iho ho were interested in what was known as the old utah property at aej the upper end of the gulch their venturo venture A proved most successful and the firm reaped j hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits 1 the success of buel a and n d bateman was ex celled by bristol and daggett the latter a civil engineer who took charge of the now famous Winn amuck and erected a smelter a company being formed to finance the concern millions were taken from the Winn amuck and the bottom has not yet been reached in rapid succession other companies were formed and big strikes were of everyday occurrence among the notable ones being the a sensational discovery in those days being the strike on the yosemite no 1 and also on the brooklyn so much for the early history of the camp the present time shows a different state of affairs and the future looks most golden extensive milling plants have been erected more are projected deep shafts have been sunk on many properties drifts run and mining minin I 1 on a modern scale is now in operation hundreds of men are at work and companies backed by millions are doing the operating oper ope aUng and pushing the district to its proper place in the front row the very marked decline in silver and lead quotations several years ago brought mining operations in bingham camp almost to a standstill and but little was done of consequence in this locality for a long time with the exception of the enterprise inaugurated augu rated by samuel newhouse and thomas weir in the working of the highland boy now known as the utah consolidated for its oxidized gold ores for the treatment of which a fine mill was built in carr fork gulch the plant being in operation but a short time before the workings penetrated beyond the oxidized zone disclosing vast zones of copper sulphides sulp hides this discovery opened up a now new era for TS TSIng ingham liam and resulted in placing this section on a basis that has since given civen it great fame at home and abroad as being one of the greatest cory cop per producing sections of the west with the change in ore characteristics a change in methods was n necessitated a huge smelt ing plant was c in salt lake valley a long aerial wire rope tramway was installed and now the company is mining great quantities of low grade copper ore which is treated at the smelter in connection with the oxidized gold ores in the upper workings of the mine and the plant is sending out over pounds of gold and copper bullion weekly in addition to which goodly shipments of sliver silver and lead ores are being made to the open market 1 the gratifying success attendant upon the carrying on of this enterprise stimulated others to follow suit and now remark ably heavy operations in copper mining are being carried on within the confines of this splendid d camp the consolidation of the i old jordan galena the niagara and old telegraph mines under the of the united states mining company was one of the direct consequences of this success the boston consolidated by samuel newhouse a proposition of mammoth proportions was wag next in order while the bingham gold copper company a similar proposition is running neck and neck with the enterprises mentioned co bo that it will be seen that bingham is in a wonderfully prosperous condition when compared with its gloomy outlook of a few years ago editors note the above was published more than nine years ago since then the utah consolidated has paid over in dividends the united states has pa pad d the bingham new haven has paid and the utah copper the boston consolidated has built a gigantic concentrating plant at garfield the utah copper has a concentrator at bingham and has a large concentrating plant at garfield the yampa has a smelter at bingham and the utah consolidated and the united states both have large smelting smelling sm elting plants in salt lake valley four or five tramways tram ways are in operation in bingham the railroad has circled the mountain tops and reach out to the mines the utah copper and the boston consolidated are using steam shovels in mining and thousands of men are employed in mines and reduction plants and in mining operations throughout the district the town of bingham has grown wonderfully and is now an incorporated city A bank has been established there a fine schoolhouse has been built and commercial and other clubs have been formed the place has large mercantile establishments and progress and prosperity is the order of the day in the old re liable |