| Show utah operations of the U S smelting smelling Sm elting refining and mining co and their relation to the state slate s growth and prosperity by downie D muir jr in any community depends primarily on P prosperity three factors viz capital labor and raw materials and the proper correlation of the three from the mineral standpoint and diversity of production utah stands first in the union having both ferrous and nonferrous non ferrous ore deposits of great value and wide distribution coal it has in vast quantities and time will tell whether oil is to be found within its confines labor conditions are satisfactory there having been no disputes between employer and employee of any consequence since 1922 the efficiency of labor is indicated by fair costs in most operations which however are not comparable to prewar pre war conditions the state is also particularly fortunate in having many large and well financed corporations operating within its confines as well as individuals of wealth adequately able to develop its mineral wealth facilities for reduction of ores are second to none from point of number of plants and metallurgy this results in greater beneficiation of ores in in the state to mine operators credit than at any other point the vast coal resources are well known sufficient to state that they will be supplying industrial and domestic deni demands ands of the intermountain and pacific coast states long after those present are gone it forms a basic and necessary industry of the state a possession which should be zealously guarded fostered and aided in every way consistent in its endeavor to expand so much for 6 generalities J the U S companas Comp anys operations in utah the company which I 1 have the honor to serve in its present form was organized in 1905 under the statutes of maine by both eastern and western men mr W G sharpe president until his death being a native of utah iced at 75 million owning and operating metal mines in utah and mexico a smelting smelling sm elting 2 plant here and mills in mexico at a its inception scope of ope operations rations have been extended in the interim to many states of the union and alaska an and stock control in iron and coal properties acquired and nd transportation por tation facilities provided last year the mexican property alone producing 20 million ounces of silver ini in sy vice president and general Atana manager gei U S smelling smelting Sm sin elting eiting g aien 11 9 company 0 01 and ana A read re 1 becore the ali united states fuel company Coni Dany paper mining nning or the salt lake chamber or of corn commerce merce april 27 1028 to those present the U S smelting smelling Sm elting companas Comp anys operations in utah and adjacent territory will probably ably prove of most interest the midvale smelter originally constructed as a copper plant in 1902 gradually was transformed into a lead plant around 1905 having a capacity of 1500 tons of charge per day producing a gold silver lead bullion now shipped to our electrolytic lead refinery at grasselli indiana here the lead is refined to a purity of and gold silver and bismuth recovered in various forms it is at the midvale plant that the first successful bag housing of roaster gases with neutralization of the corrosive elements therein was accomplished a practice now generally in use at the majority of lead smelters shelters sm elters in the country magnitude and community value of midvale smelter in the past ten years the midvale smelter has produced in rough figures tons of lead sufficient to lay a carpet of lead on the southbound highway one fourth of an inch thick and eighteen feet wide for miles that is from salt laks to las vegas I 1 make this statement even though the highway commission may question the qualities of lead as a road surfacing material gold while present in most utah ores is more or less a byproduct by product nevertheless the value of same produced in the identical period at midvale was sixteen per cent of the lead value silver ranking second to lead in value in Mid vales production on an average price of cents for the ten year period had a value equivalent to 58 of the lead value zinc heretofore a poison to the smelter and a penalty to the L 1 e shipper being wasted to the slag dump is now commercially merci ally recovered to the advantage of both due primarily to preferential flotation recovered value of this metal in all probability will now be in excess of gold value thus jumping in a short period of time from a liability to an asset arsenic is produced in various forms and the railroads are now using millions of gallons of arsenical weed kill killer er annually on their rights of way cadmium to a purity of one of the lead series serie s of metals now fast replacing n nickel for plating due to the fact that it tarnishes less rapidly is also produced at midvale when production costs are lowered cadmium will also replace tin which it resembles in many qualities in various industries consuming at capacity tons toils of coke tons of li tons of scrap iron tons toils of coal treating tons of ore and concentrates annually all of which material has to be conveyed to the plant paying a power bill that runs well into six figures and having a payroll in excess of a million the community value of such a smelting smelling sm elting plant must become apparent to even the most casual observer built first preferential flotation plant the first preferential flotation plant in the united states was built and placed in operation by this company at its sunnyside Sunny side mine in colorado in 1918 this was followed by similar plants at trail B C and the timber butte mill at butte in 1923 24 a pilot plant was built at midvale followed by the international mill at tooele thoele and in 1926 the present steel and concrete flotation mill of tons toils capacity was built and placed in operation at midvale preferential flotation has been one of the most important metallurgical advances made in years and in this advance utah had two companies well in the lead As a result ore reserves of the state have been materially increased if experiments now under way in many quarters successfully float oxidized ores a material increase in reserves will result it is even conceivable that ten years hence the smelter of today will be handling little but high grade concentrates cen and in fact become a melting plant rather than a smelter noncommercial non commercial ore of four years ago is today profitably mined and shipped construction of this mill is unique in that three different characters of ores requiring dissimilar reagents in each case can be treated concurrently producing lead zinc and iron concentrates and might be likened to the proverbial packing house in that it saves everything but the dirt varied metal mining activities recounted in the mining end the companas comp anys activity is not confined to utah but goes into neighboring states in nevada at the richmond eureka a mine which in the early sixties controlled the lead market of the world in new mexico at the fierro mine where tons of iron ore are consigned daily to pueblo in idaho at mackay and gilmore where lead silver ores are produced in utah the centennial and bullion beck produced millions but like all good things come to an end sooner or later at gold hill where a body of arsenical ore feet wide is developed and is perhaps one of the largest bodies of this character of ore in the united states at sunnyside Sunny side colorado where production is at the rate of tons a day of lead zinc silver ore being treated in a mill some one and three fourths miles from the mine served by an aerial tramway of that length this property located at an elevation of some feet is one of the highest in the united states and is successfully operated throughout the twelve months of the year in spite of adverse weather conditions during the winter months the united states mines at bingham owned by this company and vastly increased in area in the past fpx few years have long been known as consistent producers of lead zinc silver ores and in the past twenty years have produced millions of tons these mines embracing a large area of the bingham district were a result of combination of early day locations and companies perhaps one especially interesting feature of such locations being the old jordan claim one of the oldest if not the oldest in the district which is a rectangle but 80 feet short of a mile in length and feet in width this claim covers the famous jordan limestone lode and little did the old timers who located this claim realize how completely they covered the outcrop of a lode which years later was to become the source of a tremendous tonnage As a result of extraction of ores over a period of years workings of these mines if placed end to end would reach from salt lake to eureka tintic gintic a distance of 95 miles coal mines and kindred local industries the united states fuel company the largest producer of coal in the state is a subsidiary of the smelting smelling Sm elting company owning four mines on the east rim of castle valley and one in tile the castle gate district carbon county utah it has a developed productive capacity in excess of one and one half million tons toils annually and is producing from 18 to 20 of the states production of non coking coal its camps of hiawatha east hiawatha mohrland and heiner excite most favorable comment of coal men from all sections the company also operates a modern dairy for the welfare of the men and their families in an endeavor to promote civic pride cash prizes are awarded each year for best lawns gardens and flowers large amusement halls are operated in the camps and two churches were built by the company at hiawatha stores also are operated by the company at each camp but there is no attempt to force employees to trade at company stores A well equipped hospital is maintained at hiawatha in charge of resident physician and nurse while all camps have resident physicians all these conveniences are investments of proven worth as shown in the well satisfied condition of the working forces one hundred million tons of reserve coal fairly accurate estimates of coal reserves allio amount upwards of one hundred million tons sufficient to supply salt lake and vicinity for years or the state of utah with an annual consumption of two million tons for fifty years when it is considered that these reserves represent but a fraction of the total coal reserves of utah the vast vastness lles of same assume their true proportions the united states fuel mines produced an average ot of tons annually for the past three years equivalent to railroad cars which would make a solid train trail of coal one end of which would be at the coal mines and the other close time of a to ogden the average running coal train between the two points being twenty four hours unfortunately from an economic standpoint the de u mand for coal is seasonal this necessitates deve develop nie of coal mines in far more elaborate manner than metal il mines lines where production is maintained at a constant ton nag nage b e throughout b the year to meet the surge demand materializing in midwinter mid winter sufficient working faces must be provided to reach maxi maximum muni capacity on short notice the large portion of these faces remain idle in summer As a result of this condition there are a total of some miles of entries and rooms in these mines which if placed end to end would provide a tunnel of sufficient size to acconio accommodate date a railroad train between salt lake and beaver marketing mining and transportation competitive conditions and replacement of coal by oil as fuel in the state of california which state by the way consumed in oil for fuel the equivalent of 17 million tons of coal last year equal to practically four years of annual production have forced coal operators to strive every way possible for reduced costs keeping in mind that the highest wages prevail of any large industry in the state this condition is rapidly bringing about the mechanization of coal mines entry or tunnel drivers the dream of the hard rock miner are in successful use at our mines mechanical coal loaders are installed at present a large portion of our coal is mechanically loaded by mechanical coal loaders or scrapers and it is hoped shortly to reach as high as sixty per cent of the total coal produced in these mines goes to all states north and west of utah and furnishes motive power for the copper river railroad in remote alaska considering freight charges that accumulate against coal moving to the latter point quality and heat value of same is apparent when it is purchased in preference to the nearer and cheaper coals of washington vancouver island and healy river fields of alaska supplying railroads with tons of outgoing revenue freight annually purchase of equipment material and supplies exceeding annually a large proportion of which is produced in utah and having a payroll in excess of the united states fuel company in itself becomes a big asset to the state railroad facilities enormous payroll expenditures in 1922 construction work was started on the utah railway which now operates from mohrland and hiawatha to provo utah this company was organized and its stock is entirely owned by the united states smelting smelling Sm elting refining mining company it has thoroughly modern motive power and steel gondola coal cars of the latest and most approved design the 90 lb steel originally used on the road bed is now being replaced by lb steel this railroad serving eight of the fifteen larger coal mines in carbon and emery counties hauls approximately 38 of the states output has a payroll close to three quarters of a million dollars annually and purchases in excess of a quarter of a million figures in quantity are hard to absorb and even more difficult to retain realizing this and wishing to have you retain certain of those quoted I 1 will summarize as follows the united states smelting smelling Sm elting refining mining com pany its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in 1927 had a payroll in the state of utah in excess of four million dollars purchased through the united states stores supplies equipment etc amounting to in excess of two million billed to railroads in incoming and outgoing freight approximately one and a half million tons to say nothing of taxes power and insurance this record I 1 think I 1 am safe in stating places it as one of the first three companies in any field in the state from the standpoint of the three factors mentioned and I 1 might add these factors tell the whole economic story so much for the united states smelting smelling Sm elting company and its subsidiaries attention drawn to fuel substitution moves if you will permit I 1 should like to take a few minutes more of your time on a matter which I 1 consider not only of general interest but of vital import to the state viz the threatened replacement of a considerable tonnage of coal in the state of utah by other fuel especially in the most populous district the salt lake valley with the advent of the railroads around 1870 the coal industry of utah began to develop the scope of same increasing with transportation facilities and the gradual increase of population of the territory served until the peak was reached in 1920 when in excess of six million tons was mined subsequent to that date competition from crude oil brought in on the pacific coast has materially restricted the output until 1926 27 showed from four to four and a half million tons only there are now in the utah field approximately twenty coal companies with a developed productive capacity easily in excess of eight million tons annually but with a demand of but 50 of that figure these companies undoubtedly have a combined investment in land and equipment in excess of sixty seven million dollars the average |
