Show HISTORY AND production OF GRAND OLD BINGHAM in an article on the ore deposits of bingham utah J M southwell Bouth well the government geologist and member of the U S geological survey says the bingham district is unique in that it includes the oldest recorded mining claim in the state it is the only district in utah in which placer mining has been successfully prosecuted and today leads the camps of utah in the production of copper only the more important stages in the extremely interesting and i instructive tive history of this unique camp may be noted early in the fall of 1863 ore was discovered by george B ogilvie an apostate mormon near the head of bingham canyon on september 17 1863 each of the twenty five members of the jordan silver mining company formally located there for mining purposes one claim of feet each and one additional claim of feet for the original discover ww V P 4 r k 01 A ava a a A t 2 lk 27 01 lower terminal station of the highland boy aerial tramway bingham photo by harry 15 er this is the earli earl est recorded mining claim in utah active prospecting led to the discovery and location of promising crop pings ping s but lack of facilities cili ties for transportation rendered mining operations at this time im practicable impracticable the first shipment of ores from utah was a carload of copper ore from bingham canyon hauled to uintah on the union pacific and forwarded by walker brothers to Palt baltimore imore in june 1868 in 1870 the connection of the union pacific and central pacific railroads by the utah central with salt lake city the inauguration aubura augu ration ion of the branch to bingham the gradual removal of the early opposition of mormon authorities ties to the entrance of their followers into mining operations the results yf f experiments in the reduction of local ores and the successful exploitation of the emma mine and adjoining properties in the wasatch mountains in bingham many bodies of lead ore mainly carbonate were exploited the first efficient development of the mines of the district was conducted by bristol and daggett in the Win amuck and spanish and the largest bodies of lead ore were developed in the jordan and galena mines in 1874 the bulk of lead carbonate ore was exhausted and in the Win amuck neptune spanish and utah sulphides sulp hides had been encountered special attention was directed to saving the gold in the superficial oxidized portions of the ore shoots in the lime stones various experiments in milling and cyaniding cyan iding were conducted and large stamp mills were erected despite claims that in special cases cyaniding cyan iding was successful the general opinion prevails that the presence of copper necessitated the use of so much cyanide that no profit could be made and further that the siliceous ores of bingham had never been beef worked successfully in the early eighties there were developed in the outer western slopes of the range bodies of carbonate ore which continued to afford an interesting output for about a decade in 1891 and 1892 the leading productive mines were the old jordan galena highland telegraph york petro and yosemite mines in 1893 the decline in silver brought this period of activity to a close A few years later the discovery of pay shoots of sulphide copper ore at a time of strong demand for copper and a rise in the market value of lead inaugurated a new reduction of copper sul era in the camp aphides having been successfully conducted and the value of the bingham copper ores having been demonstrated in 1890 on a shipment of tons from the highland boy exploitation for copper was vigorously begun and has continued until the date of writing this has resulted in the disclosure of strong and valuable shoots of low grade copper sulphide ore these bodies are now worked on both a large and a small scale the largest ones are controlled by consolidations including the utah consolidated the united states bingham consolidated and the boston consolidated soli dated companies which with the exception of the last which has not yet begun to ship from its well proven shoot transport their output either by aerial tramway railroad to the bingham or narrow gauge terminal of the rio grande western road and thence by rail to smelters shelters sm elters built and operated by each company at bingham junction during 1900 the total output from thirty two companies aggregated aggregate d tons of ore of an estimated value of for the year 1901 the value of the output of gold increased and that of copper and silver lead decreased 0 of a result of a net increase in the value of the output of 1901 amounting to about in this total the copper shipments constitute the chief factor their value as compared with the combined values of gold silver and lead shipments being roughly at a ratio of 23 to 16 the output to show a for the present year promises continued increase the value of the op total output of bingham to 1899 inclusive as calculated from the most complete data obtainable is between and |