OCR Text |
Show 4 - s j Bingham Canyon In 1878 mw: sfi; Bingham Canyon, 1878 j Early history of Hiiigliam Is exemplify ex-emplify of the transfortnntion of a virtual wasteland into a humming Industrial community and the most important single enterprise In the state. The picture aliave was taken In 18TS and those w lu visit the camp today find it dillleult to visualize the Industry that has heen created in this narrow canyon for the state and the nation in making Utah copper the world's greatest open-cut open-cut copper mine Colonel E. A. Wail entered tha camp in 1SS7 and was immediately attracted by its possibilities. According Ac-cording to early stories he inspected inspect-ed an old abandoned tunnel driven by soldiers whu came to L'tah under the command of Gen r:l P. H. Connor, and there found samples of copper ore Upon inquiry he found that the ground was open to relocation, as former claim holders hud failed to do their assessment as-sessment work. He immediately filed on two claims During the succeeding 10 years Colonel Wall added to his holdings In the district, acquiring some 200 acres. During these years he kept up his nssessment work and succeeded suc-ceeded In accomplishing 3.000 feet on various parts of the property This work began to unfold the extent of the fcuse stock of copper ore. Captain Joseph H. Be Lamar, pioneer Mereur operator, became. Interested with Colonel Wall and sent two young engineers In hi3 employ at Mereur, D. C. Jackling and Robert C. Gemmell, to Bingham to Investigate the possibilities of the porphyry. Their Joint report after an extensive exnmination and mill tests, recommended its acquisition. ac-quisition. Captain D e Lamar, though an astute miner, was skeptical skep-tical and finally abandoned the idea of trying to make a mine of it. Jackling. however. h:id convinced himself that the deposit could be successfully developed and a few years later through hi3 perslstance and determination succeeded in launching the Utah Copper enterprise enter-prise in 1903. The foundation of L'tah Copper was built on a thin thread, as the rock that was called ore, contained less than 2 rer cent copper and a small amount of gold and silver. That thin thread s:ill exists today, and requires an extensive scale of operations to keep tha mine in operatiuu. The management manage-ment Is continuously comhntting one force or another In order to keep the mine equilibrium and maintain its employment. Its purchasing pur-chasing tower ii n J magnitude as the state's leading industrial enter prise. . I ! |