OCR Text |
Show The Story of Copper in Utah Opening of Utah Copper Mine at Bingham aided in rapid expansion of electrical and mechanical era during first quarter of century by providing low-priced copper. (Editor's Note: This is the third of a eries of eight articles titled "The Story of Copper in Utah.") The Twentieth Century might well be called the "Century of Copper" Cop-per" because of the widespread de-relopments de-relopments in the production of the red metal that followed the opening of Utah Copper in 1904. This pioneering pio-neering aided in the rapid expansion expans-ion of the electrical era by providing provid-ing vital copper at a lower cost. After Jackling had shown the way at Bingham for large scale copper production from low grade deposits the development of Nevada Consolidated; Con-solidated; Ray Consolidated and Moernci in Arizona; and the Chlno mine in New Mexico and other low grade mines, followed swiftly. A new era was established in production produc-tion of low-priced copper early in the Twentieth Century to aid the swift expansion of industry during the first quarter of the century. The limits of this short series of articles permit tracing briefly the events that led up to the establishment establish-ment and progress of the Utah Copper. Cop-per. Bingham Canyon, oldest of Utah's mining districts, has been the scene of more or less profitable mining since 1864. Siliceous gold ore and silver-bearing lead ores that so frequently occur In Important copper districts, were sought in the early days. Until 1900, Bingham remained essentially es-sentially a lead-silver mining camp. Smelters were built at Murray and Bingham Junction (now Midvale) near the Jordan river 12 miles below be-low Bingham, and a substantial part of the intake of these two plants came from 15 to 20 comparatively compara-tively small underground mines in Bingham Canyon. Colonel Enos A. Wall, who had mining experience in Colorado, Idaho and Montana, first visited the camp in July, 1887. Colonel Wall was attracted by the usual signs of copper mineralization. Then, according ac-cording to the story, he entered an old adit, stajted probably about 1865 when prospecting was first done by Federal soldiers under General Gen-eral P. E. Connor, first commandant command-ant at Ft. Douglas. Wall became interested and acquired ac-quired property in the district by location and during the succeeding 10 years added to his holdings through purchase and other locations. loca-tions. During this period he spent approximately $20,000 driving 3000 feet of tunnel, drifts and crosscuts in the hills. This exploratory work began to unfold the possibilities at Bingham Canyon as each foot of -work added to the evidence that the copper bearing mass was large, although low in grade. Wall financed his work by the sale of the Brickyard mine at Mercur, Utah, and the Yam-pa Yam-pa property near the Highland Boy at Bingham. (The fourth article in this series will appear in these columns col-umns soon.) |