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Show lie paved the way for an Industry now pro ducing about 1 1 20,000,000 worth of min-eral min-eral yearly. The state that ranks finl In the production of ailver, second In copper, third in lead, fourth in zinc and fifth In gold may well cherish the stirring story of General Gen-eral Connor. The tablet over bis poplar shaded (rave fa but a small token of the debt that the present and the future owe his memory. "Hie Father of Uuh Minm" ; OUT of the romance of Utah's past the almost legendary figure of General Patrick Pat-rick Edward Connor marches today across the field of honored memory. 4 A busy generation pauses, three score ears and eight after his hbtoric eutrance into Salt Lake, to pay tribute to him as "The Father of Utah Mining." At hort Douglas, which General Connor founded, a bronze tablet was fittingly placed in the cemetery this Memorial day to commemorate com-memorate the significant part he played in the history of this stale. There, over the grave of the famous general, the tablet will remind our children and their children down through the ears of a remarkable character in the economic upbuilding of Utah. ; General Connor was a fighting Irishman e born near the lakes of Killarney in Kerry county, March 17, 1820. He came as a lad with his parents to the United States, and at the age of IS dedicated his life to warring for his adopted country. In Florida, in Texas during the Mexican war, in California and throughout the west he battled. He was one of the greatest Indian fighters of the early .west. Lut he had a practical eye and caught the vision of Utah exploiting its untouched mineral resources. General Connor sent liis soldiers on fur lough into the mountains in search of ore. On September 17, 1 86.1, a find was made that was defined to mold the future of the commonwealth. The general's men were descending de-scending the steep eminence above what is the preent cilv of Binhgam. One of the prospecting soldiers, George B. Ogilvie, slum-Lied slum-Lied over a boulder of lich silver-lead ore and thus uncovered the outcrop of one of the bicgest silver-lead mines in the world. Ogilvie Ogil-vie and his comrades that afternoon staked off the first mining claim to be located in the slate of Utah. The stalwart general went out to capture the underground wealth of this mountain country with the same spirit that he conquered con-quered Indians. He opened up mines in Ophlr, Stockton and other camps, and built the first commercial smelter at Stockton. He left ro vast personal fortune, but to future generations his tireless efforts bequeathed the blupendous Utah mining industry. The foresight of the Irish fighter gave Tie to an industry that was to produce ft,-6ft. ft,-6ft. 725,4 JJ worth of metal in sixty-six Ijeirj and pay J J.O.Sou.ouO in dividends. |