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Show GOLD HILL - ITS STORY . - w. t , , t, v" - V r . V - I . ",'Vf r '-...-..: -7-VT-J . we tefn Uh Copper ' 4 By GEORGE H. SHORT INDIAN fights, milling ventures, profits from poison and wealth from a ningle-handed gold mining min-ing operation are some ol the colorful color-ful features In the history of Gold Hill at the western end of Tooele oounty, Utah. Officially the area Is the Clifton Mining district. Its metropolis Is a "ghost" town, of about 30 Inhabitants, In-habitants, 190 miles west of Salt Lake City and 43 miles south of Wendover, with which it Is connected con-nected by rail. Prospectors, heading toward California, were intrigued by gold specimens In 1858, but It was not until 1869 that white men subdued the Indians and began real mining. district was organized in that year. By 18S0 some BOO claims had been located of which about BO Were being worked sporadically. 8hlpplng being precluded by distance dis-tance and poor roads, smelting was undertaken on a small scale in 1871 and 1872. The combined efforts ef-forts of the promotors resulted in the recovery of a few hundred tons Of lead bullion containing silver. From 1877 little was doing in the Bew camp until 1892 when CoL J. t. Woodman, with a fortune made at Tlntic, came looking for gold. Acquiring the Cane Springs and Alvarado groups, he installed a mall amalgamating mlH. With an average recovery of $10 a ton the mill saved in four years, it is reported, re-ported, about $300,000. Woodman's death in 1S97 halted operations. The copper boom of 1905 focused attention on the red metal. Obtaining Obtain-ing several properties near Gold Hill, Duncan MacVlchle and associates asso-ciates organized the Western Utah Copper Co., sank a 700-foot shaft and procured the building of the railroad branch from Wendover. When the boom subsided, only 104,-000 104,-000 tons of copper ore had been hipped and the company was glad to sell its mine to Frank Rowley, a textile manufacturer of Rhode Island. Ignoring copper, Rowley went after scorodite, an arsenic ore then In great demand to suppress sup-press a boll-weevil invasion of the cotton fields. This paid well while the boll-weevil lasted. More ar-aenlc ar-aenlc was developed in a property owned by Jacob Gerster. Its sale brought him $50,000. The claims passed eventually to the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Co. Arsenic ceased to be profitable, fcut silver, gold and lead in the shipments were more encouraging and may cause the property, now idle, to be worked ugaln by the smelting company. Smaller, but more remunerative were the operations of Leffler Palmer in a little gold mine known as the "Rube", near Gold Hill. Palmer discovered it himself after his return from the World war and, by himself, picked gold from a seam that was to bring him a small fortune. It was spoken of as the "oue man mine". The slowly-filled cars brought Palmer about $6,000 each from the smelter. Over a period of several years he is said to have extracted about $112,000 In gold at a total expense of $22,-000. $22,-000. In 1933 Mr. Palmer accepted the bid of a Los Angeles moving picture actor for the Rube. An attempt at-tempt to increase production by widening the cut diluted the ore to such an extent that deficits replaced re-placed profits and the mine was closed down. The Cane Springs mine, Idle after the death of CoL Woodman, was leased In 1931 by Salt Lake City operators. For two years the operation was carried on with success. suc-cess. Approximately 2000 tons of ore of an average value of $10.78 per ton was shipped to a Salt Lake smelter. As depth Increased heavier machinery was needed. A New York syndicate was interested and formed a company to take over the lease and option. Water and other troubles made the work unprofitable un-profitable and led to the failure of the company. The Cane Springs has since been idle. The recorded production of the ,Gold Hill region up to 1930 his been: Ore (tons) 219,611 Gold (ounces) 20,224 Silver (ounces) 751,432 Copper (pounds) 8,185,944 Lead (pounds) 8,332,825 Zinc (pounds) 16,997 Arsenic (tons) 75,000 Value (dollars) $2,952,885 ' It Is evident that a gross mineral miner-al production of around $3,000,000 Is not a great contribution to the state's economic importance, never- ; theless the region has given employment em-ployment to many people at times as many as 150 men and it has supported a few people at all times. ( In the writer's opinion, the ar-senlo ar-senlo deposits are able to supply j a very large tonnage of ores if and when there is a market for arsenic. ar-senic. The gold deposits are numerous, num-erous, though comparatively small, and these can be developed Into profitable small-scale operations that will last for many years. |