Show world Waits for alamin aluminum from I 1 A dozen utah counties po point int with pride to mines mind of gold silver and lead but butone crip only can afi boast in addition to fo tb these tresea esea a mineral in universal demand and that in unlimited quantity the area around marysvale Marys vale has i so far as known P lyof 11 alunite the rock from 1 which aluminum is extracted adventure and romance attended d the discovery and cevelo development mant of the silver lead and gold de depos po a its which I 1 first lured prospectors prospect ori to marysvale Marys vale ani and the adjacent territory originally marysvale Marys Mery vale was not marysvale Marys Mary vale at all nor inor was wa it a mining settlement beautiful trees frees and sparkling waters made it a summer camping spot so ideal that mormon church leaders on an exploring expedition in 1856 called it Merr merryville its present name was adopted later frank E king started a ranch there while he raised calves an old california miner named hewitt panned for gold the miner found colors along pine creek jacob hess arid ebenezer hanks in 1869 tried sluicing this failed but crossing the creek they discovered a lode and filed on the webster the first mineral location in plute county the ore was rich but transportation cost was prohibitive and a homemade home made smelter did not work some prospectors flocked in good crop droppings pings were found but no one could afford the wagon haul to salt lake city joseph smith from silver reef stopping at a ranch south of marys vale went deer hunting one day in a path worn deep by migrating herds he saw the gleam of metal tests showed high values in silver lead and gold diggings began in 1873 and about tons ons of 85 ore bre w was a s hauled miles to the nearest railroad point and shipped the ore body proving large attempts were made to mill it not however until the salisbury brothers of salt lake city blocked out a great tonnage and erected a modem mill did the deer beer trail become a bonanza at one ti methis mine had a monthly payroll of more than employed men and paid taxes of about a year it Is wor worked ked now by some 50 leasers leaders lea sers after the completion of a railroad to marysvale Marys vale the webster mine was enabled to send ore out to the smelters shelters sm elters the wedge on a peak south of the webster startled the public by the extreme richness of its gold seams some of which are said to have averaged to the ton these high values encouraged prospecting for gold in the mountains northwest of marysvale Marys vale ore was first discovered there in 1888 by douglass of fillmore in one claim a shaft struck rock worth per ton in gold and his partners formed a company and built a ton mill surrounding claims struck ore peter kimberly of chicago and associates acquired the annie laurie and other groups the camp was christened kimberly at the annie laurie Ki kimberly aberly erected a 1300 ton i mill and employed men about more men were put to work by other mines and prospects I 1 by 1900 the little camp had bei come ome a a prosperous town during I 1 eight t years oi 0 1 operation b by y the annie laurie plute county ordinarily b p poor collected more money in taxes than it needed flush days ended the annie laurie was sold east by the kimberly in interests and in 1916 wasla was taken ken over by B V F bauer of salt lake the price of gold was advanced bauer improved the camp remodeled the mill and in 1938 disposed of the property to a nen New newyork York syndicate N near e dx it marysvale Marys arys vale masses of a pink sp spar ae had long piqued the curiosity of tom gillan samples sent to washington by A E ouster custer ouse cuse a salt laki lake city assayer assay e r revealed 38 per cent aluminum 37 per cent sulphur and 11 per cent potash gillan and J U sargent had already located heated some cla claims ms the first locations of alunite on record the the potash content was hailed as a means of breaking the german monopoly of that product after the world war started it became indispensable A process for its recovery was devised by howard chapell and in 1910 the all lan ian sargent claims were bought by the mineral products corporation tion spurred by the war demand the corporation established a plant for the production of sulphate ul phate of potash between october 1915 and december 1920 more than tons of high grade alunite was mined and treated at a cost of a month meanwhile the demand for aluminum for airplanes streamline trains ships wire furniture paint and industries still in the making grows day by day and a broad market for this unique product of Marys vales hills will be waiting when technical im improvements na remove present obstacles |