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Show The History of Miniii" in Utah I I ' V '8 -s i mm A General P. E. Connor who became known as "Father of Utah Mining," due to aid he gave to early prospecting. (EDITOn'S NOTE: Thi la the fifth of erieu of ivht mrtirlei on the history of th metal minlnt industry in Utah.) The important discoveries of gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc did not come until the early sixties. Those who came to Utah eaerly turned their attention to reclaiming the soil. They were compelled to do this or perish, and in doing so laid the foundation for an imperishable im-perishable state. Prospecting in Utah received, its real impetus with the arrival of a regiment of soldiers from California Califor-nia under the command of General Patrick E. Connor, who founded Fort Douglas in 1862. General Connor's regiment was made up in California largely of men who nad felt the lure of gold and he encouraged en-couraged his men to prospect for metals during their spare time'. They scoured the hills and vales of Utah, but concentrated their attention on Bingham Gulch, where they discovered and panned gold. First a gold camp, Bingham later became one of the great copper lead districts of the world. The discoveries made by the soldiers sol-diers attracted attention of others and mining development progressed pro-gressed from then on. As a result, General Connor became known as the "Father of Mining in Utah." It was George P. Ogilvie who made the first lode discovery and filed the first claim in Utah. On Octoer 17, 1863. Ogilvie who was hauling logs from Bingham Canyon, Can-yon, came upon a nob of galena. He posted notice of his discovery and recorded the Jordan claim. In Decomber 1865, the West Mountain Mining district was organized or-ganized under the laws of California, Cali-fornia, and from the district were shipped the first ores from the territory. (The sixth article in this series will appear soon in these columns.) |