CHAPTER VI.

UTAH.

The past year witnessed a sudden and extensive development of mining in this Territory. As long ago as 1863 General P. Edward Connor, in command of the California volunteers, discovered veins of argentif erous lead and other silver ores in Little Cottonwood Cañon, southeast of Salt Lake City, and near Stockton, forty miles southwest; and gold placers of moderate richness were opened in Brigham Cañon. The opposition of the Mormon authorities, the cost of transportation, and the difficulty experienced in the treatment of the "base-metal" ores, caused the earlier mining enterprises of Utah to languish and fail. In 1868 and 1869, I found no mines in productive operation excepting the placers of Brigham Cañon, which were worked on a small scale, and are said to have yielded during the past three years between $600,000 and $1,000,000. In 1869, however, a few parties were preparing to take advantage of the facilities offered by the railroad; and experiments of a metallur gical character were in progress at Salt Lake City. It was the development of the Emma mine which gave the needed impetus to enterprises of this kind; and the summer of 1870 effected a great change in the condition and prospects of Utah mines. The opposition of the Mormon authorities has apparently been withdrawn. Indeed, one reason, shrewdly given me by Mr. Brigham Young, three years ago, for discouraging the attempts of his people to engage in mining, has now ceased to exist. During the infancy of the Mormon settlements, he said, and while the very existence of the community depended upon agriculture, he professed to dread the diversion of industry from the great work of reclaiming the desert soil. He might well have quoted the case of Captain John Smith and the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, as an instance of the folly of such a course; only, in that case, after the colonists had wasted the season in digging gold dust, neglecting meanwhile to plant their crops, and had sent their ship-load of shining treasure to England, they had nothing to comfort them in their famine but the tidings that their precious cargo was not gold at all, but glittering mica, (and possibly pyrites;) whereas the mineral resources of Utah are not a vain dream. But agriculture was to the Mormons not only the means of supporting life; it was a source of great commercial profit. Far into the mining districts of other Territories went the Mormon trading-trains, carrying grain and vegetables; while the endless procession of immigrants across the continent paid tribute on the way to the farmers of Salt Lake. A third reason for dislike to mining on the part of the religious authorities may have been the fear of contact with outnumbering Gentiles.

The completion of railway connections with the East and West has totally changed the situation. The Mormons are no longer commercially isolated; they have lost their control of interior traffic; the market close at hand of a mining population is welcome to them in a business point of view; their agriculture and their population are too well established to be in danger from the new industry; they can no longer help themselves if they would; and, finally, they have to a considerable extent caught the prevailing fever, and are locating and prospecting ledges with truly Gentile zeal. Mr. Young is said to be encouraging

the movement; and the party in his church hostile to him is vigorously engaged in furthering all mining enterprises.

I intend to present in my report for next year the results of a careful reconnaissance of these new and productive districts; and I shall content myself at present with brief general observations. I am under obligations to Messrs. Eli B. Kelsey, Ellsworth Daggett, and others for interesting information on several points.

The following account of different districts was furnished in December, 1870, by Mr. Kelsey:

The minerals consist mostly of the base metals, of which lead is the chief, carrying silver, and in some cases gold, in quantities varying from a few ounces to one hundred and fifty ounces of the former metal to the ton. Valuable discoveries have been made of chlorides and "horn-silver" of surprising richness, varying in actual assay value from $500 to $27,000 per ton. Assays have been had from the ore taken from the Silveropolis mine in East Canyon, owned and worked by Messrs. Walker Brothers and others, of $20,000 per ton. Shipments of a number of car-loads of ore have been made from this mine that yielded a net return of $6,666 per car-load of ten tons.

Ore has been taken from the Shamrock mine in East Cañon, that assayed as high as $27,000 per ton. This mine is owned and worked by Mr. William M. Fliess, Mr. William C. Rodgers, merchants of New York City, Mr. W. S. Godbe, of Salt Lake City, and others. Shipments have been made from this mine which have given returns of from $1,800 to $5,600 per ton. I speak of these two mines as an evidence that, although nine-tenths of the mineral veins yet prospected in Utah show the base metals, lead and copper, we are not without the richer ores.

History of the mining-camps.-The mineral developments in Utah are still in their infancy, and but few mining-camps have as yet been established. The following districts are fully organized and in a very prosperous condition:

The "Mountain Lake" district, of which Little Cottonwood Cañon forms the chief feature, lies southeast of Salt Lake City, and distant about twenty-five miles from the terminus of the Utah Central Railroad.

The first fully developed mine in Utah, the "Emma," is in this cañon. In fact, the results attained in the development of this mine gave an impetus to mining in Utah that surpasses all other efforts made in that direction put together. At a depth of 127 feet the prospectors of this mine struck a lake of mineral of vast extent, which now yields a clear profit on shipments made to Swansea, in Wales, of near $120 per ton. Many thousands of tons of ore (by measurement) are in sight in this mine, undoubtedly of equal richness to that now being shipped. There are many mineral lodes now being worked in Little Cottonwood and the adjacent cañons-Big Cottonwood and American Fork-which yield ore equal to, and in some cases far exceeding in value, the ore taken from the Emma mine, but in quantity the Emma has no equal in Utah. The Union Mining Company, of which General Maxwell is president, W. S. Godbe vice-president, and H. W. Lawrence treasurer, own a large number of valuable ledges in Little Cottonwood, which they are opening rapidly and very effectually. Mr. John Cummins, of Salt Lake City, is owner of several valuable mines in the same locality. West Mountain mining district, of which Bingham Cañon and its tributaries form the chief feature, is situated about twenty-five miles southwest of Salt Lake City, on the eastern slope of the Oquirrh range of mountains. Bingham Cañon has been noted for some years as the only locality in Utah Territory where placer-mining has prospered. Over $600,000 worth of gold dust has been sold to the bankers and merchants of Salt Lake City from this camp within the last three years. When the sums carried away and otherwise disposed of by the miners are taken into account in making up an estimate, the sum-total of the yield in gold dust from Bingham Cañon placer for the last three years will not fall far short of $1,000,000.

Messrs. Taylor & Woodman have entered into contracts with the owners of near three miles of the gulch-claims of this cañon, to put on the necessary engines and pumps for the prospecting and working the bed-rock of the main gulch, which lies from 80 to 100 feet below the surface. The best-informed parties think that the gulch bed-rock of Bingham Cañon will prove equally as rich as the famed "Alder Guich” of Montana. Messrs. Taylor & Woodman have imported and have now on the ground a twenty-horse engine and the necessary pumping apparatus for exploring the mysteries of Bingham Cañon Gulch.

Messrs. Heaton, Campbell & Co. are now working the bed-rock of this gulch, near the mouth of Carr Fork, which they have reached, after two years' labor and the expenditure of $15,000, by a long drain-tunnel. They inform me that they are averaging $12 per day to the hand, notwithstanding the imperfect manner in which they are at present obliged to work their ground. They have not, as yet, run any side-drifts, and at present raise all their dirt by a windlass worked by two men. When we take

into consideration the fact that from the "pay-dirt" excavated by one drifter enough gold is washed to pay six hands $12 per day each, or a total of $72, abundant evidence is given that the gulch of Bingham is very rich in gold.

The mineral lodes in Bingham Cañon and its tributaries are very numerous, continuous, and well defined. They are mostly found in the igneous formations. The various species of the granite and quartzite rocks characterize the mineral-bearing region of the West Mountain mining district so far as prospected. The belt of igneous rocks, or core of the upheaval, traversing Utah from northeast to southwest, is nearly twenty miles in width. The granites appear at the base of the Wasatch Range, east side of Salt Lake Valley, and disappear near the head of all the northwest forks of Bingham Canyon.

What the experiences of the future may demonstrate no one can tell-"the miner's light but seldom going beyond the end of his pick." So far, however, as explorations have gone in the various mining-camps now organized in Utah, and in which the chief part of the labors expended in prospecting our mineral treasures has been performed, the fact that the richer chlorides, and that mining anomaly "horn-silver," prevail in the lime formations, has been demonstrated. The mineral veins found in the lime formations are "pockety" and of uncertain development when compared to those found in the granite formations. That the richer ores will be found in the lime formations may, therefore, be looked for hereafter; but for large, well-defined mineral veins, continuons and of more certain development, we must look to our granite formations. Pockets of great extent and richness have been found in the lime formations of Little Cottonwood and other localities. There are quite a number of mineral veins now being prospected in Bingham Cañon at depths varying from fifty to over three hundred feet, which show true fissure veins of paying ores varying from four to seventeen feet in thickness.

Stockton district.-These camps lie on the western slope of the Oquirrh range of mountains-Stockton forty miles, and East Cañon fifty-five miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Stockton is probably the oldest camp in Utah. General Connor, when in command of the Utah expedition of the California volunteers, bestowed the chief part of his labors in the development of the minerals of Utah in this locality. The great drawbacks experienced by this camp have mainly arisen from the fact that most of the ledges located had from six to twelve shareholders each, who, after years of fruitless efforts to develop their mines, scattered to all points of the compass in search of means to sustain themselves. At the time those explorations were made, it was impossible to make mining a success in Utah, for the following reasons:

The cost of transportation, before the completion of the Pacific roads, varied from $300 to $400 per ton to the Atlantic coast, and from $250 to $300 per ton to the Pacific coast. Without the facilities afforded by the great iron highway across the continent, the mineral treasures of Utah would to-day be utterly unavailable. The impossibility of securing concert of action from the widely scattered owners and prospectors of the mineral lodes in the Stockton district induced a minority of the shareholders to adopt the dangerous expedient of "jumping" the claims of absentees, thus rendering titles to mining interests in that locality uncertain. However, numerous discoveries of mineral veins, many of which prospect very finely, have been located since the "jumping" of claims, before alluded to, took place, the titles to which are as clear as any in Utah. New discoveries are being made almost daily in this district.

General Connor's faith in the ultimate success of the Stockton district remains unshaken. He is better acquainted with the mineral resources of the Territory and has done more toward their development than any other one man.

Ophir district.-East Cañon mining camp is less than six months old. In this camp the discoveries of the rich chlorides and horn-silver, assaying from $500 to $27,000 per ton, turned the heads of some of the oldest miners and filled the pockets of the fortanate ones as well. East Cañon abounds with the base metals carrying silver in paying quantities. In those base-metal mines lies the "back-bone" of the future of this camp.

The Tintic Valley mining camps are situated about seventy miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The core of the upheaval, traversing Utah from northeast to southwest, runs through the Tintic mining district, flanked on each hand by the lime formations. Therefore we look to the Tintic district not only for large, continuous, and well-defined mineral veins of base metals in the granite formatious, but the reasonable supposition is that, by prospecting the lime formations on either hand, the rich chlorides will be found as plentiful there as in the Wasatch Range or the western slope of the Oquirrh Range. Valuable discoveries are being made in the Tintic district almost daily. A friend of mine brought a load of ore from Tintic, evidently selected without skill, as the croppings from the surface were included. This load of ore, when crushed and sampled at the works of Messrs. Howland & Co., assayed $117 per ton in silver and 25 per cent. lead.

The only thing now wanting to make Tintic one of our most flourishing mining dis

trict is capital, to enable the miners to prospect their lodes and erect smelting furnaces for the working of their ores on the spot, and thus save the heavy freightage now paid on crude matter to Salt Lake City.

The Mount Nebo district eighty miles, the Sevier district two hundred miles, south of Salt Lake City, and the Meadow Valley district two hundred and forty miles southwest of Salt Lake City, are rich in minerals.

Mr. Kelsey's statements are indorsed by Messrs. Gould & Woodward, Walker Brothers, Kimball & Lawrenc, Godbe & Co., Marshall & Carter, and Kahn Brothers, merchants of Salt Lake City, and by Vernon H. Vaughn, the governor, and C. H. Hempstead, the United States.attorney of the Territory.

Estimate of costs of mining ores in West Mountain district, Salt Lake County, Territory of Utah, reported by Eli B. Kelsey, December 20, 1870.

Population of district, 400 souls; wages of first-class miners, $3 per day; wages of second-class miners, $2 50 per day; wages of surface laborers, $2 per day; cost of lumber, $4 per 100 feet; cost of mining timber, $6 per cord; cost of common powder, $5 per keg; cost of quicksilver, 80 cents per pound; cost of freight from Salt Lake City, $15 per ton; cost of fuel, wood, $4 per cord; mining cost per ton of ore, $5 per ton, (average facilities poor from total want of machinery;) depth of mines, from 100 to 400 feet; character of rock, etc., granite, quartzite, and hornblende; reduction, smelting a failure as yet-no mills.

REMARKS.-Our mining developments are yet in their infancy. The number of mineral veins is very great, with well-defined wall-rocks in all those yet worked. Veins from one foot to fifty feet in thickness. The mines in Bingham Cañon and its tributaries, which comprise the West Mountain mining district, are mostly base-metal mines, carrying from 10 ounces to 150 ounces of silver to the ton of 2,000 pounds. There are several mineral veins of gold and silver bearing quartz, none of which are developed to any considerable extent; one of them, the Silesia, gives an average assay of $50 per ton. There are no stampmills in the Territory except one or two small ones in Meadow Valley. A great number of quartz-mills are contracted for, to be delivered here in the spring, mostly for East Cañon, Rush Valley, fifty miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

Messrs. Walker Brothers report having shipped during the six months ending December 31, 1870, 4,200 tons of galena ores, of an average assay value of 35 per cent. of lead and $182 in silver per ton, the net value being $125 per ton. Almost all of this was from the Emma mine.

The following are the prices reported in January, 1871, as paid in Salt Lake City by California buyers for Utah ores: Ore containing 50 ounces silver and 30 per cent. lead, per ton, $22; 50 ounces silver and 40 per cent. lead, per ton, $30 60; 50 ounces silver and 50 per cent. lead, per ton, $38; 50 ounces silver and 60 per cent. lead, per ton, $45; 50 ounces silver and 70 per cent. lead, per ton, $53; 50 ounces silver and 80 per cent. lead, per ton, $61.

In addition to the above rates, $10 per ton, additional, is paid for each 10 ounces of silver over 50 ounces per ton. Every tenth sack of ore is crushed and sampled for assay, and the ore is paid for as soon as assayed. This ore is all shipped to San Francisco and is there smelted, and the lead as well as the silver is made a marketable commodity.

Almost all the Utah ores have, however, been, up to the end of 1870, shipped east over the Union Pacific. The amount is given by the San Francisco Scientific Press as follows:

Which must, however, include shipments of ores and matte from Colorado, and perhaps Nevada.

I am indebted to Mr. Charles Smith, of the Emma Silver Mining Company, for the following statement of shipments of ore and bullion over the Utah Central Railroad, from January 13, 1870, to December 31, 1870. These figures are taken from the way-bill records of the road, by courteous permission of D. O. Calder, esq.

2,968 tons of ore were shipped east to Chicago, Boston, Newark, and New York.

2,325 tons of ore were shipped west to San Francisco, Reno, and Truckee.

Total, 5, 293 tons of ore.

The bullion shipments of the same period were 2 tons to England, and 6 tons to San Francisco.

These totals may seem small to some, but it must be remembered that the Emma Silver Mining Company, which forwarded the largest portion of it, did not commence shipping until July, 1870. These shipments are therefore really the product of six months, rather than a year.

Estimating the value of the ore shipped at $182 per ton (the value of the 4,200 tons shipped by Walker & Co. from the Emma mine) and that of the bullion at $400 per ton, we have $966,726 as the probable value of the shipments by railroad. Allowing, further, $300,000 for the gold of Bingham Cañon, and a small sum for private shipments not waybilled, we have, as the probable product of Utah, for the year 1870, the sum of $1,300,000. In this estimate the Meadow Valley mines are not included, as they are now generally acknowledged to lie within the boundary of Nevada.

A correspondent writing from Salt Lake early in the autumn thus reviews the mining field:

Utah makes quite a show in the way of minerals. Iron ore is known to exist in several places in large amounts. In Iron County works were built in 1852, and a small quantity of ore was smelted, but want of proper fuel compelled a suspension of operations. The Union Iron Company had two furnaces in operation in January, 1869, and one in the course of construction. Coal has been found in quite extensive beds, but principally in the neighborhood of Coalville, Summit County. Copper, lead, silver, zine, and sulphur occur, and different sorts of building stone abound. The mines at the Little and the Big Cottonwood Cañons, twenty-eight miles southeast of Salt Lake City, are the center of the present mining excitement. Communication is had with these places by a stage, which runs three times a week. The largest mine at Little Cottonwood is the Emina ledge, located in August, 1868. In July, thirty-one car-loads of ore were shipped from the ledge, and that month upward of $3,000 were paid for hauling. The cost of transportation (by team to Salt Lake City, and thence by rail) to New Jersey, and the expenses of treatment, amount to $90 per ton, but the ore sent averages, I am told, nearly $200 per ton. There are twenty men employed here extracting the rock, of which some fifteen tons are obtained daily. A tunnel is