. C H A P T E R XI.

Mmm AND MIMNQ-UTAH ANDWmlmo.

UTAH is well represented in minerals, although as

" yet only a few have been largely developed. Yet
mining iu, the surrounding territories had an early and
marked influence upon her destiny, striking a blow a t
the seclusion of the community, while inciting to trade
and intercourse. For California the Mormon settle-
ments served as a half-way station, and divested the
journey of many of its terrors, affording the traveller
an opportunity for rest and recuperation. The church
lost a few members, smitten by the gold fever, but
gained many accessions from the overland current of
immigration ; partly from tired wayfarers gladdened
by the sight of peaceful farms and villages, doubly
inviting after their toilsome march ; partly from a
direct influx of Europeans, who, regarding Utah and
Califordia as almost identical, hastened hither, and
were persuaded to remain.
Iron was found during the first years of occupation
in different localities and in immense deposits. A t
Smithfield, in Cache county, were beds of hematite
sixty feet in thickness. On the Provo river near
Bamoe, on the Weber, near Ogden, on the Waaatch,
(='I
 IRON. 261

near Willard and Bountiful, a t T i i c , a t City Creek

caiion in the Cottonwoods, in deserts and. mountains,
ores were disclosed in almost every variety, except in
the form of carbonates. The largest deposits were in
Iron county, in what may be termed the southern pro-
longation of the Wasatch range. The most remarkable
outcrops were in the neighborhood of Iron Sprinas,
Iron City, and Oak City. I n the Big Blowout, a sokd
mass of magnetic ore near Iron Springs, with a
length of 1,000 feet and half that width, it is esti-
mated that there are 3,000,000 tons near the surface.
Other deposits each exhibit 1,000,000 tons, and it is
probable that the district contains 50,000,000 tons on
or near the surface, while the ledges are practically
inexhaustible and of excellent quality. Analyses
give from 60 to 64 per cent of iron, 12 of phospho~us,
4.8 to 6 of silica, and of sulphur a trace. The draw-
back to exploitation, so far undertaken chiefly by thep
Great Western iron works of Iron City, and by the
Ogden iron works, lies in the scarcity of coking-coal,
which, however, promises to be overcome, and m the
limited market, more distant territories possessing -
cheaper sources of supply.
The scarcity of timber and the discoveries of iron
induced the territorial legislature in 1854 to offer a
premium for a profitable vein of coal within forty
miles of Salt Lake City. This gave additional zest
to exploration, and by 1880 more than 120,000 acres
of coal lands had been surveyed in eleven different
counties. Three years later the area z f such lands
was estimated a t 20,000 square miles. L The largest
deposits are found on the eastern slope of the
Wasatch, extending at intervals Gom the Uintah
reservation through Sanpete, Pleasant, and Castle
valleys, as far as Kanab, on the Colorado. Unfo.rtu-
nately the beds are of recent and not what is termed
the true coal formation, yielding little coke suitable
for smelting. The veins are also, as a rule, too
 162 MINE9 AND MINING-UTAH AND WYObfINO.

broken or small to be remunerative. Yet on the

Weber, for miles above Echo City, the coal is of fair
, quality for household and steam-producing purposes,
drawn partly from a depth of more than 1,000 feet.
At Evanstown is a vein nineteen feet thick. Coal-
ville has until recently'supplied most of the north-
*tern towns. The deposits in Sanpete valley are val-
dable, altho h the seams range only from six inches
'Y
to six feet. n the mountains to the south and east
veins of from 10 to 12 feet are worked. Analyses from
Sanpete give 50.7 per cent: of coke, 34.2 of bitumen, '
13.3 of ash, and 1.8 of moisture ; from Castle valley
48.2 of carbon, 1.9 of ash and 40.6 of volatile matter,
the coke showing 94 per cent of fixed carbon.
These exceptional features helped to increap the
yield from 4,500 tons in 1869 to 60,000 tons in 1878,
the latter amount covering half of the consumption,
and the remainder being supplied by Wyoming. It
is anticipted that further developments will be
made to meet the demand for iron works. Thus in
Utah as in England, whence her population h s been ~
largely drawn, is demonstrated the supremacy of coal
as a primary factor for fostering mining and manu-
facturing. industries, with the attendant growth of
settlements, with railways, trade, and other wealth-
creating adjuncts.
Copper is found in moat of the mining districts,
usually in connection with other metals. It is most
abundant in southern Utah, where rich ores occur in
the sandstone--; but the on1 mines developed in 1883
f
were in the northwest ang e of the territory, where
veins averaging seven or eight feet in width, enclosed
,
in micaceous shale and intermingled with porphyry,
yielded as much as fifty per cent of metal. The pro-
duction between 1870 and 1883 was estimated a t
1,000 tons, and sold in New York for about $300,000.
Lead is found in abundance in connection with sil-
ver, and between 1870 and 1883 over 250,000 tons
 SOME OF THE BASE M E l W S . 263 .

were produced, worth on the Atlantic coast $23,000,-

000. Tin has been reported near Ogden. Beds of
sulphur exist in the south and north, the largest, in
Millard county, covering 300 acres to a depth of fully
20 feet. In Beaver county, south of Frisco, are
deposits of singular purity among fissures of silicious
flint, but of no commercial value. Near Brigham .
City are sulphurets of antimony, averaging four feet v

in thickness, and yielding some twenty-five per cent of

pure metal. In Piute and G d e l d counties are purer
and larger formations. um and mica abound
GYP"
especially in the south ; the atter also on the south-
east bank of Great Salt lake.:. East of Nephi is a vein
of gypsum 1,200 feet long and 100 feet wide. Cin-
nabar, cobalt, and bismuth occur, the last in paying
quantities in Beaver county and at Titic. Near the
great lake is a solid mountain of rock salt, and west
of it large quantities of saleratus. The carbonate of
soda found in Emigration calion was used by the first
settlers for baking. I n the iron beds ochre is plenti-
ful, and under the shale, which covers a surface of
1,000 square miles, occurs 'the so-called mineral wax,
some of it rich in gases and paridbe. Alum is found
in all parts, in combination with other minerals, and
in Sanpete county and Promontory range are vast
beds of alum shale.
Building stone exists throughout the territory in
great variety, notably anite at Little Cottonwood ;
red sandstone at Red 8;uttes near Salt Lake City;
white sandstone in Sanpete, and limestone, easily
quarried, at Logan. Marbles of all colors and capa-
bl6 of the finest polish are found, especially along the
4: east slope of the upper lakes, those from Lovan being
host in demand. The green and purple s h e from
Antelope island is preferred to the eastern product for
man purposes. Clays of various descriptions are
avai%ble for brioky.rds, potteries, and porcelain fac-
tories.
264 AND MNING-UTAH AND WYOMINO.

Pmqwcting for precioas metale wae long diicoun-

tenanced by the church, mainly with a view to re-
vent the influx of gentiles, and @ly becauae o its
demo-
f
tendencies. Gold placers were not dis-
covered to any considerable extent, but silver depos-
its, with a considerable admixture of the yellow metal,
lay scattered in all directions; and they would no
doubt have long remained undisturbed under the
ecclesiastical ban, had not the disclosures in Nevada
caused gentiles to search for them. In 1863 paptain
& Heitz and his followers from the military camp
d i v e r e d argentiferous galena and copper in Brig-
ham &ion, on the east slope of the Oquirrh range.
In September of that year a man named Ogdbie
located a mine, the beginning of the mining district
of West mountain, which extends between Black
Rock and the southern end of Great Salt lake, and
contained in 1871 three dozen mines.
The find created an excitement among both Mor-
mons and gentiles, and prospecting and locating of
mines were actively prosecuted. I n 1863 the Rush
valley district was organized on the western slope of
Oquirrh, a segregation of the preceding district.
Within two years 400 claims had been taken .up, cen-
tring round Stockton. The ores we& sulphuretsand
carbonates of argentiferous lead, with an aveihge
assay of $5'5 per tou. I n the Ophii district, subse-
quently formed a t this point, assays of chloride ores
reached $5,000 per ton. In the extreme southern
end of thii ra e lay the Tintic district, where the
%
first mine, the unbeam, was opened in 1869. Upon
its ledge there were in 1882 nine locations, selected
ores from which caniedfrom 80 to 100 ounces of silver,
besides gold, copper, and lead. The Crismon may be
taken as a representative mine, and yielded on an
average about $35 per ton in gold and silver.
The first d i i v e r y of silver-bearing rock in the
Wasatch range was made by General Connor in per-
son, at the head of Little Cottonwood caiion. The
 THE PRECIOUS METAU. -. eSa

fir& ore was galena, then 'carbonate of lead, both in

chimneys. Shipments began in 1868, but the syste-
matic opening of the mines was deferred for two
years, until the dompletion of the Utah Central rail-
way. They embraced the famous Emma, located in
1869, and yielding over $2,000,000 for the eighteen
months ending in 1872. It was thereupon foisted by
swindling operations upon English capitalists for
$5,000,000. The adjacent Flagstaff produced by 1882
more than $3,000,000 worth of ore. Immediately to
the north la the Big Cottonwood district, wherein
?
hundreds o claims were taken up. To the south
extended the American Fork district, now embracing
also the Silver Lake district. TheMiier claim, belong-
. in to this group, sold for $190,000, but in 1882 the
~ i v e Bell
r was .the l e a d i i mine. Eastward, in the
Uintah and Blue Ledge districts, at Park City, the
famous Ontario mine mas located in 1872. Eleven
years later it had reached a depth of 800 feet in
quartzite formation, averaging $106 per ton, and had
yielded fully $17,000,000, over $6,000,000 being paid
in dividends. Milling and other expenses were $33
per ton. I n 1864 gold was discovered in Brigham
caiion, producing within eight years $1,000,000. B y
1882 the total yield reached $1,500,000 in gold,
$8,800,000 in silver, and $5,000,000 in l e d . The ore
was partly galena, though largely silicious, and decom-
posed near the surface.
Following the W w t c h prolongation southward we
reach the profitable San Francisco district in Beaver
count , 15 miles west of Miilford. The leading mine,
the d o r n Silver, had by 1882 been opened to a depth
of 500 feet in decomposed galena, some 50 feet thick,
and produced about $6,000,000 in silver and lead, one-
fourth being distributed in dividends. The ore of the
adjacent Carbonate mine consisted chiefly of trachyte,
requiring concentration; and the Cave mines, in a
series of limestone caves? had limonite ore near the
surface. I n Washington county, in the basin of the
 266 MlNES IWD MINING-UTAH AND WYOWNG.

Colorado, lay the Harrisburg district, centrin in

Silver Reef, a town incorporated in 1878, an so 8
named from a silver-bearing sandstone reef, 100 miles
p in length, yielding in many places $30 per ton. Leeds,
$
the pioneer location, produced $800,000, and three

'is ' prom

other companies had by 1882 taken out $1,000,00 ,
each. Hundreds of claims, as yet untouched,
ised with consolidation to develop into dividend-pay-
. in properties.
% 1883 there were in Utah perhaps 100 mining =

districts in operation, with 17 smelting and reduction

works, all of modern pattern, producing more than
2,000 tons of bullion per month. . There were 20
quartz-mills, with at least 350 stamps, the cost of a
.-chloridizing mill being $3,000 or $4,000 per stamp.
Among the largest refining establishments a t this
date were the Germania lead works and the Franck-
lyn smelting works on the south Cottonwood, with a
capacity of 40 and 55 tons daily respectively, the
latter e uivalent to 250 tons of crude ore. Mention
should% be made of the sampling works of Scott
& Anderson a t Sandy, with a dapacity of 500 tona
The average cost of mining and hauling, including
dead work, was probably not less than $10 per ton,
and of milling silver ore a t least as much. A t smelt.
ing-works about $28 were charged for. smelting and
refining, and $25 for freight to New York. A s the
average yield of galena ores,,which form the bulk of
the deposits, is less than $30, these rates were pro-
. hibitory, leaving only a few mines to be classed as
profitable.
For 1869 the product of all the Utah mines in gold,
silver, and lead did not exceed $200,000. Two years
later ithad riaen to $3,000,000, and in 1875 to $7,000,-
000, a t "which figure it stood in 1883, the yield
remaining almost stationary for the two succeeding
years. Between 1870 and 1883 the yield of gold
exceeded $2,000,000, and of silver $45,800,000, the
total output of all metals reaching $71,500,000, or an
 average of $5,500,000 a year. Most of this came
from a few rich districts. Against it must be placed
the expenses, which in the aggregate may be esti-
mated at $10,000,000 a year. The large deficit must,
however, be mainly attributed to improvements and
to excessive rates of wages, so that it is not altogether
a loss, even to foreign investors, who are paying
'

assessments. For Utah the gain is decisive, in the

.addition to capital and population, and in promoting
settlement, with the attendant i n c r e a ~in the values
of property.
I n the adjacent territory of Wyoming, the south-
west corner of which waS formerly a portion of Utah,
the California gold fever first called the attention of
prospectors, and many an emigrant tried the "streams .
en route, although in vain. Father De Smet, the
famous Montana missionary, had spoken of gold indi-
cations in this r ion, observed during his tours in
7
the early forties, ut which his Je~uiticalcaution and
.
hi -regard far the welfare of the natives prevented
him from disclosing. Nothing daunted, thirty men
separated from Douglas' California-bound party in
1852, intent on searching for the metal. Eight over-
took the caravan later, and reported gold on two
streams, presumably in the Black' hills, but not in
s&cient quantity to induce the company to turn
back. The other twenty-two remainea to search
further, but were never heard of, and probably per-
ished from the tomahawk or from hung~r. Fourteen
years later the bones and crumbling implements of
diggers were found near several holes and shafts on
Battle creek, Black hills, which some ascribe to the
' miss' adventurers..
~ s 3 o l o r a d oand ~ o n t a n displayed
a their t i s u r e a ,
the belief was confirmed that the intervening terri-
tory of Wyoming must also contain its share; but
the growing hostility of the Indians, and. their .raids
on passing emigrants deterred prospectors, , I n 1857
 3. .
% ' 268 MINE)) AND MININO-UTAH AND WYOMING. -
.t::
,t':
!:y Lieutenant Warren .advanced from Laramie to the
ti west slope of the Black hills, there to be driven back
by the Sioux; get he found time to report upon its
geology and to declare that gold existed there ji
b'valuable quantities." I n 1859 a government expe-
dition under Captain Reynolds, attended b a scien-
ti& corps under Hayden, explored the BL~
and the region beyond to Powder and Yellowstone
hills,

. rivers. A member of this party is said to have found

gold in Bighorn mountains; but, afraid of losing their
men and the results of their labors, Reynolds and
Hayden bound the discoverer to secrecy, and the
locality could not afterward be traced. Both leaders
admitted in their reports that decided indications of
gold existed in that range, as well as in *he Black
hills, and that different persons had observed nuggets
( in' the possession of the- natives.
So many confirmatory reports failed not in their
effect, and in the beginning of the sixties several par-
ties o anized in adjoining territories to verify them.
. A sm%~ number. of French C-&ins proceeded in
1862 to Bighorn mountains, only to dimppear. In
the following year another company on the way to
Montana examined the Black Hills and took out $180
, in three days; but the season was late and they htu-
ried onward. I n the same ear an expedition left
Montana to prospect the 3%llowstone region, and
made its way to the South pass without finding any
metal. Notwithstanding this failure other Montana
prospectors continued the search, but none were able
to hold out against the natives. The goverhment
troops, moreover, assisted in keeping out intruders
from a region conceded to the aborigines, and a party
of over one hundred men from the south wae thus
thwarted at the outset -
Finally, in 1867, deposits were revealed on the
sources of the Sweetwater, by H. Ridell and others,
who discovered the Cariso lode, and made the firat
locations a t the South pass. The gold exietedlargely
 P R O S P ~ G . !B9

in decomposed quartz, which wuld & readily crushed.

The Cariso yielded by means of hand mortara over
.-
$15,000 before the winter set in. The news spread
uickly, and soon fully 700 men were a t work on
%illon creek, a northern branch of the Sweetwater, .
the earliest arrivals being frqm Salt Lake City. It
was necessary even here to keep close together, for
those who ventured far beyond received a more or
less severe. reminder in encounters with Amphoes
and other marauders. Many promising locations
were made, among them Atlantic ledge, six miles
northeast of Cariso, and Miners' Delight two miles
farther. Later in the autumn placers were also
unfolded in gulches along Willow creek. Chief among
. them was the Dakota gulch, to which a ditch five
miles in length was constructed before the winter sea-
son set in.
I n October South Pass City was laid out, and a
few miles beyond rose Atlantic City, which soon
eclipsed the other, counting in 1868 oher 500 inhabit-
ants. Around them were*ormed numerous mining
districts, each containing a hundred or more occu-
pants, and their importance was recognized by the
formation early in 1868 of Carton county, subse- ,

uently-renamed Sweetwater. The Grst trader was

%. Baldwin, one of the original discoverers of the
Cariso, who, after serving in the civil war, had come
to Wind River valley and established a post for Ind-
ian traffic. W. Noble joined in the competition for
miners' custom and in'exploiting on his own account.
H e also engaged large1 in stock-raisin , and rendered
f
good service as a metder of the legis ature.
The Sweetwater districts did not prove so rich or
permanent as had been expeted. I n 1879 the prod-
uct amounted to only $23,000, and three years later
it had fallen to $5,000. Elsewhere developments have
been even leas substantial, notwithstanding the incor-.
poration of several companies. Carbon county is so
k the moet promisii, and claims several d i i c t e
210 MINES AND Ml?SlNQ-UTAE AND WYOMINQ.
with placer and quartz as well as hydraulic mines;
but the grade is low, the Seminole district free mill-
ing ore yielding, for instance, from $12 to $30 per ,
ton. Ore has been exhibited a t Denver from other
sections, as Ferris mountains, Chmmins City, and
Laramie range, but the exploitation is limited. The
Black Hills mines pertain to the adjoining territory
on the east; yet the traffic arising therefrom haa been
la ely shared in by Wyoming.
%yoming is richer in other minerals, as coal; iron,
copper, mica, soda, building-stone, and petroleum, all
of which promise to be sources of profit, when
improved means of conveyance and other adjuncts
shall permit a wider unfolding. Plumbago exists in
F
Crook count graphite in Albany, asbestos and sul-
phur in the ormer and in the Yellowstone region, and
along the Sweetwater have been picked. up agates,
amethysts, and other precious stones.
Coal ranks as the principal deposit, and is found in
Albany, Crook, Johnson, Laramie, Sweetwater, and
Carbon counties, the last owing its name to the
abundance of the ~trata. The report of the Stans-
bury expedition of 1849 also refers to croppings in
Laramie range. I n 1868 coal was found near Evans-
ton, and niining began in the following. year, giving
rise to the town of Almy. The field IS pmhcally
unlimited, and yields a semi-bituminous brown coal of
good quality. The Central Pacific R a i l r d com-
ny gained possession of a la e tract undek the
9
k n e h organization of Rocky ountain Coal and
Iron company of 1870. Two of their own mines
were worked by about 300 miners, producing in De-
cember 1881 nearly 17,000 tons. Near by, the Union
Pacific Railroad company employed nearly 300 men,
who in the same month took out 7,700 tons. The
latter owned mines also at Rock springs, Carbon, and
other points.
Trouble with their white miners, chiefly English
and velsh, caused the Union Pacitic in 1885 to intro-
 GOLD, SILVER, AND IRON. 271

duce Chinese laborers. The month after their a ~ ~ i v a l

' the exasperated white miners at Rock Springs to the
number of 200 attacked the 400 Asiatics with fire-
arms and drove them to the b i s , killing and wound-
ing about 50, burning down their dwellings and -:

destroying their effects, many of the sick and wounded

being cast into the flames. Twoscore houses belong-
- .. ing to the company were also 'consumed, Troops
were sent to aid in suppressing the fiat,. but the mur-
derers could not be brought to justice, owing to the
-
withholding of testimony by the inhabitants. f A few -
of the obnoxious miners were replaced by more sub-
servient Mormons, not belonging to labor organiza-
tions, and the Chi~esewere reinstated under watchful
guardianship, whiie at Evanston 8 still larger force
was employed. The government bas since taken-
steps to indemnify the sufferers from these disgraceful
outrages.
Near Laramie are iron deposits, perhaps the rich-
est in the United States, but difEcult to work. The
Union P q S c company have established works at
that ,point, where they manufactured rails early in
the past decade. The iron mountain of Albany
county yields 85 per cent of pure metal.
Copper is so widely distributed as to hold out
bright promises for future exploitation, A t Rawlina
it assays 40 per cent, with an odnce of silver and
traces of gold. Laramie is especially rich herein, and
several copper-mining districts bave been formed.
The first smelting works were q;Z;Cted at Fairbanks.
At Platte caiion, a few milea west of liramie, the
st.

Wyomin Copper company was organized in 1882 by

A. J. ~a%bitt,a large stock-raiser. The investment
amounted to $200,000, and the yield of the following
, year rose to 1,000,000 pounds of copper.
A mica mine, 20 miles north of Laramie, was sold .
in 1882 to a New York company. which soon after-
. ward commenced operations. Coal-oil exista in five
of the counties,lying near the surface, and resembling
 the best Russian and Rangcon qualities For l~bri-
d n it is unexcdled. Soda lakes were discoveql
, in dkn county in 1869, by N. K. Boswe11, the
celebhtddetecti~e,and sold under pressure to the
Union Pacific, which in 1853 erected. h e a
The deposit is a mlphate several feet in thickness,
and covers 56 a m . Near Independence rock are
eeveral lakes of bicarbonate of soda, covering a am-
face of 500 acres, and suitable for glassmaking.