DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN. ROUTE. 



255 



upon waiting cars.*^ (See PL XCV, B.) AVhen the cars are full 

 they are drawn away and made up into trains to be sent to the concen- 

 trators at Magna and Arthur. The side of the canyon in front of 

 the traveler is 1,600 feet high, and it is divided into 24 steam-shovel 

 levels, on each of which is a railroad track. At present about 60,000 



" C. N. Gerry gives the following ac- 

 count of the development of the mines 

 at Bingham and the wonderful work 

 that is now being done there. 



About 25 miles southwest of Salt 

 Lake City, in a narrow canyon, is the 

 town of Bingham, which has been a 

 mining center since 1S65. Recently the 

 camp has assumed great importance, 

 and at the present time it is unique 

 among producing regions in that it has 

 the largest single copper mine in the 

 United States. Up to 1900 the camp 

 had been producing metals valued at 

 more than a million dollars a year, and 

 that .was regarded as a large output. 

 The production jumped to $3,000,000 in 

 1901, to $39,000,000 in 1915, and to 

 $72,000,000 in 1917. In 1918 it fell to 

 $62,800,000, in 1919 to $27,900,000, and 

 in 1920 to $27,500,000. As a spot of 

 beauty or a model of cleanliness the 

 place is not worth noting, but its 

 gigantic mining operations are cer- 

 tainly impressive. 



The history of the first mineral dis- 

 covery is unusual, for ore was found 

 in 1863 by soldier prospectors under 

 Gen. P. E. Connor, who was stationed 

 at Fort Douglas. While the Indians 

 were quietly hunting and the Mormons 

 were peacefully pursuing agriculture 

 and irrigation, the soldiers, who were 

 from California, were engaged in the 

 search for mineral wealth. 



Although the district was never 

 famous as a source of free gold, con- 

 siderable placer mining was done about 

 1865 in the vicinity of the present 

 town of Bingham and for several 

 miles east along the canyon. The first 

 shipment of copper ore, which was 

 made in 1868, was hauled to a station 

 on the Union Pacific Railroad and 

 was shipped to Baltimore. Not until 

 1873 did railroad connection with the 

 outside world give an impetus to 



genuine development. About this time 

 the adverse attitude of the Mormons 

 changed, and the church began to en- 

 courage the mining industry. Then 

 followed a period of lead mining, 

 which was fairly successful while the 

 oxidized zone was being exploited. In 

 the early eighties several stamp mills 

 were erected to treat oxidized gold 

 ore. Then other lead carbonate bodies 

 containing silver were successfully 

 mined until the decline in the price of 

 silver in 1893. This period was fol- 

 lowed by the development of the heavy 

 copper and iron sulphide ore, which is 

 a conspicuous ore of the camp even at 

 the present time. It contains about 30 

 per cent of iron, 30 per cent of sul- 

 phur, and a few per cent of copper. 

 The problem of economically treating 

 it was not solved until 1899, when effi- 

 cient smelting plants were constructed. 

 Most of these plants were built in the 

 Salt Lake Valley east of Bingham. 

 As the lead mines became deeper sul- 

 phide ore began to appear, which 

 added other difficulties to be overcome. 

 Some of this ore was sufficiently rich 

 to be shipped at a profit, but much of 

 it required concentration, so plants 

 using crushers, rolls, jigs, and con- 

 centration tables were erected. Sev- 

 eral times these plants, as well as 

 dwellings, have met with disaster 

 when a large boulder or even a de- 

 railed engine rolled down the steep 

 hillside. When much zinc sulphide oc- 

 curred with the lead the smelters im- 

 posed a penalty, but later, when the 

 zinc was separated, it became a valu- 

 able product. Not until 1909, how- 

 ever, was the zinc product sold. At 

 present the entire output of the dis- 

 trict is shipped and concentrated, or 

 separated, and smelted. So the camp 

 has had a great variety of ores, from 

 simple free-gold ore and oxidized cop- 



