Congor Gold and Copper Mining Co.
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This page last updated on July 13, 2019.
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Overview
"The Congor mine is situated on the north side of Keystone Gulch, 1,400 feet south of the Fortune mill." (USGS Professional Paper 38, 1905, page 313)
The Congor mine was 2,800 feet north of the Dalton & Lark mine. (Salt Lake Herald, September 24, 1896)
Timeline
July 29, 1895
"The Conger mine, over in Spring gulch (Keystone Gulch), is being operated by Messrs. Pritchett, Hall and Pitman and is turning out some very high grade copper ore. The first-class averages from 50 to 60 per cent. copper and the second class runs from 20 per cent upward. There is a nice showing of ore in the mine and the owners are justly elated over the outlook of the property." (Salt Lake Herald, July 29, 1895)
April 8, 1896
Hall and his partners applied to the federal land office for a patent on their Congor property. The patent was received in November 1897. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 8, 1896; Salt Lake Herald, November 2, 1897)
September 24, 1896
"The Congor is owned by G. G. Hall, of this city, and is now being worked under lease by J. T. Kauffman, John Summers and C. H. Graham, who made a shipment of two cars of ore last week that carried 23 per cent in copper to the ton and well in silver and gold, while the consignment netted the lessees $25.97 a ton.
The Congor is located 2,300 feet north of the Dalton & Lark mine, and its future is a bright one." (Salt Lake Herald, September 24, 1896)
January 3, 1897
The Congor mine was active and shipping ore during 1896, until it hit the water level. It was being reopened in early 1897. But throughout 1897, only four men were kept working on the property. (Salt Lake Tribune, January 3, 1897; Salt Lake Herald, November 2, 1897)
August 16, 1897
The Congor Gold and Copper Mining and Milling Company was incorporated in Utah. The major shareholders were Gordon G. Hall, treasurer (105,455 shares), Enus J. Pittman of Texas (61,010 shares) and
Glen R. Bothwell, president (33,233 shares), to develop the Congor and Buckeye claims at Bingham. (Salt Lake Herald, August 14, 1897; Utah corporation records, index 1951)
November 2, 1897
The Congor claim received its patent from the U. S. Land Office.
(Salt Lake Herald, November 2, 1897)
August 30, 1898
The Congor was shipping small amounts of ore. During November 1898, a car load of ore was shipped to the smelter. Nearby, the Winnebago mine was 600 feet southeast of the Congor. The ore bins of the nearby Keystone and Fortune mines, under the supervision of Elmer Hill, were full, waiting for transportation over the Dalton and Lark tramway. (Salt Lake Herald, August 30, 1898; November 27, 1898)
January 1, 1899
The Congor, Fortune and Keystone properties were shipping their ore to Lead Mine station of the RGW, by way of the Dalton & Lark tramway. (Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1899)
"The Dalton & Lark tramway, in handling ores from the Dalton & Lark property, the Keystone, Lead, Fortune, Brooklyn, Congor, Golden Opportunity, and others from that side, delivered 5596 tons of ore to Lead Mine station, a small amount compared with production of former years."
January 28, 1899
The Congor Gold and Copper Mining and Milling Company was reorganized as the Congor Gold and Copper Mining company after being sold to a group of investors that included
Glenn R. Bothwell, R. E. McConaughy and E. E. Jenkins. The original owner, G. G. Hall, retained 28,000 of the 200,000 shares of stock issued. The remainder went to the new owners, who also became the new officers of the company. The company's tunnel had reached 700 feet in depth. (Salt Lake Herald, January 29, 1899, "yesterday;" Salt Lake Tribune, January 29, 1899)
February 22, 1899
The stock of the Congor Gold and Copper Mining company was first listed on the Salt Lake Stock Exchange, indicating it became a publicly-traded company with the "reorganization" of January 28th. The sale price opened at 55 cents. (Salt Lake Herald, February 22, 1899)
1907
The Congor Gold and Copper Mining and Milling company was organized in (?) but was inactive until the mine was unwatered in 1905. (The Copper Handbook, Volume VII, 1907, page 495)
February 25, 1907
The name of the Congor Gold and Copper Mining and Milling Company (old name) was changed at a special stockholder's meeting to the Bingham-Congor Copper Company (new name). The meeting was held on February 23rd and the name change was approved. (Salt Lake Herald Republican, January 22, 1907, "Notice of Stockholders Meeting;" Utah corporation records, index 1951)
1909
Congor Gold and Copper Mining Company had 400 feet of workings (tunnels and shafts), 10 claims and 150 acres, adjoining the Dalton and Lark mine. It was mining primarily copper sulphides. The mine was idle by 1911. (The Copper Handbook, Volume IX, 1909, page 550; Volume X, 1911, page 635)
April 20, 1912
"Montana-Bingham. A streak of good copper ore, with some gold and silver, is reported to have been opened in the tunnel, which is in 700 ft., the face being 350 to 400 ft. from the surface. The projected length is 4000 ft.; it is being built for drain, transportation and development purposes, and will afford considerable depth to the Bingham Amalgamated, Congor, Fortuna and Starless." (Engineering and Mining Journal, Volume 93, Number 16, April 20, 1912, page 813)
June 8, 1912
"Montana-Bingham. Copper ore, largely of milling grade but carrying portions as high as 8%, has been cut by this company's tunnel from McGuire's gulch. This tunnel is being driven to develop this company's ground, and to reach the Bingham Amalgamated, Fortuna, Copper Glance, Congor, Starless and other properties at depth. This will enable these properties to send out their ore to the Copper Belt Ry., as the transportation facilities are poor on the east slope of the range." (Engineering and Mining Journal, Volume 93, Number 23, June 8, 1912, page 1155)
1914, 1918, 1920, 1922
Congor property consists of 10 claims, area 150 acres, adjoins the Bingham Amalgamated on the north, in Bingham Canyon, Salt Lake Co., Utah. Mine
reported to have about 100,000 tons of ore exposed, running from $6 to $50
per ton and averaging $14. Company has a contract with the Montana
Bingham Consolidated Mining Co. shipping its ores through the Miller
Ore Transportation tunnel of that company to the Denver & Rio Grande
railroad tracks at a cost of 25 cents per ton of ore and 120 cents per ton of
waste. In 1922: Property adjoins the United Bingham Copper Co. on
the north, in Bingham Canyon. (No change for 1918.) (Mine was idle by 1920.) (Some shipments recorded for 1918; no information since.) (The Copper Handbook, Volume XI, 1914, page 251; The Mines Handbook, Volume XIII, 1918, page 1354; Volume XIV, 1920, page 1412; Volume XV, 1922, page 1506)
August 29, 1916
"The Congor Mining company is still working its property through the Montana Bingham ground and the Bingham Amalgamated is also doing some work there. The Montana Bingham tunnel is the key to the Fortuna, Congor, Bingham Amalgamated, Starless and several other properties. Starting from the Little Eddy ground, just above the Rio Grande Bingham station, the tunnel runs into the mountain through most of the properties up to the apex of the hill. The Fortuna, Congor and others, although having rich copper ore at depth, have been unable to work for years on account of water. The tunnel drains all the properties and allows an avenue of transportation. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 29, 1916) (At 4,900 feet the Montana Bingham drain and haulage tunnel would have been one of the longest at Bingham.)
1922
The following description of the Montana-Bingham Consolidated Mining company comes from the 1922 (Volume XV) of the Mines Handbook, page 1549.
The Montana-Bingham Transportation and Drainage tunnel over 5,540 feet long, enters the mountain in the northwest corner of the Eddie group, within 50 feet of the Denver and Rio Grande railway, and runs southeast through the Eddie group, then through the United Bingham Copper Co. group and the Congor Gold and Copper Mining company's ground to the Fortuna group. This tunnel crosscuts, nearly at right angles, the Eddie and the Cleveland veins of the Eddie group, the Copper Glance and Manifay veins of United Bingham group, the veins of the Congor group, the Chester and Virtick veins of the Keystone Extension Co's group and the Sierra Grande, Fortuna and Mayflower veins of the Fortuna group. The three last named veins are cut 470 feet vertically or 1,400 feet on the dip, below the lowest of the three long drift tunnels of the old Fortuna mine, but the south rake of the ore bodies opened in the old mine, carries them 1,700 feet or more south of this tunnel. Extensive lateral development was done to block out ore. The Mayflower vein at this horizon shows an ore shoot estimated by the manager to be 700 feet long, 22 feet thick, and 1,400 feet on the dip, equal to 1,500,000 tons of 2 per cent ore with an equal amount between the Montana Bingham tunnel and the Mascotte (of the Ohio Co.), 475 feet vertically, or 1,000 feet on the dip below it.
May 17, 1924
Upon the death of
R. E. McConaughy on May 16th at age 65, he was shown as one of the largest shareholders of the Bingham Congor Copper company. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 17, 1924; McConaughy was born on March 6, 1859 and was survived by a wife and two children.)
(Glenn R. Bothwell passed away on July 5, 1935 at age 74. He was born on October 9, 1861. Bothwell and McConaughy had been business partners since meeting in their younger days in Stromburg, Nebraska, in 1880. Bothwell moved to Utah in 1888, and McConaughy followed in 1890, and they continued their partnership in the lumber and mining business. Bothwell was survived by a wife and six children.)
August 17, 1930
The Bingham Prospect Mining company was working the upper workings of the old Congor and Midas mines. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 17, 1930)
December 3, 1951
USSR&M formally merged with the Bingham-Congor Copper Mining company (130 acres; formerly known as the Congor Gold and Copper Mining and Milling company), and the United Bingham Copper company (265 acres; formerly known as the Bingham Amalgamated Copper company). USSR&M already held almost all of the stock of the two companies, but purchased that last remaining shares held by the Bothwell family, descendants of Glenn R. Bothwell, who had organized the two companies in the late 1890s. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 4, 1951)
February 4, 1952
The
Bingham-Congor Copper Company was voluntarily dissolved as a corporation on February 4, 1952. (Utah corporation records, index 1951)
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