Armstrong Tunnel

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This page was last updated on August 5, 2024.

Overview

The Armstrong tunnel, as the Stewart No. 2 mine, was one of earliest mines in Carr Fork, and was located on the south side of the junction of Muddy Gulch and Carr Fork, two side canyons of the larger Bingham Canyon in northern Utah. The Stewart No. 2 mine was one of the foundation mining properties, along with 61 other mining properties owned by Samuel Newhouse and Thomas Weir when they organized the Boston Consolidated company in November 1898, one of the largest mining companies in Bingham. (Newhouse and Weir also owned the Utah Consolidated company, whose Highland Boy mine, a quarter mile up-canyon from the Stewart, was equally famous as a gold producer.)

The Stewart mine, both No. 1 (about a quarter mile up Muddy Gulch) and the Stewart No. 2 (at the junction of Muddy Gulch and Carr Fork), were where the Boston Consolidated company got its start, and the Armstrong opening was part of the original Stewart group of mining properties. The Stewart mine was famous in the late 1870s through to the early 1890s for being one of the most successful gold mines in the West. It had stopped shipping gold bullion from its small mill by the time Weir and Newhouse bought it in late December 1897. The Stewart company had built a small cyanide mill at the site of the Stewart No. 2 tunnel opening to process its gold ore, and the same site was where the Boston Consolidated company built its power house.

The first reference to the Armstrong tunnel in available online newspapers was in April 1898, as Thomas Weir was describing the improvements and changes on the newly assembled properties that would become Boston Consolidated within six months. "Already we have been hard at work in the driving of two tunnels, cross-cutting the formation for the ledge. These tunnels are being run in on the Stewart group on the Carr Fork side of the mountain. One of them, which we call the Campbell tunnel, is now in a distance of 500 feet, while the other, which has been christened the Armstrong, is into the hill 400 feet, so you see that we mean business." (Salt Lake Herald, April 14, 1898)

The Armstrong tunnel, known in its early years as the Stewart No. 2 tunnel, was notable for being the lowest in elevation of all the properties of the Boston Consolidated company. From its portal in Carr Fork, the Armstrong tunnel extended south into the "Copper Hill." The former Stewart No. 2 mine later became known as a sulfide mine and remained in production as a Utah Copper underground mine until about 1914. After 1914, it became an underground haulage tunnel for Utah Copper and other mining companies.

Armstrong, As A Name

Extensive research among available online newspapers, and among a variety of online magazines and books describing the early years of Bingham mining, has not yet found information as to where the Armstrong name came from. It first appeared in a few newspaper accounts in 1900 and 1901, describing the tunnel extension work taking place to allow the Boston Consolidated access to deeper veins of gold, copper and silver ore. It appears that the Stewart No. 2 name was simply changed to become the Armstrong. As a side note, Francis Armstrong was the mayor of Salt Lake City from 1886 to 1890, and died in 1899, and the name may have been used by the Boston Consolidated's owners and investors as a nod to their friend and associate.

The Armstrong tunnel portal was located about 1-1/4 miles up Carr Fork from the road intersection of Carr Fork and Main Canyon. The portal and the buildings that were built-up around the tunnel opening were on the south side of Carr Fork, just across the street from the well-known Highland Boy community house. In later years, when the 'I' bridge was built in 1939, carrying Utah Copper waste rock trains above and across Carr Fork to new dumping grounds on the north side, the south end of the new bridge was immediately west (up-canyon) of the Armstrong tunnel.

On many early maps, the site of the Armstrong tunnel is shown as the Boston Consolidated power house, with its three smoke stacks visible in many early photographs of upper Carr Fork. The Armstrong portal was the lowest in elevation of the Boston Consolidated properties, and therefore the easiest to reach with a spur of the Copper Belt railroad, to furnish coal to the company's power house, which itself furnished electricity and compressed air to all of the Boston Consolidated's mining operations.

After Boston Consolidated and Utah Copper merged in 1910, the Armstrong tunnel and Boston Consolidated power house remained in place, with Utah Copper re-opening the underground mine in 1924. Improvements soon brought it to almost a mile in length and made it an important haulage tunnel for all of Utah Copper's underground former Boston Consolidated properties.

In 1903, the Armstrong became a paying property for Boston Consolidated when a large body of ore was struck after tunneling over 1,000 feet from the tunnel's portal opening in Carr Fork. One of the most spectacular railroad spurs in Bingham and Carr Fork was the Copper Belt spur (completed in 1903) serving the ore bins of the Armstrong underground sulphide mine. It was an important source of ore during the years immediately following the merger of Utah Copper and Boston Consolidated in 1910, but production dwindled and ceased for several years. By 1915, there was very little ore coming from the underground former Boston Consolidated sulphide mine (all from development work). Work in the associated underground porphyry mines, both Utah Copper and Boston Consolidated, had ended in 1914, having been superseded by the open cut mining operations.

In 1924 Utah Copper re-opened the Armstrong tunnel and re-started its underground mining operations. Over the following ten years several improvements were made, including battery locomotive haulage through the Armstrong No. 2 tunnel (later known as the Armstrong Transportation Tunnel). Other improvements included a three compartment raise (a vertical mine shaft), extending from the 900 to the 500 level, equipped with a double drum electric hoist, and a 300-ton storage bin built at the Armstrong tail tracks of the Bingham & Garfield (at the south end below the 'I' Bridge when it was built in 1939). As already mentioned, the Armstrong loading bins were located directly across from the Highland Boy community house in Carr Fork.

By the late 1920s Utah Copper was in need of additional dumping ground, and made an agreement with Bingham Metals company which owned a small plot (about 16 acres on the surface) in the Muddy Gulch branch of Carr Fork. The Bingham Metals ground was surrounded by Utah Copper on the southeast, the United States company on the south, the Utah Apex on the north, and the Utah Delaware on the northwest.

The agreement between Utah Copper and Bingham Metals, first proposed in March 1930, gave Utah Copper surface dumping rights and trackage rights on and across the 16 acres of Bingham Metals property. The agreement and settlement included a cash payment, with Utah Copper agreeing to extend its Armstrong tunnel to connect with the underground workings of the Bingham Metals company. In addition, Utah Copper agreed to move the Bingham Metals plant and buildings from the Nast tunnel (higher in Muddy Gulch), down to the mouth of the Armstrong tunnel, which was 650 feet lower than the Nast tunnel. These improvements for the Bingham Metals company included a modern change room and shop to be erected at the Armstrong tunnel portal.

1930
"The output of ore from the New England property owned by the Bingham Metals Co. was nearly the same as in 1929. The output in 1930 consisted of 1,545 tons of siliceous gold ore, first-class sulphide lead ore, and lead-zinc ore. The company's report to the industrial commission gave 1,545 tons of ore, including both milling ore and first-class smelting ore. The mine was formerly operated through the Nash inclined shaft and the Bingham Metals vertical shaft. During 1930 the Utah Copper Co., in exchange for certain dumping rights on the Bingham Metals ground, advanced the Armstrong tunnel to a point 4,400 feet from the portal where a connection was made with the 710-foot level of the shaft of the Bingham Metals Co. When the work was completed the New England mine was operated through the Armstrong tunnel, and the Nash inclined shaft was abandoned. The old shaft was deepened 190 feet to the 1,100-foot level; and most of the development during the year, consisting of 672 feet of drifts and crosscuts and 136 feet of raises and winzes in addition to the shaft sinking, was done on the new level." (USGS 1930 Mineral Resources, page 596)

February 1, 1931
"The Armstrong tunnel is now connected with the Bingham Metals shaft, now put up from the 900 to the 700 level. The distance from the portal of the Armstrong tunnel to new 700 station is 4400 feet. It is planned to carry on all operations from the tunnel portal and the Utah Copper is now moving the Bingham Metals hoist from the Nast incline shaft to the collar of the vertical shaft on the 710, or Armstrong tunnel level. It is expected that the camp will be moved to the center of new operations by March 1." (Salt Lake Tribune, February 1, 1931)

Utah Copper continued to develop its underground ore bodies, including the former Boston Consolidated mine. These were accessed through the Armstrong tunnel in Carr Fork. In 1934 a lease agreement was signed with the American Smelting and Refining for ASARCO to mine the ore in the Armstrong mine. Most of the ore taken by ASARCO from the Armstrong, being low grade copper sulphide with some gold and silver, was used by ASARCO as flux ore in its Murray and Garfield smelters.

July 1939
Utah Copper completed the 'I' Bridge, a curved steel bridge which crossed Carr Fork adjacent to the Armstrong tunnel buildings. The tunnel buildings were on south side below south end of bridge. By this time there were two buildings at the Armstrong tunnel (Bingham Metals and Asarco), both with curved tracks curving from each ends of the two loading bins. On the north side of the 'I' bridge, the J-Line and the I-J Switchback Line were visible above the north end of the bridge.

By 1941 there were two separate loading bins at the mouth of the Armstrong tunnel. One was where ASARCO was loading its ore from the Armstrong mine itself. The second loading bin at the Armstrong portal was where Bingham Metals was loading ore from its own property, although the actual mining was being done under a lease to United States Smelting Refining and Mining.

1942-1944
The mineral belt accessed by way of the Armstrong tunnel, known as the Boston Consolidated mine, was examined by the U. S. Bureau of Mines in late 1942 for the purpose of determining its strategic value. Diamond drilling was used to determine the extent off the ore bodies. The project was completed in February 1944. A final report was published in November 1949, with the following highlights.

The Boston Consolidated mine property comprises 50 patented lode-mining claims covering 350 acres. The property is owned·by the Utah Copper Co. During 1943 the American Smelting & Refining Co. operated the mine under lease agreement with the Utah Copper Co. The property has had a noteworthy production of cupriferous, gold-bearing, pyritie ore in addition to lead ore.

The Boston Consolidated property lies on the south slope of Carr Fork, a branch of Bingham Canyon. The·elevation of the Armstrong tunnel, the main entry to the mine is 6,725 feet. The mountains surrounding the property rise sharply to the south and west; attaining· altitudes of·approximately 9,000 feet. Drainage is northerly and easterly into Bingham Canyon and Salt Lake Valley to the east of the Oquirrh Mountains. The copper-gold ore from the Boston Consolidated property is transported to the copper smelter at Garfield by means of the Bingham & Garfield Railroad Co. This line serves the ore bins at the·portal of the Armstrong tunnel.

The main entry to the mine is the Armstrong tunnel, designated the 900-foot level. Approximately 4,500 feet from the portal of the tunnel, an internal vertical shaft serves the 800, 700, 600, and 500-foot levels. A raise from the 500- to the 300-foot level is equipped with an air hoist to provide a lift for this section of the mine.

Mining is by the stoping method, following the raising angle of the ore body. Lead ores have been mined from ore bodies occurring between the 500-foot level and the surface, and are transported to the lead smelters at Murray and Midvale. Copper-gold ores are being mined between the 500- and 900-foot levels. The ore mined above the 900-foot level is transferred through raises to chutes on this level and transported to bins at the portal of the Armstrong tunnel by battery locomotive.

(U. S. Bureau of Mines, Report of Investigations 4579, Diamond Drilling At The Boston Consolidated Copper Mine, Salt Lake County, Utah, November 1949)

The 900-foot level, at 6725 feet elevation, was 900 feet below the original Nash mine shaft collar.

The 700-foot level was approximately 6960 feet elevation.

This same report included a mine plan showing that the large area being mined at the time, using stoped square sets of wooden timbers, was in the 700- and 800-foot levels of the mine with the entire cavity of the ore body being filled by stoping. The areas being mined were within 50 feet or less of the line between the Utah Copper property, and the U. S. Mining property to the southeast. This close proximity explains the later lease, and later purchase by USSR&M of the former Armstrong (Stewart) property.

After World War II the loading bins at the Armstrong were essentially closed down when ASARCO gave up its lease, after which Utah Copper turned the lease over to the U. S. company, and by 1948 ASARCO no longer had any interest in the mines in Carr Fork. The Armstrong mine was apparently in the hands of leasers and small operators.

United States Smelting Refining and Mining purchased the Bingham Metals Company in 1949. At about the same time, the U. S. company acquired the long term lease on the Kennecott-owned Armstrong underground operation previously leased to ASARCO. The terms of the lease included limitations that the United States company only took the lead-zinc-silver ore, and Kennecott took whatever copper ore was found, with both types being subject to a profit sharing agreement. There were also limitations as to the levels (referred to as "planes") that the United States company's underground operations were allowed to work on, to keep the underground operations away from the open-pit shovel operations.

In a complicated deal in 1949 Utah Copper and United States Smelting Refining and Mining exchanged surface and subsurface rights throughout Bingham. The deal included the U. S. company taking all of the combined underground operations, including the old Armstrong mine. At the same time, the USSR&M company bought the Bingham Metals property, thus taking even more of the underground operations. Unlike the Utah Apex loading bins down by the 'G' bridge, which slowly deteriorated after the completion of the Elton tunnel in 1942, and the bankruptcy and sale to Anaconda in 1948, the two loading bins at the Armstrong were actually dismantled in a timely manner by Utah Copper, since the United States company was hauling all of its ore by way of either the Mascotte tunnel at Lark, or the Niagara tunnel at Copperfield. And both of these tunnels (Mascotte and Niagara) were closed when the new Bingham-Lark tunnel was completed in 1952.

Photos dated in June 1970 show that the expanding open pit had reached the location of the Armstrong tunnel, and had removed the surrounding ore and waste rock.

A map of all the underground tunnels dated 2001 shows that the main Armstrong tunnel, with its branch to the Bingham Metals shaft was at 6,740 feet elevation. As reference, the main Niagara tunnel was at 6,640 feet elevation, the Butterfield tunnel was 6,100 feet elevation, and the Mascotte and Bingham-Lark tunnels were at 5,540 feet elevation.

Based on information from the U.S. Geologic Survey, the portal of the Armstrong tunnel in Carr Fork was at 40°31'08.8"N, 112°09'53.8"W.

The 1952 USGS topographic map of Bingham shows the Armstrong tunnel in Carr Fork at the contour line for 6750 feet elevation.

Maps

Location of the Armstrong Tunnel on a current Google map

Bingham Haulage and Drain Tunnels -- A Google Map showing the locations of the Armstrong Tunnel, along with the Mascotte, Bingham-Lark, and Butterfield tunnels.

Photos

Photos of the Armstrong Tunnel in Carr Fork, in Bingham Canyon

Bingham Metals

Bingham Metals Company worked what was originally the Nast mine, and later the New England mine of the New England Gold and Copper Mining Company, organized in 1900 to take over the Nast property, which consisted of seven mining claims. The Nast property had originally been developed by the Nast Mining and Milling Company, with its original mining claims being patented in the 1881-1883 time period, but the paying vein, known as the Nast vein, had run out and the company was closed down in 1900 due to debts. It was reorganized as the New England company, with a formal transfer date of April 13, 1901, and the corporation was filed in Utah on May 29, 1901. The Nast mine itself had been worked by leasers until June 1899 and during 1899 had begun improvements in both the Nast tunnel and the Benton tunnel, 160 feet above, to get improved air circulation. Construction of a double-compartment hoisting shaft, having reached a 60-foot depth, was being stalled during 1899 by water problems.

May 19, 1936
"The United States Smelting, Refining and Mining company has taken a 10-year lease on the Bingham Metals company property at Bingham, it was learned Tuesday, subject to ratification by stockholders of Bingham Metals company. The Bingham Metals property consists of eight patented claims containing 25 acres, adjoining the smelting company's Bingham holdings on the west. The lowest level in the Bingham Metals property is the 1100, at an elevation of 6412 feet, whereas the smelting company is mining in the adjoining Niagara at an elevation of 4080 feet. The smelting company will develop the Bingham Metals property at depth by extending drifts from the Niagara shaft and also by extending the Bingham Metals shaft. Bingham Metals company will receive 50 per cent of the net profits from all ore produced, after costs of mining and operating." (Salt Lake Telegram, May 19, 1936)

November 12, 1947
United States Smelting Refining and Mining sued Bingham Metals to foreclose on the mortgage held by the Bingham Metals company from the U. S. company. (Ogden Standard Examiner, November 13, 1947, "yesterday")

July 19, 1948
USSR&M bought the property and assets of Bingham Metals Company at a court-ordered sale, on the steps of the Salt Lake city and county building. USSR&M bid the amount of the judgment against the Bingham Metals company ($18,000), and gave the Bingham Metals company six months to raise the funds to satisfy the mortgage. (Salt Lake Telegram, July 20, 1948)

February 3, 1949
The sale of stock in Bingham Metals Company was suspended after the assessment failed to cover the mortgage from USSR&M. The judgment to collect the mortgage had been for $18,000, but the Bingham Metals company had offered only $10,000. (Provo Daily Herald, February 3, 1949, "today")

(This date in February 1949 was apparently when USSR&M took full possession of the Bingham Metals property.)

Sources

Online newspaper accounts

An internal history of Utah Copper, completed in 1939

T. P. Billings papers

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