Bingham Cemeteries

Index For This Page

This page last updated on August 10, 2024.

Overview

(The focus of this page is to gather on one place as much information about the cemeteries in Bingham Canyon, and to have a place to add new information.)

Research suggests that there have been as many as three cemeteries serving the communities in Bingham Canyon, Utah. The earliest was in 1870, and may have been located about one lime east of today's current Bingham City Cemetery. The current cemetery was apparently created in 1917 The next was

Bingham City Cemetery

In summary, the original Bingham Cty cemetery was created as a place to bury Charles Freeman and James Liecester, who perished on May 10, 1870 when a cave-in claimed their lives in the gulch that later bore Freeman's name. These were the initial graves in the cemetery. Others were added in later years, and Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day) became an important day of remembrance long before the nearby Utah Copper ball park was completed in 1923, and before construction of homes in Copperton began in 1926. The location of the cemetery was chosen to be situated on a flat spot, well away from present and future mining activity, and to provide a pleasant view of the valley and lower parts of the canyon.

The site was often referred to as being "opposite the Revere Switch on the D&RG" railroad. The Revere "switch" or siding was later changed to Dalton, and was the connection to the railroad's Lark Branch. Revere Switch was actually about one mile east of the cemetery.

Based on measurements on USGS topographic maps of the Bingham area, the current Bingham City Cemetery is 4.5 miles down-canyon from the center of Bingham, using the Bingham post office as the center of town. The post office was approximately one-third of the 2.5 miles between the intersection of Carr Fork and Main Street, and the D&RGW railroad depot.

The following comes from the Utah Division of Archives and Records Service website.

The town of Bingham Canyon was incorporated on 29 February 1904 in order to provide the residents of the area with a general-purpose municipal government.

The cemetery was originally created in 1913 by action of the Bingham Canyon Town Board (Minutes, 22 October 1913).

As nearby copper mining activities expanded in the 1950s, the town began to shrink. By August 1971, the town had only 17 legal voters remaining. Disincorporation was affected on 22 November 1971 after an election earlier that month.

One major project near the end of the city and throughout the administration of the disincorporation was the Bingham City Cemetery (see Minutes, 1971; Status Report of Administrators to Judge D. Frank Wilkins, 23 October 1972, Petition).

In the final status report to the court, Robert Campbell reported that substantial renovation of the cemetery was done. Renovation included ornamental iron work, fencing, masonry work, and construction of a water line. The water line was to be completed by Kennecott Copper Corporation. The rest was done by DeMass and Associates. The administrators turned over the responsibility to care for the cemetery to Jordan School District (550), but acknowledged "that the records relating to burial plots are threadbare; indeed, there is no master plot plan of divisions within the Cemetery" (Status Report, p. 6).

There are references in online newspapers of burials taking place in the "Bingham cemetery" or "Bingham canyon cemetery" or (after 1905) the "Bingham city cemetery."

The earliest reference to the "Bingham cemetery" was in December 1891, when two miners who died in a fire that destroyed the South Galena bunkhouse were buried "at the Bingham cemetery." (Salt Lake Tribune, December 26, 1891)

May 19, 1894
"The committee soliciting subscriptions for the purpose of making improvements at the Bingham cemetery, are meeting with good success in their work, the citizens subscribing quite liberally for the good cause -- Bulletin." (Millard County Progress, May 19, 1894)

May 31, 1908
"The R. G. W. railway ran a special train to the Bingham cemetery Memorial day. As the distance is about four miles, the train was convenient to the many people of camp." (Salt Lake Tribune, May 31, 1908)

In December 1913 a large funeral procession took place from Upper Carr Fork, through Bingham and down to the Yampa smelter. "The funeral cortege proceeded from the residence in Upper Carr Fork to a point just below the Yampa smelter. The members of the societies participating marched through a line of people on either side of the road for this distance. Below the Yampa smelter the immediate friends and relatives took stages and the funeral procession continued on to the Bingham cemetery." The deceased was the last victim of Raphael Lopez. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 3, 1913)

March 23, 1917
"Bingham Cemetery Is Declared Open. Bingham. March 23. -- Official opening of the Bingham city cemetery was announced at the meeting of the city council held Wednesday night. The new cemetery is located about a mile from the center of the city, near the right of way of the Bingham & Garfield railroad. The cemetery is laid out with four hundred lots. A few of the lots have already been used for burial purposes, but the cemetery was not officially declared opened until Wednesday night." (Salt Lake Telegram, March 23, 1917)

(This distance of "about a mile from the center of the city" and near the B&G tracks, is in the approximate location of the Dry Fork, or Chandler cemetery.)

(But the "center of the city" is not specified, and may depend on the person making the statement. Was the center of the city at the Carr Fork intersection, or at the D&RGW railroad depot. One mile from the D&RGW railroad depot would put the cemetery in the vicinity of Dry Fork.)

Some researchers may designate the town's post office as the center of town. But in Bingham's case, there were four post offices, each in a different location.

Scott Crump wrote about the Bingham cemetery located near Copperton in his landmark book, "Copperton."

The following comes from BinghamCemetery.com.

According to town board minutes, the cemetery was created in 1913. One tombstone was found documenting a death date of 1873 and several others show death dates during 1879. Bingham was incorporated in 1904, but it is clear that burials were taking place well before that.

In addition, please note that Kennecott Copper Mines relocated the remains of those buried at Chandler Cemetery (Dry Fork area) to Bingham City Cemetery in 1999. The Chandler cemetery was moved when Kennecott expanded mining operations in the canyon. That cemetery consists mainly of burials that were from the Chandler family and snow slide victims from Finland.

47 known War Veterans are buried at this cemetery, including those who fought in the Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I and II, Korean, and Vietnam War.

Dry Fork Cemetery (Chandler Cemetery)

[Marker in the Bingham Cemetery] "Dry Fork Cemetery (Chandler Cemetery) located in Bingham Canyon, Utah. Relocated to Bingham City Cemetery, Copperton, Utah, Oct. 29, 1999 to Nov. 4, 1999."

(View photos of the Dry Fork Cemetery)

(Dry Fork Cemetery at Bingham as the site for internment is not mentioned in online newspapers. But they do occasionally mention the Chandler Cemetery.) (There is a Dry Fork Cemetery in the Vernal, Utah area.)

(The first mention of the Chandler Cemetery comes in December 1950, when grave robbers broke into the Chandler family vault, or mausoleum.)

September 11, 1913
"Bingham. Sept. 10. -- Within the next year Bingham will probably have a new cemetery. George Chandler, a wealthy resident of the camp, is contemplating building a large family vault near the entrance of Dry Fork canyon, and is willing to donate the surrounding ground, which contains about ten acres, for the purpose of a cemetery, providing some reliable organization will take care of it and act as guardian. The Catholic church has already taken the matter into consideration. A committee headed by Father Butler has made a trip to the place and pronounces it an ideal location, and by using the Heaston water, which flows down the canyon, the cemetery could he made a beautiful place. Should the Catholic church succeed in making agreeable terms with Mr. Chandler it will only act as guardians, and the cemetery will be open to the public." (Salt Lake Tribune, September 11, 1913)

(No mention of either the Dry Fork or Chandler cemetery, by those names, in available online newspapers between 1913 and 1950. There are numerous references to burials taking place in the "Bingham City cemetery" but the actual location is not given.)

December 13, 1950
Grave robbers broke into the Chandler family vault, which contained eight crypts. The robbers smashed the plate glass window in the vault's exterior wall, then a small person entered through the small opening and broke the entrance door. The robbers then opened one of the crypts, but it was empty. A second crypt was opened and contained a cedar shipping box with a heavy bronze coffin inside, which the robbers attempted to open without success. (Salt Lake Telegram, December 14, 1950)

"Memorial marble slabs guarding two crypts were shattered and a bronze casket battered by the vandals, said the officers. Ten other crypts were unharmed. The one crypt was empty, but once inside the vandals attempted to open the casket by pounding it with heavy stones - the means they apparently employed in breaking through the inch-thick marble, reported the investigators. A privately operated burial park of about 40 graves, Chandler cemetery is located at the mouth of Dry canyon." (Salt Lake Tribune, December 15, 1950)

"After breaking open the vault at Chandler cemetery Wednesday night, vandals smashed the marble slabs covering two of 12 crypts in the vault by hammering them with heavy stones. The bronze casket contained by one of the crypts was defaced under similar pounding. The other crypt was empty." (Salt Lake Telegram, December 15, 1950)

October 22, 1999
The following notice was published in the October 22, 1999 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper.

Notice

Due to advancing mining operations at Kennecott Utah Copper's Bingham Canyon Mine it has become necessary to move the cemetery known as the Dry Fork Cemetery, or the Chandler Cemetery. Most of those who were buried in the cemetery were moved in years past including the Chandler family members. Kennecott has identified the following six individuals whose remains are in the cemetery:

Robert G. Dowdle
William Robert Dowdle
John Gailigan
Raymond Wallace Jones
Daly L. Worland
Louisa Worland

There are also two possible unmarked grave sites which will also be opened. If they are occupied the remains will be moved and re-buried.

The individuals will be re-buried in individual plots in the New Bingham Cemetery at Copperton, Utah. Exhumation and re-burial will take place on October 29, 1999. A short dedication ceremony will be held at the New Bingham Cemetery at 4:00 P M. July 30, 1999. Interested parties are invited to attend.

Jerry Kinyon, March 24, 2024:

I was the superintendent at Dry Fork shop. The Chandler cemetery was just up the hill the north of the shop.

Since I was closest to the cemetery and the Chandler mausoleum I was involved in moving the folks buried there. The mausoleum door had been covered in concrete for years, and I had a track hoe brought up from the shop to knock the door in.

When we got inside there were 3 coffins inside, one was old man Chandler, one was his wife, and the other was a daughter.

The wife and daughter's coffins were sealed with lead, the guy from the mortuary said they sealed them in lead if they died of something contagious.

Old man Chandler had a coffin with a glass plate on the upper half. He was in a white suit and looked remarkably well, he had a beard as well.

Eighteen of those buried in the Dry Fork cemetery were unidentified victims of the Highland Boy snow slide of February 17, 1926. (This is not mentioned in online newspapers.)

The Chandler mausoleum (family vault) was the white structure in the upper center of the Dry Fork cemetery.

"They found more graves than they expected, and they're now relocated to the Bingham Cemetery with new headstones. One tombstone was found in Dry Fork for a girl with last name Clayton whose actual grave they were unable to locate." (Steve Richardson, November 9, 2016)

"It was about the same time the Dry Fork shop was closed that all the graves from Chandlers was moved to the Copperton Cemetery. A service was held and the graves were all re-dedicated. I believe a total of 9 or 10 bodies were moved." (Gary Curtis, November 9, 2016)

"We relocated 24 by the time we finished, located with ground penetrating radar. Work was completed by men in Haz-Mat suits due to concerns for Spanish Flu." (Brad Allen, February 1, 2022)

The Jordan School District became the owner when Bingham City was dissolved. They were the "only" government entity that continued to cover or represent that vicinity. Copperton is not a city.

George E. Chandler

From Marion Dunn's book:

Hegland Alley was the home of many of the town's pioneer families and one of these, George Chandler, owned what could be rightfully called a mansion. Later it became the Cook Apartments.

The Chandler house fronted on Main Street looking across to Railroad Avenue and its back yard was on Hegland Alley. The Chandlers had a neat, well-kept lawn and garden and to keep the neighborhood children from trespassing, built a long stone wall the length of the yard. Still, the children would climb the fence to retrieve a stray ball or just to enjoy the luxury of a lawn. So, wooden pickets were placed on top of the stone wall, then strands of wire, and at one time the tops of the pickets were covered with a sticky tar.

It didn't completely shut the children out. Boys still scaled the fence, but it did limit the view. Few people, children or adults, walked down Hegland Alley without peeking at the Chandler's yard.

In 1920, George Chandler had his big livery stable in the upper part of town torn down and in its place he had erected a large, modern building and one of the occupants was the Princess Theater.

In the 1920's, the First National Bank of Bingham was established with George E. Chandler, president, and Eugene Chandler, cashier. The bank was located in Chandler's new Princess Theater building but it didn't last long. On April 4, 1930, the First Security Bank of Bingham took over assets and liabilities of the First National Bank of Bingham which went into voluntary liquidation and merged with Bingham's First Security. The Chandlers signed the agreement for the First National Bank while C. E. Adderley, president, and Parsons, secretary, signed for First Security.

George E. Chandler had a mansion in Frog Town, back yard faced Hegland Alley, front yard faced Railroad Avenue, it had long stone wall with wooden pickets on top, well-kept lawn and garden, the house would become the Cook Apartments.

1873
"Bingham had its first telegraph line in connection with the Denver and Rio Grande railroad in 1873. Mr. George Chandler was the first telegraph operator at the railroad depot." (A History Of Bingham Canyon, UT, By Beatrice Spendlove, 1937)

June 29, 1887
George E. Chandler was one of the organizers of the Winamuck Mining Company when it was reorganized on July 29, 1887. (Salt Lake Herald, July 30, 1887, "yesterday")

1890
George Chandler was owner of the Bingham Coal and Lumber company "about 25 years ago." (Bingham Bulletin, January 1, 1915)

October 3, 1898
George E. Chandler was the president of the Bingham Livery and Transfer Company when it was organized on October 3, 1898. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 4, 1898, "yesterday")

(George Chandler was one of two majority operators of stage lines and livery businesses in Bingham. The other was the firm of Standish & Jimpson, which also operated the horse tram between the Bingham depot and the U. S. Mine in Galena Gulch.)

June 14, 1908
"Salt Lake's new bank will be known as the Merchants Bank." Vice President was George E. Chandler, cashier was Eugene Chandler, his son. The new bank was to be located in the Judge building at Third South and Main Street, and was to open for business on June 25 or 30. "All who are interested in the new banking institution are solid men in Salt Lake and Utah business circles." " George E. Chandler made a large fortune in mining at Bingham." (Salt Lake Herald, June 14, 1908)

December 3, 1908
The Bingham Investment was organized on December 3, 1908. The company was to do general investment business in Bingham. George E. Chandler was president and Eugene Chandler was secretary. (Salt Lake Herald, December 4, 1908, "yesterday")

May 4, 1909
The Chandlers sold their interest in the Merchants Bank to a group of local investors formally with the Commercial National Bank. (Salt Lake Herald, May 4, 1909)

June 28, 1915
George Chandler expanded his livery business to include the newly organized Highland Boy Livery Company. (Salt Lake Telegram, June 28, 1915)

May 16, 1918
George Chandler announced that he would build a new business block in Bingham, on the site of his Bingham livery business. The new building was to be three stories and 100 feet along the street and 200 feet deep. The first floor was to be occupied by the Princess Theatre as a new "picture show house." The second floor was to be an office floor, and the third floor was to be a rooming house. The building was to be built by Chandler's Bingham Coal and Lumber Company. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 16, 1918)

May 24, 1918
"The pioneer builder who came to Bingham a little more than a quarter of a century ago has given out the statement that he will build another $100,000 building in the great copper camp. George E. Chandler has just completed a handsome structure in the heart of the business district in Bingham, and now he proposes to build even a better and more spacious building where the livery barn stands. It has been stated on good authority that this man came here years ago as a telegraph operator with limited financial resources, but today he stands well up toward the front among Utah's leading financiers. He has made the most of this money right here in camp, and from every indication he intends to plant come of it here in handsome structures." (Bingham Bulletin, May 24, 1918)

July 19, 1918
"Work Now Under Way on Large Concrete Building to Be Used for Garage and Livery Stable. Structure to Be 62 by 155 Feet. Two Stories High and will Be Completed About September. Work is now progressing rapidly on what is to be perhaps the most modern and most expensive building in the city. The building now under construction which is another enterprise of George E. Chandler faces Carr Fork and adjoins the Blom and Winters building." (Bingham Bulletin, July 19, 1918)

September 15, 1918
"Garage Nearing Completion" "The Chandler garage and livery being constructed by George E. Chandler will be completed about October 1." (Salt Lake Tribune, September 15, 1918)

(George Chandler, son of George E. Chandler, was born on October 4, 1885. He died on March 19, 1919 while serving as a 2 Lt. in the U. S. Army in France. He was buried in the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial in Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, France, the resting place of 1,541 American soldiers killed in World War I. His wife was serving as a nurse at the time, also in France.)

April 18, 1922
George E. Chandler was among the many defendants (including Bingham Coal and Lumber, Bingham Investment, and Nevada-Utah Mining company; all in which Chandler held an interest) named in the bankruptcy lawsuit and sheriff's sale against the New England Gold and Copper Mining Company. (Salt Lake Telegram, April 18, 1922)

January 13, 1933
George E. Chandler, age 82, died of a heart attack at his home in Los Angeles. He was to be buried in Salt Lake City. "Mr. Chandler would have been 83 years old February 2. When 17 years old he came west. About 1873 he started in business in Bingham, establishing a lumber, coal and feed yard and later the Bingham State bank and the First National Bank of Bingham, now the First Security Bank of Bingham. Mr. Chandler was also the owner of Salt Lake real estate, including the Hippodrome theater, and he founded the Central Warehouse company." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 14, 1933; Salt Lake Telegram, January 14, 1933)

January 18, 1933
"Rites Are Held For Former Utahn. Private Christian Science services were conducted at Mt. Olivet cemetery Sunday for George E. Chandler, 82, former Bingham and Salt Lake business man, who died at his home in Los Angeles Friday. The body was taken to the cemetery immediately after arrival from Los Angeles at 11 a. m. Mr. Chandler's body was placed in the Masonic vault at the cemetery, to remain there until good weather will permit transfer to the new cemetery at Bingham." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 16, 1933)

(George E. Chandler was born on February 2, 1850. He died on January 13, 1933 in Los Angeles.)

(There is no mention in available online newspapers about George Chandler being moved from the Mt. Olivet cemetery in Salt Lake City, to the Dry Fork cemetery.)

On August 25, 1933, the Bingham town council named Eugene Chandler, son of George E. Chandler, as the new mayor. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 27, 1933)

(Eugene Chandler was born on January 29, 1879, and died on October 13, 1971, in Phoenix, Arizona. He was buried in Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles.)

(Chandler's daughter Bess, lived in Salt Lake City at the time of his death, but was visiting friends in San Francisco. She flew to Los Angeles and accompanied the body to Salt Lake City. She was the manager of the Central Warehouse in Salt Lake City. Her married name was Rooklidge.)

###