Bingham Copper Heights

This page last updated on August 29, 2024.

(Return to Bingham Index Page)

Overview

The area known as Copper Heights was a row of company-owned houses along the ridge between the lower part of Carr Fork and the main Bingham Canyon. The six houses that made up Copper Heights were built by Utah Copper Company and were rented to its mine management and supervisors ("mine bosses"), providing living quarters for the men and their families. Construction started as early as 1917 and the six houses were completed very soon after during early 1918.

(Research has not yet found any official record of the construction of the six houses in Copper Heights, other than brief mentions in online newspapers.)

The Sanborn fire insurance maps show that the house numbers and addresses for the five lower homes in Copper Heights were, south to north, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377. The upper and largest home was the mine superintendent's home and had house number 390.

As the mine continued to expand in the early 1950s, the ridge on which the six houses of Copper Heights was removed, along with the shops and railroad bridge above them. Photos taken 1956 show the houses still intact, and photos taken in 1957 show the houses being demolished.

According to a note in 1961 by John Creedon, in his weekly newspaper column Down Memory Lane, there was a fire in 1918 that wiped out all the shacks and shanties that covered the hill between Carr Fork and Main Street. He wrongly states that part of the area that burned later became Copper Heights, built by Utah Copper for its foremen, since the six homes on Copper Heights already existed at the time of the fire.

The fire mentioned by John Creedon took place on the night of September 3, 1918. The fire started in what the newspaper called "the upper end of Main," in one of the many boarding houses and coffee houses along the west side of Main Street, just above the intersection of Carr Fork and the main canyon. Because almost all the buildings were wood construction, the fire quickly spread along both sides of the street, and up the west side among the shacks that were immediately below Copper Heights. The fires left hundreds homeless with only their night clothes, and nothing else. The Ogden newspaper reported that 16 businesses and 25 dwellings were destroyed. Later reports show that the fire started at 3:30am in the Union Boarding House, after two men were heard arguing. The newspaper accounts make no mention of the homes in Copper Heights being in any danger.

Timeline

(Unless noted, all references come from available online newspapers.)

1917
The first homes in what was known as Copper Heights were completed. The six homes of Copper Heights sat along the ridge line between the main Bingham canyon, and Carr Fork, at what has recently begun to be called "The Confluence."

September 16, 1917
The first reference to Copper Heights, referring to Mrs. T. S. Carnahan hosting a Sewing Club meeting at her home in "Utah Copper Heights." (Salt Lake Tribune, September 16, 1917)

May 16, 1956
A photo shows all six homes still intact, and the shops at the south end of the Carr Fork railroad bridge being demolished. (Photo, UCM-457-5, 5-16-56)

August 24, 1956
One of the last references to Copper Heights, noting that the Ralph Murano family had moved to Copperton. (Bingham Bulletin, August 24, 1956)

September 21, 1956
One of the last references to Copper Heights, noting that the Clarence Watkins family had moved to Bingham on Main Street. (Bingham Bulletin, September 21, 1956)

December 7, 1956
A photo shows the Carr Fork railroad bridge still intact, but the shops at the south end had already been removed. The mine superintendent's house had already been demolished. The house at 373 Copper Heights is vacant with broken windows, and the house at 374 Copper heights had already been demolished. (Photo, UCM-464-3, 12-7-56)

February 1, 1957
The last reference to Copper Heights, noting that Mrs. Tekla (William) Mitchell had moved the previous weekend to a home in Midvale. (Bingham Bulletin, February 1, 1957)

(Mrs. Mitchell's husband, William L. Mitchell, Chief Electrician at Kennecott, had passed away on November 18, 1955 at age 63. He had come to Bingham in 1912, and began working for Utah Copper as a shovel electrician in 1923. He and Tekla Carlson were married on July 26, 1915. -- Salt Lake Tribune, November 19, 1955)

April 1957
The large B&G railroad bridge crossing Carr Fork was dismantled in April 1957. Photos of the bridge being dismantled also show the shops at the south end of the bridge being demolished.

Jim Mark wrote on July 27, 2018.

This is the Copper Heights I remember. Doug and Delores Stoker were my grandparents. Doug was an Electrical Foreman for the mine, Delores worked at the Bingham Grocery. My grandmother and I would walk the trail out of Copper Heights down and open the store in the mornings. Always a hunk of pepperoni and a piece of cheese for me. My job was to check that rats hadn't been in the candy counter. Some mornings if I was lucky Sonida would bring me a green chile burrito. I can still taste it, it was that good.

Copper Heights, as mentioned in online newspapers.

Photos suggest that there were six houses along the ridge between Carr Fork and Main Street.

Almost all references in online newspapers were for social events taking place at one of the homes. These were likely the wives of mine bosses or similar upper levels of management. (More research is needed.)

The Carnahans were apparently the first residents in 1917.

One of the last residents, if not the last resident, of Copper Heights were was Mrs. Bill Mitchell when she moved to Midvale in 1957.

Dennis Carrigan's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Mitchell, lived in 376 Copper Heights until 1957, when the widow Mrs. Mitchell moved to Midvale. Bill Mitchell had been the shovel electrical foreman at the mine until his death in 1955.

Residents as mentioned briefly in newspapers.

Photos

Copper Heights -- An album of photos of Copper Heights in Bingham Canyon.

Other Information

Beginning in March 1956, there was a suburban subdivision known as "Copper Hill Heights" located at 3800 South and 6400 West in Magna.

There was also a "Copper View Heights" subdivision in Midvale.

###