Bingham Canyon Visitor Center

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This page last updated on June 18, 2022.

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Although the Bingham Canyon open pit copper mine became a destination for tourists as soon as the county road in the canyon was paved, it was a place to see almost from its very first day.

There have been several visitor observation points to view the open pit copper mine:

Tours By Train

February 23, 1907
The first steam shovels started the open pit copper mine in 1906, but the mines in the canyon were already well known by that time. The canyon was well into its boom times of mining activity when tragedy struck in late February 1907. A special train for Utah legislators was run into the canyon to give the men and some of their wives a special view of the developments in the canyon. The train was made up of a Copper Belt Shay locomotive and two flat cars with benches mounted to them, and was struck by a runaway ore car coming down from the Boston Consolidated mine. The collision knocked two men off of the car on which they were riding. Their injuries were fatal. (Deseret News, February 23, 1907; Ogden Standard, February 23, 1907; Salt Lake Herald, February 23, 1907, the Salt Lake Herald provided continuing coverage of the tragedy and the days after, since one of those fatally injured was its own reporter.)

February 1911
A special train came to Bingham Canyon by way of Rio Grande's Highline branch into Cuprum Yard, continuing up the canyon to see the workings of the Utah copper mine. The occasion was the cross-country honeymoon trip, via private railroad train, celebrating the marriage of Vivien Gould and Major Jack Beresford. The private train consisted of D&RGW locomotive and two passenger cars; a combination baggage and staff car, and business car No. 2 of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Ms. Gould was the daughter of New York financier George Gould, who controlled the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was well as the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific Railway. Photographs indicate that the members of the party were severely overdressed for their visit to a large working mine, and not among their usual high society surroundings.

Highways In Bingham

March 1925
Residents of Bingham Canyon were promised by the Salt Lake County commissioners that the last four miles of the newly-designated county road to Bingham Canyon would be straightened and improved. It was an important road and was at the top of the list of the hundreds of miles of roads in the county to be improved. (Bingham Bulletin, March 13, 1925)

July 1927
The last 1-3/4 mile of county road into the canyon to Bingham was completed and was ready for concrete paving, which would be done the following year. The paving was to be completed to the Bingham city limits. (Bingham Bulletin, July 21, 1921; December 15, 1927)

June 1928
The streets of Copperton were paved during June 1928. The project was paid for by Utah Copper Company. (Bingham Bulletin, June 14, 1928)

September 1928
The county road in Bingham Canyon was paved and completed to the Bingham city limits in mid September 1928. Plans were progressing to pave the road through Bingham, with the city sharing in the costs with Salt Lake County, with the city setting aside $20,000 as its share. The city and county agreed on using concrete for the city streets, rather than asphalt, and work began in early October. (Bingham Bulletin, September 20, 1928; October 4, 1928)

September 1931
Work was progressing on paving the upper Main Street in Bingham, including laying a new sewer line at the same time. The concrete paved road was being extended "a considerable distance up Carr Fork." (Bingham Bulletin, September 24, 1931)

Visitors Welcome

Sometime during the early 1930s, and possibly as early as 1928 when the street through Copperfield was paved, a designated visitor observation point was completed on the open pit mine side at the base of the 'E' Line wooden bridge where the county road passed under the long wooden bridge.

September 21, 1936
The first observation point was on the pit side at the east end of the 'E' Line bridge by September 21, 1936, when an employee of Utah Copper had his car stolen while he was on-shift. The car was noted as being in the parking lot at the observation point, as well as being the first stolen car in Bingham in two years. (Bingham Bulletin, September 25, 1936)

In February 1939, the Bingham-Copperfield vehicular tunnel opened, connecting the town of Bingham with the town of Copperfield. The new tunnel allowed the county road to be moved from its route along the east side of the developing open pit mine, and Utah Copper to continue its mine expansion. Utah Copper paid for the construction of the vehicular tunnel.

(Read more about the Bingham-Copperfield vehicular tunnel)

This early observation point was adjacent to the county road, on the road's east side, and included a small structure for volunteers to tell stories of Bingham, and for the Bingham Lions Club to sell souvenirs. There was small parking lot with a safety fence surrounding it. This first observation point was closed when the 'E' Line bridge was demolished in 1941.

July 30, 1941
An item in the Salt Lake Tribune indicates that the visitor observation point was still at its original location just east of the 'E' Line bridge. The news item was about Joe's Combination Bar in Copperfield, noted that the restaurant and bar were just 100 yards from the open pit mine observation point. This would put the observation point very near the first site, near the removed 'E' Line bridge, or at the later second site after the bridge was removed. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 30, 1941)

The observation point was moved after the closure of the county road in 1940-1941 to allow removal of the 'E' line bridge, and the new site opened in 1941 ("some 15 years ago" in 1956), much closer to Joe's Combination Bar in Copperfield. Photos show that this second site in Copperfield was on the foundation and retaining wall of a house that had been removed.

Copperfield Site

1941
The second visitor observation point for the public to view the mine was built in 1941 and was located in Copperfield at the upper end of the vehicular tunnel completed in 1939. The observation point was reached by way of the vehicular tunnel from Bingham, which curved into the mountain to avoid the slowly expanding pit operations.

September 9, 1942
Due to the war emergency, the federal Office of Defense Regulation banned sightseeing, to conserve gasoline and tires, and other resources needed to support the war. The ban was lifted on August 31, 1945. Both Grayline Motor Tours, and Utah Motor Tours announced that they would soon resume their bus tours of the Salt Lake City vicinity, including Bingham Canyon. (Salt Lake Telegram, August 29, 1945)

During 1955, Malcolm (Scotty) Robertson, a retired Kennecott track worker, provided commentary to the 100,000 visitors to the mine. (Deseret News, December 14, 1955)

October 8, 1956
The Copperfield observation point was closed in October 1956. Over 1.5 million visitors had seen the pit from the Copperfield location since it was completed "some 15 years ago." (circa 1941). The Bingham-Copperfield tunnel remained open for local residents. (Bingham Bulletin, October 5, 1956)

North Side Of Pit

May 1957
Kennecott opened the new observation point on the north side of the mine, near the site of the new 'D' Line bridge, west of dismantled D-Dump Line bridge (dismantled in April 1957). This new observation center included a paved parking lot, rest rooms and a "sloped floor" at the observation deck to allow visitors unobstructed views when there were large numbers of visitors. The new shelter was 100 feet long and 18 feet wide. By August 1957, over 60,000 visitors had been to the new location. (Bingham Bulletin, June 28, 1957; Murray Eagle, July 4, 1957; Deseret News, August 9, 1957)

1959
Tooele County carved out a parking space and view area at the top of Sunset Peak, to allow visitors to view the Bingham mine from the high point on the southwest edge. In 1964, the Utah National Guard built a road up Butterfield Canyon to connect with the road from the Tooele side. (Deseret News, April 30, 1984, "Twenty five years ago" and "five years later")

April 22, 1960
The Salt Lake County Commission would soon vote on a resolution to turn the Bingham-Copperfield tunnel over to Kennecott as a private road. A survey over a recent 14-hour period showed that the tunnel was used by 300 cars, carrying 1,200 men, of which 1,195 were Kennecott employees, and the remaining five were employees of another mining company. Kennecott had requested that the county complete some needed repairs on the road through the tunnel. (Bingham Bulletin, April 22, 1960)

August 10, 1960
The Bingham-Copperfield tunnel was abandoned by Salt Lake County, and became a private road for exclusive use by Kennecott and its employees and contractors. (Bingham Bulletin, August 12, 1960, as voted on "Wednesday" at the commission meeting.)

June 1966
The visitor observation center was moved at a reported cost of $100,000. The new location was on the north side of pit, on the north foundation of removed D' Line bridge. The parking lot was west of and lower than observation point, with a long uphill trail from parking lot to observation point.

This new visitor center was on the northern foundation of the old 'D' Dump Line bridge that crossed Carr Fork. Kennecott built a parking lot down adjacent to the Carr Fork road, and a long inclined walkway up to the visitor outlook. The walkway had a chain link fence, six feet high, along both sides. A large truck tire was located about halfway up the walkway.

July 1967
The Bingham Canyon visitor center reopened on July 2, 1967 after a slide closed part of the parking lot and walking path on June 19th. (Davis County Clipper, July 7, 1967)

1976
The road to the visitor center was closed to tourist traffic due to construction during March, April and May 1976, and reopened in late May, at which time the visitor center was opened for the season. The new road alignment shifted the road to the north side of the canyon and included the demolition of the Utah Copper hospital on April 12, 1976. (Kennescope, Spring 1976)

1978
Kennecott announced in February 1978 that the north rim location for the observation center was to be closed at the end of the 1978 season, with Kennecott stating that if a new visitor observation center was to be built, it would be done by either state or local government. At the same time, the House of Copper in Copperton was closed, after being in the same location since 1961. A small museum was located inside the store, which would remain open to sell clothing and convenience items. The House of Copper sold items made of copper, and was to re-open at a new location at Heritage Square, at Sixth South and West Temple in Salt Lake City. (Deseret News, August 9, 1978) (The visitor center opened for the 1978 season on Memorial Day, May 29, 1978, and closed in late September.)

(The Bingham visitor center was closed for the 1979, 1980, and 1981 seasons.)

In July 1978 Kennecott constructed a new truck shop on the 6190 level

During 1978 there were discussions of the state funding the improvement of the existing road to the top of Sunset Peak, which overlooks the open pit mine from the southwest side. The existing road is accessed from both Tooele and from Butterfield Canyon. (Deseret News, February 28, 1978; June 3, 1978; September 7, 1978)

(Later news stories indicate that the visitors center was not actually closed in 1978, with the announcement in early 1978 serving as a motivation for public funding of a replacement visitors center. It was only the access road along the old Carr Fork alignment that was closed in 1978. After some changes to the road, the visitors center reopened in 1979, and remained open during the 1980 season. Kennecott wanted to "phase out" the visitor center at the end of the 1981 season. -- Provo Daily Herald, February 25, 1979; Tooele Transcript, October 2, 1980; Jordan Valley Sentinel, October 9, 1980)

July 10, 1980
Governor Scott Matheson approved the survey for the improvement of a road from the Tooele side, up Middle Canyon, to a new site at 8,200 feet elevation, above and southwest of the open pit mine. The work was to be completed by the National Guard. On Tuesday July 8th, the proposed route was examined by commanders of the National Guard, and members of the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Tooele County commissioners. If the project was approved, work would not start until the 1982 season due to previous commitments for the National Guard. (Tooele Transcript, July 10, 1980)

(In May 1981 the Governor and Kennecott officials worked out a plan to keep the Bingham site open for at least another season. The apparent reason was that there was no funds from either the state, or from Salt Lake and Tooele counties to build the road, and the National Guard was already fully scheduled for upcoming seasons. -- Tooele Transcript, May 28, 1981)

June 2, 1981
Kennecott announced that a new visitors center would be built at a new location overlooking the Bingham mine. The current site is closed during the winter and the new location would allow year-around use. Plans called for the new location to be open to the public on May 1, 1982. (Tooele Bulletin, June 2, 1981)

(The Bingham visitor center was closed for the 1979, 1980, and 1981 seasons.)

(The new visitors center overlooked the 6190 truck shop, which had been built in July 1978. The 6190 rail yard was also moved in summer and fall 1978, along with a new employee parking lot.)

May 1, 1982
Kennecott opened a new visitors center at Bingham. The new location was "a few hundred feet northeast" of the old location, which had to be closed due to mining activity and heavy equipment working on the hill side above the old site. The new location included a new access road and new parking lot. The old location was closed permanently in late 1981. (Provo Daily Herald, April 25, 1982; Orem-Geneva Times, April 29, 1982)

Fall 1983
"The visitors center at Kennecott's open pit copper mine was closed indefinitely last fall." (Deseret News, April 30, 1984)

May 24, 1984
Kennecott announced that the Bingham visitors' center would not open for the 1984 season. Due to low metal prices, and numerous employee lay-offs, Kennecott said that it could not justify spending monies to make the needed changes to the access road and site itself, to keep the public safe during active mining operations. (Jordan Valley Sentinel, May 24, 1984)

(By August 1984, Kennecott employment was down to 2400 jobs, down from a high of 7400 jobs in 1981. Production was scaled back from 200,000 tons of copper per year, down to 60,000 tons of copper per year. The cutback of production was forced due to the plunging prices of metals, due mostly to cheap foreign imports.)

September 6, 1984
Kennecott announced that the visitor center would re-open "this week," and remain open until October 30th. (Orem-Geneva Times, September 6, 1984)

(In March 1985 Kennecott announced that it would close down its entire Utah operations and lay off 2,200 employees in Utah, beginning on March 31. Another 1,100 employees were to be laid off on April 30. -- Deseret News, March 26, 1985)

May 15, 1987
Governor Bangerter cut a copper ribbon to re-open the Bingham visitors center. The mine had closed in March 1985, and re-opened in Fall 1986. Access was by way of Copperton and the road in Bingham canyon. (Provo Daily Herald, May 17, 1987; Jordan Valley Sentinel, May 21, 1987)

1988
An all-new visitor observation center was completed in 1988 at a new location on the northeast side of the pit. The new site included a separate formal visitor center, along with the large tire that had previously been along the trail between the parking lot and the observation point of the previous location. (Deseret News, April 12, 1993)

April 1988
The visitor observation center opened for the season on April 1, 1988. The news item does not mention whether of not the location is new or remodeled, but does mention that a big tire is now part of the exhibit. (Deseret News, March 28, 1988)

January 1989
In January 1989, the company announced that the $14,000 collected as an entry fee since August 15, 1988, when the practice was started, would be donated to local charities, as would all fees collected in the future. (Deseret News, August 11, 1988; January 2, 1989)

Throughout the years, the visitor observation center was open for six to seven months out of the year, between late March or early April and late October, depending on the weather and the amount of snow on the ground needing to be cleared to provide access.

August 1991
In a "What To Do This Weekend" feature, the visitor observation center was mentioned as still being located in Bingham Canyon, with access by way of continuing west from Copperton. (Deseret News, August 21, 1991)

April 27, 1992
Kennecott held a formal opening of a new visitor center at the mine observation area. The ceremony was attended by Governor Bangerter and by Frank Joklik, Kennecott president. The visitor center featured a video and other displays that told of the mine's history and its operations. (Deseret News, April 29, 1992; Salt Lake Tribune, April 28, 1992)

Access to the visitor center was changed during the winter of 1991-1992, with a new access road being constructed from a new entrance gate at the old location of the Lark townsite, climbing northward across the face of the waste dump area to an expanded parking lot. After the new access road to the new visitors center was opened in April 1992, Utah Route 48, the state road in Bingham Canyon, was decommissioned and abandoned west of Copperton. The roadway and right-of-way west of Copperton became private property of Kennecott.

April 1993
Since 1988, more than $200,000 has been donated to 70 local charities. (Deseret News, April 12, 1993)

May 1996
The visitors center at the Bingham Canyon observation point was enlarged by 1,600 square feet and 12 new exhibits and a theater were added. Over 176,000 visitors viewed the Bingham mine during 1996. (Deseret News, May 18, 1996; April 1, 1997)

1998
There were over 180,000 visitors to Kennecott's open pit mine during 1998. All fees collected, $3 for cars and $30 for large buses, were donated to local charities; a total of $104,500 was collected during 1998. (Deseret News, April 5, 1999)

April 2006
Kennecott reopened its Bingham Canyon visitors center in a new location. The visitors center was moved, remodeled and enlarged and relocated to a new site within the mine. The building was reported as having a new exterior and several energy savings improvements. (Kennecott 2005 Sustainable Development Report)

The new location was at the 6690 Level, where the mine offices were also located.

January 2008
"The Kennecott Utah Copper Visitors Center Charitable Foundation donated $130,000 to 95 local community charities in December. The foundation is organized as a Kennecott nonprofit entity giving funds exclusively for public welfare, community improvement and charitable purposes, which is limited to providing help to the underprivileged." "The foundation raises money for local charities through tax-deductible entrance fees to the Bingham Canyon Mine Visitors Center. In 2007, the center hosted 169,945 visitors, an increase of about 21,092 from 2006, and raised more money than any other year in the foundation's history. Since the inception of the charity fund in 1992, the foundation has donated more than $2 million to local community charities and nonprofit organizations and hosted more than 2 million visitors to the center." "The foundation has given to charities focusing on children, veterans, disabled, homeless and senior citizens throughout the state. Donations were made to 26 senior centers, 24 human service organizations, five health organizations, and nine groups focusing on the disabled." (Deseret News, January 13, 2008)

October 28, 2012
The Bingham visitors center was closed for the season. The visitors center was located at the 6340 level. The visitors center was to be reopened in April 2013. (Rio Tinto press release dated October 16, 2012)

April 2013
Rio Tinto announced that the Bingham visitor's center will be closed for the duration of the 2013 season, due to safety concerns. (Deseret News, April 2, 2013)

(The closure in April 2013 was due to the slide that took place on April 10, 2013)

Fall 2018
Satellite photos dated from June 2017 show that after the area of the 2013 slide was cleaned up and made safe, in summer 2017 Kennecott was beginning construction of a new site and location for the Visitor Center. The new location was very close to the one closed in 2013, but about 500 feet higher on the hill, and still overlooking the new 6190 truck shop. Later photos dated September 2018 show the completed visitor center.

April 26, 2019
Six years after 165 million tons of earthen material slipped in a massive landslide at Kennecott's Bingham Canyon copper mine in April 2013, the company formally reopened its visitor center, in its new location. The new site had been completed in September 2018, but was open as a "sneek peek" to invited guests only, including "stakeholders, employees and their families, along with contractors and their family members." (Deseret News, September 18, 2018; April 26, 2019)

June 2022
The Bingham Visitors Center reopened to the public.

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