Dalton & Lark Tramway

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This page last updated on May 30, 2024.

Overview

This tramway was 24-inch gauge and was built by the Lead Mine company in 1882, and operated by gravity between its mine in Yosemite Gulch, down to its mill at Lead Mine station on the Rio Grande Western railroad. The empty ore cars were returned to the mine by use of mules and horses. The tramway remained in service until 1896-1897 after the Lead Mine company's mill was destroyed by fire in July 1896. The ore was milled at other mills after that. The tramway was abandoned and replaced in 1900 by a modern electric tramway, also 24-inch gauge, completed between the Dalton & Lark company's mines at the top of both Copper Gulch and Yosemite Gulch, and the new railroad spur completed to the "Bingham" (Mascotte) tunnel at a new location named Lark. The new electric tramway remained in service until 1905 when the Mascotte tunnel was extended to reach 8,000 feet and a connection with the Dalton & Lark underground incline tunnel. After that, all ore was taken out by way of the Mascotte tunnel and the surface tramway was abandoned.

The Dalton & Lark horse tram was constructed in mid 1882 by the Lead Mine Company to move ore from its Brooklyn mine, at the head of Yosemite Gulch, down to its mill at Lead Mine station of the Rio Grande Western at the mouth of Bingham Canyon. The original tramway was 4-1/2 miles in length.

The tram was built to 24-inch gauge and was operated by gravity from the mine down to the mill, and the empty cars were returned to the mine using mules and horses. The tramway is also used for hauling timber and supplies from Lead Mine Station up to the mine.

Several extensions were added at the tramway's upper end, to act as a common carrier serving other mines in the vicinity of Yosemite Gulch. These extensions and various side tracks brought the total length to seven miles. By 1896, when the Lead Mine company, including its tramway, was sold to the Dalton & Lark company, the tramway served the Keystone, Dalton & Lark, and Lead mines at the head of Copper Gulch, and Brooklyn mine at the head of Yosemite Gulch, all owned by the Dalton & Lark company. The tramway also served the Antelope, Sampson, and Yosemite mines owned by other companies.

The Lead Mine company used the tramway from 1882 to 1896. When the Dalton & Lark company opened it mine in 1890, it also used the Lead Mine company's tramway. In 1895, when the Lead Mine company filed an encroachment and trespass suit against the Dalton & Lark company, the Dalton & Lark company stopped using the tramway, choosing to ship their ore by wagon to Revere station of the RGW.

In early 1896, the Lead Mine company lost its suit against the Dalton & Lark company, and the settlement put the Lead Mine company into receivership, with the further result of the Dalton & Lark company taking ownership of the disputed ground, along with the Lead Mine company's tramway and mill.

The Dalton & Lark tramway was used to ship ore down from the mines to the Lead Mine mill until that mill burned in July 1896. The mill was not rebuilt due to the low metal prices, but the Dalton & Lark company continued to ship ore using the tramway until the horse tramway was replaced in 1900 by a more modern electric tramway that connected the seven Dalton & Lark mines, directly to the Bingham Tunnel at Lark.

In late 1901, the Dalton & Lark company was sold to a new larger company, Bingham Consolidated Mining & Smelting company, which built its own spur from the Rio Grande Western's Revere siding, to the mouth of the company's Bingham (Mascotte) Tunnel, at a new location known as Lark. The connection to RGW's Bingham Branch at Revere siding, which was renamed as Dalton. In 1903, the private Dalton & Lark spur was sold to Rio Grande Western.

The new electric tramway between the Dalton & Lark mine and the Mascotte tunnel at Lark, was abandoned in 1905 when the Mascotte Tunnel was extended into the Dalton & Lark ground, reaching its final length of 8,000 feet. At that point, the Mascotte Tunnel connected with the Dalton & Lark's incline tunnel, which was extended downward to reach the level of the Mascotte.

Timeline

June 18, 1892
"The force of men on the Brooklyn tramway was increased the first of the week and three more cars were put on. Forty-two cars daily come down over this line now." (Salt Lake Tribune, June 18, 1892)

November 2, 1895
"The Dalton and Lark company of Bingham have stopped patronizing what is known as the Lead Mill tramway, and are now shipping their ores by wagon to Revere switch." (Salt Lake Tribune, November 2, 1895)

February 6, 1896
The Dalton & Lark won in the suit against it by the Lead Mine company involving the Richmond, Richard, and Dump mining claims. The Lead Mine company had filed its suit in October, claiming ownership by rights of apex for the lodes in question. The settlement included the Dalton & Lark taking title to the disputed ground, along with the Lead Mine company's four-mile tramway and the Lead Mine company's mill. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 6, 1896)

February 7, 1896
"Schenck's Big Deal" The Dalton and Lark People Buy the Lead Co's Property" "Night before last (February 7) the papers were signed which vested the title to the Lead company's Bingham properties in the Dalton & Lark people." "This is probably the largest and most important transaction ever made in Bingham mines and adds to the Dalton & Lark holdings in the neighborhood of 250 acres of the choicest mineral lands to be found in the district besides giving the company the key to that portion of this famous camp." "In buying this property, the most important feature of the deal, for the present, was the securing of the Lead mill tramway, with its seven miles of track and equipment of cars and horses." "About twenty-three claims were embraced in the deal, including the noted Brooklyn and Lead mines, in both of which large bodies of ore are exposed..." (Salt Lake Herald, February 9, 1896)

July 1896
The Dalton & Lark shipped 2,640 tons of ore during the month of July 1896, all by way of the tramway to Lead Mine Station. (Salt Lake Herald, September 6, 1896)

(RGW timetables show the station adjacent to the mill of the Lead Mine company as Lead Mine Station, with Lead Mine being the company name rather than the location of the company's mine.)

January 1897
The Dalton & Lark shipped 1,050 tons of ore during the month of January 1897, all by way of the tramway to Lead Mine Station. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 7, 1897)

February 1897
The Dalton & Lark shipped 732 tons of ore during the month of January 1897, all by way of the tramway to Lead Mine Station. (Salt Lake Herald, March 14, 1897)

September 17, 1900
"Keystone branch of the Dalton & Lark tram is to be completed tomorrow (September 17), when Fortune mill will begin shipping via Lead Mine station, saving 70 cents per ton as compared with wagon hauling to Sandy." (Salt Lake Herald, September 16, 1900)

December 14, 1901
The last spike was driven on the new Dalton & Lark tramway on December 14, 1901. "With the driving of the last spike on Saturday next, and the completion of the tramway on which horse-power is to be temporarily employed, the management of the Dalton & Lark will begin the forwarding of it ores to the furnaces." (Salt Lake Tribune, December 12, 1901, Thursday)

December 29, 1901
"...a new electric tramway three and a half miles long, with a 5 per cent grade is being constructed from the terminus of the new branch line to the Lead Mine and Yosemite workings, preparing for extensive operations in those old producers; they have secured and are making ready to resume work in the old Brooklyn, whose production record reaches several millions, and as soon as required will extend the electric road two miles further around to that property" (Salt Lake Herald, December 29, 1901)

January 1902
Bingham Consolidated completed construction of the 3.6 mile "Dalton and Lark Railroad" as a connection between the portal of its Dalton and Lark Drain Tunnel (at Lark) and the Rio Grande Western's Bingham branch. The new line was to replace the four mile horse tramway that had been built by the mine's previous owners in the late 1890s between the old Dalton and Lark mine, and Lead Mine station on the Rio Grande Western. The new line was built with 3.6 percent grades using 56-pound rail.

February 7, 1902
"The tramway between the mouth of the great tunnel and the Dalton & Lark properties of the Bingham Consolidated has gone into commission and pending the arrival and installation of the electric motor that will eventually provide the motive power to operate the tram trains, mules are doing the heavy work. Coal was being hauled up to the mines yesterday." (Salt Lake Herald, February 7, 1902)

May 28, 1902
"The Bingham Con. electric tramway connecting the Dalton & Lark property with the railroad is nearly half completed already, and the material for the remaining section of the line is being rushed to the scene as quickly as possible. In the meantime some ore is being carried over the section of the tramway at present completed and from its terminus is being hauled to the railroad station. This tramway will when completed be one and a half miles in length." (Deseret Evening News, May 28, 1902)

"To provide for hauling the ore which will be produced during the time before all work will be done so that connections can be made between the workings of the several mines and the drain tunnel (probably several years hence), an electric railroad has been built. This is a continuation of the steam road. It is a 24-in. gage line, operated with 10-ton motor cars. The grade is 5 percent, compensated. The sharpest curves have a radius of between 55 and 60 ft. The line is extensively developed, following the grade contour closely. Four miles have been built and put in operation, by which the present working shaft of the Dalton & Lark Mine has been reached. This is nearly directly up the mountain side from the mouth of the drain tunnel, but about 1,000 ft. higher in elevation." ("Different Methods of Hauling Ore at Bingham, Utah" by W. P. Hardesty, July 24, 1902, Engineering News, Volume 48, July-December 1902, page 59)

A secondary 24-inch tramway using electric motive power and 5 percent grades, was completed between the Lark tunnel and the Dalton & Lark mine opening, which was about 1,000 feet higher than Lark.

The Dalton & Lark tramway "winds around the hills for five miles in order to cover a bee line distance of two miles" taking ore to the spur of Rio Grande Western. "Gravity takes the cars down and electric locomotives haul them back, thirty-five at a load." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1904, "Activity At The Dalton & Lark")

This secondary tramway was supposedly a temporary situation while the drain tunnel was being extended to meet the Dalton & Lark incline tunnel, which was being driven downward for a reported 1000 feet difference between the working shaft of the mine and the level of the drain tunnel. The extension of the drain tunnel was to be into the Dalton & Lark ground within five years. The "temporary" 24-inch gauge electric tramway would be built with five percent grades and operated with ten-ton electric locomotives.

August 18, 1902
"The rails of the Dalton & Lark electric tramway are too light for the ten-ton motor used, and the latter leaves the track at the slightest provocation, causing much annoyance. A lighter motor or heavier rails will be substituted." (Salt Lake Herald, August 18, 1902)

October 20, 1902
"The new electric railway is completed at the Dalton & Lark properties, and on Oct. 6 they made a trial run, sending down fifty-nine cars." "The new Dalton & Lark tunnel is in 4,280 feet. One of the objects of this tunnel is to unwater the Dalton & Lark and Brooklyn mines. As the tunnel has already begun to lower the water in these mines, Manager McVichie states it will not be necessary to do any more pumping. As soon as the tunnel is completed and our railroad connections made, all of the ore from the mines will be worked through this tunnel and delivered direct to the ore bins." "The water in the Dalton & Lark mines has been lowered to the 850-foot level." (Salt Lake Tribune, October 20, 1902)

March 30, 1904
The Dalton & Lark tramway "winds around the hills for five miles in order to cover a bee line distance of two miles" taking ore to the spur of Rio Grande Western. "Gravity takes the cars down and electric locomotives haul them back, thirty-five at a load." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1904, "Activity At The Dalton & Lark")

March 30, 1905
"In the neighborhood of 300 men are now employed and about 400 tons of lead and copper ores are being shipped from the Dalton & Lark workings daily with enough blocked out to keep up these shipments for a year or more. The ore is conveyed to the terminus of the R.G.W. spur over a tramway which winds around the hills for five miles in order to cover a bee-line distance of two miles. Gravity takes the cars down and electric locomotives haul them back, thirty-five at a load." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1905; partial text, with the remaining text duplicating the text of a March 20, 1904 Salt Lake Tribune article)

March 31, 1905
"The Mascot tunnel will be connected with the shaft on the Dalton & Lark property within 30 days when the tunnel will perform the service for which it was primarily designed; that is, the transportation of ore, thus avoiding the expense of hoisting." (Deseret Evening News, March 31, 1905)

(The "hoisting" mentioned above lifted the ore from the working levels, up to the level of the electric tramway. From there the ore traveled by tramway and by gravity down to the mouth of the Lark drainage tunnel, to be dumped into cars of the Rio Grande Western.)

May 28, 1905
"All the ore from the Dalton & Lark properties will hereafter be handled through the tunnel, which, in comparison with hoisting costs, will mean a great saving in expense." (Salt Lake Herald, May 28, 1905)

June 6, 1907
The ore from the Brooklyn mine was still being brought down to Lark by way of the four-mile electric tramway, which was to be extended at Lark to allow the Brooklyn ore to be brought to the new Ohio Copper mill. (Salt Lake Herald, June 6, 1907)

(With the connection being made to the working tunnels of the Dalton & Lark mine in May 1905, the need for the four-mile electric tramway went away. However, the above item from June 1907 shows that the tramway was still being used to transport ore from the Brooklyn mine.)

Photos

(Research has not yet found any photos of either the 1882-1902 tramway to Lead Mine, or the 1902-1905 tramway to Lark.

Maps

The USGS 1905 map of Bingham shows the 1882-1902 tramway to Lead Mine.

(Research has not yet found any map that shows the 1902-1905 tramway to Lark.

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