Highland Boy Mine at Bingham, Utah

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This page was last updated on February 15, 2024.

Overview

The Highland Boy mine was located on the northwest slope of Carr Fork, just above where it met Sapp Gulch. This junction where Sapp Gulch met Carr Fork was where Utah Consolidated built its new tunnel and new surface facilities in late 1896, as well as its gold cyanide concentration mill.

Timeline

1873
Highland Boy claim located in Carr Fork by James W. Campbell. (USGS Professional Paper 38)

July 10, 1874
First mention of the Highland Boy mine. "Highland Boy Mine -- Has a shaft fifty feet, tunnels over 200 feet altogether, and discloses a two-foot vein of galena, with irregular quantities of carbonate. Work is vigorously prosecuted, which cannot fail to result in a valuable mine." (Salt Lake Herald Republican, July 10, 1874)

April 28, 1876
"The Highland Boy, owned mostly by Benson and Campbell, is situated on Carr Fork of Bingham, a mile and a half above town. The vein has been large from the start, containing large masses of galena of good quality, and other matter, ... [continues with long description of ore vein and types of ore.] (Salt Lake Tribune, April 28, 1876)

June 27, 1876
"I made my way up the Carr Fork, past the Highland Boy mine with its 600 feet of tunnel, shaft, incline and drifts, showing vast bodies of lead ore ..." (Salt Lake Herald Republican, June 27, 1876)

October 27, 1880
"The Highland Boy -- This claim is also in Bingham Canyon and is owned by James Campbell and others.. There is a tunnel in nearly 300 feet, showing ore the entire distance. There is an incline from the bottom of the tunnel which is down 100 feet. The vein is thought to be from 60 to 75 feet wide and averages $18 gold." (Western Mining Gazetteer, October 27, 1880)

March 31, 1881
"The James Campbell vs. J. J. O'Reilly et al. suit commenced Wednesday, and is in progress. This is a suit brought by the Highland Boy against the Omaha, in the West Mountain Mining District; the grounds being adverse claims for the right to the title." (Salt Lake Herald Republican, March 31, 1881)

April 28, 1888
The articles of incorporation for the Bingham Mining Company were filed with the Salt Lake County clerk. (Salt Lake Herald, April 29, 1888, "yesterday")

... organized for the purpose of conducting a mining, milling and smelting business within the Territory of Utah. The capital stock is placed at $20,000, divided into 200 shares of the par value of $100 each, which is subscribed for as follows:

Orange J. Salisbury (85 shares); Edward D. Egan (50); W. C. Staines (30); James Glendinning (25); John A. Marshall (10)

William C. Staines was named as president, James Glendinning as vice-president, and O. J. Salisbury as secretary and treasurer, who, with the other stockholders, form the board of directors.

(As early as 1879, there was a Bingham Mining company located in the Black Hills mining district in South Dakota. References to this company continued through to 1884.)

The Bingham Mining Company took a lease on the Stewart mine on April 27, 1888. (Salt Lake Herald, November 6, 1891)

February 26, 1894
James W. Campbell, John T. Gilmer and Monroe Salisbury received a patent for their Highland Boy mine "yesterday." (Salt Lake Herald Republican, February 27, 1894)

April 23, 1894
"Quite a valuable gold brick was made recently at the Stewart No. 1 mill from a lot of ore from the Highland Boy mine." (Salt Lake Herald Republican, April 23, 1894)

August 19, 1894
"The Stewart No. 2 people have secured a lease on the Highland Boy, where a strong body of ore is said to have been developed, and are now constructing a wagon road which will give easier access to the Stewart No. 2 mill." (Salt Lake Tribune, August 19, 1894)

October 26, 1894
The Highland Boy mining claim was leased by the Stewart Mining company to the Bingham Mining company. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 26, 1894)

November 7, 1894
The stockholders of the Stewart Mining Company were called to a special meeting to decide if the lease on the Highland Boy mine was to be leased to the Bingham Mining Company, with an option to purchase before April 27, 1895. At the same time, the stockholders were to decide if their company should give the Bingham Mining Company a similar lease and option to purchase the Stewart Mining Company itself with all of its claims and property. (Salt Lake Tribune, November 1, 1894)

(During this period in 1894 and 1895, the Highland Boy and Stewart groups were regularly referred to as being gold properties, rather than copper properties.)

January 26, 1896
Campbell and Salisbury, as owners of the Highland Boy mine, were served with an injunction for an encroachment law suite, after they reportedly drove a 60-foot tunnel into the property of the adjacent Henry M. mine. The Henry M. had just discovered a caved space "some time ago" from which "large blocks of ore were extracted that were all covered with wire gold." (Salt Lake Herald Republican, January 26, 1896)

September 6, 1896
Rumors of a big sale were swirling for the Bingham District, to be consummated within two days. "The transaction involves the Henry M., Highland Boy and Omaha groups of claims at the head of Carr Fork gulch, a short distance from the Old Stewart mine. There are thirteen lodes [claims] embraced in this deal everyone of them it what might be termed a "hot number," as a strong ledge, all of 75 feet in width, cuts through the entire property. The ore is gold and averages about $12 a ton, and as satisfactory tests have been made by their intended purchasers, who are eastern capitalists, a mill will be the order of the day as soon as the sale is consummated." (Salt Lake Herald Republican, September 6, 1896)

October 3, 1896
The Stewart Mining Company, and James Campbell, each sold their interests in the Highland Boy mine and group of mining claims to Thomas Weir. The Stewart company for $10,000, and Campbell for $27,500.

On the same day, Thomas Weir sold his interest in the Stewart and Highland Boy mines to Samuel Newhouse. In addition to the Stewart and Highland Boy properties, Weir also sold to Newhouse other adjacent and nearby properties. The sellers were a wide variety of owners that Weir brought together. These owners had been fighting amongst themselves and Weir offered them a solution in which everyone was happy and made money. Newhouse immediately announced that his company would drive a new tunnel "at the bottom of the hill" that would connect all of the properties, as well as a new power house and electrical plant.

Over the years, Newhouse's new mine opening, with its later distinctive 'L' shaped roof, sitting directly under Utah Copper's 'J' rail bridge, first served as the head house for an aerial tramway down to Bingham. Then later, it was the head house for the aerial tramway westward across the Oquirrh ridge to the International smelter near Tooele. Dated photos show the distinctive building remained until after 1940, and was likely demolished during the early 1940s, after the new Elton tunnel went into service in 1941. After the Elton tunnel went into service, all workings and activity was underground, and there was no need for surface facilities at the head of Carr Fork.

October 6, 1896
On this day, Thomas Weir accepted the offer to manage Newhouse's new properties in Carr Fork in Bingham Canyon, consisting of the Highland Boy mine and nine adjoining claims, all in what was known as the "Bingham Gold Belt." His management of the property also took effect on the same day. The new mill and tunnel will take at least ten days to decide on their exact location. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 6, 1896; Intermountain Mining Review, October 8, 1896)

October 1896
Highland Boy Gold Mining Company was organized in October 1896 as the U.S. subsidiary of Utah Consolidated Gold Mines, Ltd. of London. Between 1898 and 1900, the company shipped the majority of the copper from Bingham district, as sulfide ores. By 1901, the Highland Boy mine was the "chief" producer of copper in the Bingham District. (USGS Professional Paper 38, pp. 265, 268)

The Highland Boy mine was a considerable producer of silver-lead ore in 1870-1890. (The Copper Handbook, Volume 11, 1912-1913, page 929)

October 3, 1896
Samuel Newhouse and his associates paid $200,000 for a group of ten mining claims located at the top of Carr Fork. The mining claims included the Highland Boy, the Griffin, the Henry M., the Nina Fraction, the Omaha, the Larena, the Christina, the Larsen, the Annex Fraction, and the Hillside claims. The purchase also included the mill site of the Hillside claim, as well as the Hillside's water rights. The sellers (the Stewart Mining company, and James Campbell) accepted $37,500 for their interests in the Highland Boy mine. During 1895, Thomas Weir had found the previous owners of the various claims fighting among themselves, and determined to bring all of their interests into a single company, after bringing the potential of the combined properties to the attention of Newhouse. Newhouse and his associates announced that they would build a cyanide mill of 200 tons per day capacity. On October 6, 1896, Thomas Weir took the position of manager of the new combined properties. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 4, 1896, "yesterday"; October 6, 1896, "today")

October 27, 1896
Samuel Newhouse transferred his interest in the Highland Boy and other mining claims to the newly organized Highland Boy Gold Mining Company, for the total sum of $1.00. (Salt Lake Herald Republican, October 27, 1896)

November 1896
Utah Consolidated began development work in Highland Boy mine and soon discovered that the ore body contained 25 percent copper. (Hansen, p. 268)

December 1896
Utah Consolidated shipped 5,000 tons of copper sulfide ore from the Highland Boy mine in December 1896. All of this ore production resulted from development work (developing access tunnels) rather than actual mining operation. (USGS Professional Paper 38, p. 85)

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