Utah Consolidated Mining Company
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This page was last updated on September 14, 2016.
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Control By Standard Oil
The information below focuses on the Utah Consolidated Mining Company, and its copper mine in Bingham Canyon, Utah. There are numerous sources concerning the story of Standard Oil. A good place to start would be the Wikipedia article about Standard Oil.
Along with brothers John D. Rockefeller and William Rockefeller, H. H. Rogers and other Wall Street financiers formed Amalgamated Copper Mining in 1899 to control the copper industry.
A review of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, along with other newspapers of the era (1899-1905), indicates that the amount of shares owned by the Standard Oil group rose and fell as the price per share rose and fell, with the group making large profits as they sold shares at high prices and bought at low prices. The degree of actual control also rose and fell, matching the percentage of shares they owned.
Thomas W. Lawson, a Boston stock broker, was rumored as being the person who brought the need for a copper trust to the attention of H. H. Rogers of Standard Oil, making the case for the need to stabilize and control the price of copper on the worldwide market. The share price of Amalgamated collapsed in December 1901, ruining thousands of individuals' investments, apparently without harming the Standard Oil group. Lawson was rumored to have lost over $9 million. Lawson defended his "unfortunate involvement" in several issues of Everybody's Magazine spread across 1904 and 1905, in a series called "Frenzied Finance." Lawson laid out the story of how Rogers and his associates used their "System" to manipulate the stocks and share price of several companies, including Utah Consolidated, both as an English company, and as the New Jersey company that replaced it.
(Read the 1905 compilation and reprint of the entire Frenzied Finance series at Archive.org)
In 1909, the U. S. government sued Standard Oil for its monopoly under the anti-trust laws. In May 1911, the U. S. Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil to be broken up into 90 separate companies.
Timeline
April 24, 1899
Samuel Newhouse was president of Utah Consolidated, and Thomas Weir was general manager. The Standard Oil interests had paid $6 million for controlling interest of the company, and had appointed Albert C. Burrage as new president. Burrage was also one of the largest stockholders and a member of the so-called Standard Oil syndicate. (Salt Lake Herald, April 24, 1899)
Although unconfirmed as late as 1903, it was the shares owned by Samuel Newhouse that were initially sold to the Standard Oil people. Newhouse and his associates, were collectively known as "the Utah people" and were very eager to have Rogers become involved with Utah Consolidated as he sought to control the copper market.
After Rogers bought his large block of Utah Consolidated stock, he sent his son-in-law, Urban H. Broughton, to Utah to examine the property.
May 4, 1899
"Gentlemen connected with Standard Oil" this past winter purchased 150,000 shares of Utah Consolidated Mining Company, giving them control. (Wall Street Journal, May 4, 1899)
Utah Consolidated was initially incorporated in 1896 with 300,000 shares of stock.
(By May 1900, the 150,000 shares had been reduced to 50,000 shares -- Deseret Evening News, May 25, 1900)
February 1, 1900
Albert C. Burrage was president of Utah Consolidated Mining Company. Urban H. Broughton was chief engineer, and was designing a new addition to the existing Utah Consolidated smelter. (Salt Lake Herald, February 1, 1900)
April 11, 1900
Albert Burrage resigned as president of Utah Consolidated, and Urban H. Broughton was announced as his replacement, as well as being a managing director of the company. (Salt Lake Herald, April 11, 1900)
1903
Utah Consolidated Mining Company was organized in 1903 in New Jersey as a reorganization of the Utah Consolidated Gold Mines. Ltd., a British company that had been organized in October 1896 as a reorganization of the Sevier Gold Mines, Ltd. Utah Consolidated Mining Company owned 2496 shares of the 2500 shares of the Highland Boy Gold Mining Company. (The Copper Handbook, Volume 11, 1912-1913, page 928)
January 31, 1903
Utah Consolidated Mines Company was organized in New Jersey to purchase the Highland Boy Mining Company from Utah Consolidated Gold Mines, Ltd. of London. The transfer had not yet taken place, but was in legal hands for the adjustment. (Wall Street Journal, January 31, 1903; includes a summary and timeline of Standard Oil's control and near-control at varying times since 1899)
The new Utah Consolidated Mining Company of New Jersey property consisted of 31 claims on 239 acres, known as the Highland Boy group, located along north slope of Carr Fork. (The Copper Handbook, Volume 11, 1912-1913, page 929; See also: Wegg, page 73)
March 5, 1903
Utah Consolidated Mines Company was organized in New Jersey. (Deseret Evening News, March 6, 1903, "yesterday")
June 17, 1903
Urban Broughton had sailed for England to complete the transfer of Utah Consolidated from London to the United States. (Deseret Evening News, June 17, 1903)
July 10, 1903
The date of transfer of shares in the London company, for shares in the New Jersey company, was set as July 23, 1903. All London shares were required to be surrendered and exchanged by that date. (The Inter-Ocean [Chicago], July 10, 1903)
September 30, 1903
Henry H. Rogers and William Rockefeller continued to buy shares of Utah Consolidated. (Wall Street Journal, September 30, 1903)
December 11, 1903
The Standard Oil-Amalgamated trust had purchased 100,000 shares of Utah Consolidated, of 297,145 shares outstanding, of which 90,000 shares were held by the public. The original owners continued to hold the remaining shares (about 107,000 shares) and refused to give control to the Amalgamated interests. (Wall Street Journal, December 11, 1903)
March 28, 1905
The Standard Oil people own about 35 percent of Utah Consolidated, but they are "in absolute control of the management." The original owners in Boston no longer had any seat on the board of directors. (Wall Street Journal, March 29, 1905)
More Information
Anaconda In Utah -- Information about Anaconda and how in later years, after 1941, it operated the mines shown above, until operations were shut down in 1981.
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