Aerial Tramways in Utah

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This page was last updated on July 17, 2025.

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Overview

Today's ski lifts, in their early years, were first installed using a technology first developed for the use of aerial tramways to haul ore and other materials from mines, and just about any other material including stone and lumber. Bingham Canyon was the home of several aerial tramways, the two longest being the Highland Boy and United States Mining tramways, before the growth of the system of railroads that served the mines in the canyon.

From the Arizona Daily Star, June 17, 2013.

One of the great advances that occurred in Western mining in the 19th century was the aerial tramway. Although at times used in the logging industry, aerial trams quickly became popular as a means to transport ore from the mine to the mill in a fast, efficient and economic manner over rugged, mountainous and oftentimes inaccessible terrain.

Aerial tramways evolved from the European introduction of wire rope in the 1830s, which replaced hemp rope previously used on ships. Wire rope had the benefit of being lighter and stronger. As the century progressed, wire rope was used in the manufacture of cables to transport freight and materials both in Europe and the United States.

English inventors Andrew S. Hallidie and Charles Hodgson and American inventor Charles Huson pioneered the development of aerial tramways in the Western states. Hodgson was responsible for building the first aerial tramway in the West for the mines at Treasure Hill, Nev., in 1870-71.

Over the next 50 years, several hundred tramways were built across the West for the purpose of transporting ore. Many of them were a single-rope tramway design composed of grooved pulleys and towers supporting a single-line device that received a wire spliced together to form a continuous loop. This design was limited, covering a maximum of four miles with a load capacity of less than 200 pounds.

By the turn of the century a double-rope (or bi-cable) design was perfected by German engineers Theodore Otto and Adolph Bleichert. This new design, known as the Bleichert system, was more durable, allowing for a greater carrying capacity of up to 2,000 pounds per car.

Hallidie Patent

(Single rope system)

The wire-rope tramways the Vallejo mine at Alta, and the Chicago mine in Dry Canyon were designed and manufactured by A. S. Hallidie & Company of San Francisco.

(Read more about Hallidie's wire-rope tramways, from a 1997 issue of the Journal of the Mining History Association.)

From the Museum of the City of San Francisco.

In 1867 Hallidie took out his first patent for the invention of a rigid suspension bridge, and in the years thereafter he took out numerous patents for his inventions. Among these was the "Hallidie Ropeway [or Tramway]," a method of transporting ore and other material across mountainous districts by means of an elevated, endless traveling line, which he had invented in 1867.

At that time Hallidie had successfully installed a number of rope-ways in the mining districts of California. Great iron buckets containing rock and ore were carried across deep chasms and up precipitous mountain sides, where it was impossible to build bridges or roads. He undertook to adapt the same system to the propulsion of street cars up the hills of the city. The enterprise called for an endless wire rope, underground, to which a car could be attached, and from which it could be released at will.

(Read more about Andrew S. Hallidie, who also designed and built the first cable car system in San Francisco, which first ran on August 1, 1873)

From the Online Nevada Encyclopedia.

In 1857, he established the San Francisco firm of A. S. Hallidie and Company, which manufactured wire cable.

Hallidie solved one of the Comstock Mining District's technological challenges. When hoisting over several hundred feet, hemp rope broke from its own weight, even without hauling ore or people. Round steel wire cable proved problematic because it would kink and snap when rolled onto a hoisting spool. Hallidie developed a flat wire cable, which he premiered in a Gold Hill mine in 1864. It easily rolled onto a spool, quickly becoming the industry standard for hoisting.

Hallidie adapted his invention for use in his San Francisco cable car system, which first ran in 1873. The renowned engineer died in San Francisco in 1900.

October 4, 1899
"Henry J. Leschen arrived today from St. Louis to represent the A. Leschen & Sons Rope Company in machinery hall. He has a working model of the Finlayson patent aerial wire rope tramway, and will make a display of wire rope." (Spokane Chronicle, October 4, 1899)

"The Hallidie-Painter Tramway Company, of San Francisco, Cal., successor to the California Wire Works of San Francisco, recently installed a 2,500-ft. tramway on the property of the Eastern Oregon Mining and Milling Company, of Bourn, Ore., that has a capacity of 100 tons per day." (Engineering and Mining Journal, January 24, 1903)

Bleichert Patent

(Double rope, bi-cable system)

In the mid 1870s, a German engineer by the name of Adolf Bleichert designed what today is known as the "bicable" (or bi-cable) aerial tramway, meaning a stationary cable that supports a series of buckets that themselves are moved along by use of a hoist and moving cable, exactly the way a ski lift operates. He started the Adolf Bleichert & Company to design and install aerial tramway systems for mining companies worldwide. The U. S. license holder was the Trenton Iron Works of Trenton, New Jersey, who went on to install literally hundreds of systems, including several timber and lumber companies.

There were numerous bi-cable aerial tramways of the Bleichert design in Utah in the 1899 to 1910 era, including the system installed at Park City, Utah in 1902 at the Silver King Coalition Company's mine. The lower terminal of the Silver King Coalition became the symbol of Park City's ski industry. There were four aerial tramways in Bingham Canyon.

An article in the New York Times in October 1897, about an eight-mile Bleichert tramway to be built over Chilkoot Pass in Alaska, mentioned that at the time there were fifty Bleichert bi-cable tramways in the country. (New York Times, October 12, 1897, "Chilkoot Pass Tramway")

Many cable tramways were constructed due to difficult conditions along the proposed route, such as crossing over a mountain ridge or high mountain pass. In most other cases, a cable tramway was a necessity due to steep terrain between the mine and the loading terminal, and building a railroad would have been extremely expensive.

Aerial tramways were an alternative to having a railroad branchline built. For the mine operators, cost per-ton was the deciding factor, with all costs being included in the calculations. The capacity of rail cars was a major factor, since at that time the typical rail car carried about 35-40 tons. railroad construction was expensive because modern earth-moving equipment was not available; it was all done by hand. Steam shovels could be used, but they were large and required their own specialized support systems.

In about 1905-1915, as soon as rail car and railroad capacity was increased due to steel construction for the cars and better steel for the rails, along with better infrastructure, the costs became more competitive, with aerial tramways remaining only where increasingly better earth-moving and modern civil engineering could not put in a railroad branchline. The cost-benefit studies included the mining companies having to maintain their own tramways, compared to a railroad branchline being maintained by the railroad company.

The typical Bleichert aerial tramway used buckets that varied between seven and nine cubic feet, depending on the weight of ore or other product being carried, which in turn dictated the capacity, which was usually between 700 and 1000 pounds in each bucket. Early miners saw the potential of a free ride right away, and there are numerous photos and stories, just here in Utah, of men riding the buckets up and down the mountain. It would have been a very simple design change to swap a bucket for a chair.

As for the speed, a Bleichert aerial tramway used buckets that detached from the transport cable using one of Bleichert's many patents, and were suspended from the stationary cable by wheels. At each terminal, the buckets were detached and either loaded or dumped, with workers manually moving the buckets via a system of circular I-beams that looked identical to what we see at a ski lift today. The speed was slow enough that a man could walk next to the traveling cable and be able to manually attach the bucket to the moving cable, yet fast enough that tons-per-hour production was not adversely affected.

There were 14 U.S. patents granted to Adolf Bleichert & Co. for wire-rope aerial tramways, including those in Utah.

There were several additional patents granted in the name of Adolf Bleichert & Co., but the designs do not apply to any installation in Utah, which saw its last installation in 1910.

Finlayson Patent

In 1897 the company was represented by the Colorado Iron Works Company of Denver.

By late 1900, the "Finlayson Patent Aerial Wire Rope Tramway" was furnished by the A. Leschen & Sons Company of St. Louis and Chicago.

August 20, 1896
"C. T. Finlayson of Denver, Inventor of the Finlayson wire rope tramway, was in Park City last week for the purpose of making an estimate of the cost of a tramway from the Daly-West mine to the peck concentrator, a distance of three miles." (Intermountain Mining Review, August 20,1896)

November 29, 1899
The Mine and Smelter Supply Company, of Salt Lake City, was the supplier of two Finlayson tramways. One was to go to the Wakefield min in Silverton, British Columbia, and the other was to go to the 16-to-1 mine at Wallace Idaho. (Deseret News, November 29, 1899)

February 15, 1900
"One of the latest and most improved tramways of this type [the double rope type] is the Finlayson Patent Automatic Wire Rope Tramway, made and sold by the Mine & Smelter Supply Co,, of Denver, Colo., who have branch stores in Salt Lake City and the City of Mexico." (Salt Lake Mining Review, February 15, 1900)

"Mr. C. T. Finlayson, a man of large practical experience in aerial transportation, after years of study and actual, field work on the other makes, patented this device and it stands today as the best double rope tramway system. It differs from the other double rope systems in many ways; it is automatic, never having to stop to load or unload, and the traction rope is carried on sheaves just where it belongs." (Salt Lake Mining Review, February 15, 1900)

Christopher T. Finlayson, of Denver, Colorado, was granted six patents pertaining to wire rope tramways.

Utah Installations

(Shown in approximate chronological order)

October 1907
"The steepness and roughness of the hills in the upper part of Bingham Canyon and the consequent expense of railroad transportation has stimulated the construction of wire rope-ways. The Trenton Iron Works have built Bleichert ropeways for the Highland Boy, the United States, the Utah-Apex and Yampa mines, while A. Leschen & Sons Rope Co. built the Bingham-New Haven tram." (Mines & Minerals, Volume 28, October 1907, page 106)

February 15, 1909
There were four Bleichert-design aerial tramways in Utah. These included the oldest at the Highland Boy mine. This system was two miles long and carried 200 tons per hour, but has been recorded as carrying as much as 45 tons in one hour. The second system was the Yampa mine's system, carrying ore 2-1/4 miles from the Yampa mine to the Yampa smelter. This second system was a gravity system, and had 23 towers and four tension stations, with the system carrying as much as 75 tons per hour. The third system is that of the United States Mining company, 2-1/2 miles long, carrying 50 tons per hour. The fourth and shortest system at Bingham was the Utah Apex system, one mile long and carrying 10 tons per hour. (Salt Lake Mining Review, February 15, 1909)

Vallejo Mine Tramway - Alta (1872-1881)

(Deseret News, May 29, 1972; Salt Lake Weekly Tribune, January 18, 1873; February 8, 1873; February 15, 1873)

Prior to constructing the tramway, the previous method of transporting the ore from the Vallejo mine in Little Cottonwood Canyon was in sacks, with an average of 48 to 80 pounds each, by horse or man from the mine down to a location in Alta City where the sacks could be loaded on wagons for the trip down the canyon to the Howland sampler in Salt Lake City, adjacent to the Utah Central railroad depot. After sampling, the sacks of ore were loaded on rail cars for their trip to a reducing mill or a "furnace" (early smelter) to have the gold and silver extracted as bullion. In April and May 1871 there were weekly reports from the Howland sampler, showing weekly shipments from the Vallejo mine, with examples being 147 sacks at 7,060 pounds, 36 sacks at 2,762 pounds, and 212 sacks at 15,356 pounds.

"From the Vallejo the first wire-rope tram-way in the Territory has been built to the foot of Emma Hill, and according to late accounts, it is a perfect success." (Statistics of Mines and Mining, Volume 5, 1873, page 248)

July 18, 1871
"The Vallejo Tunnel and Mining Company was organized on the 18th; capital, $2,000,000; the tunnel site is in Little Cottonwood Canyon." (Chicago Tribune, July 24, 1871)

May 8, 1872
The Emma Hill Consolidated Mining Co. was incorporated in Salt Lake City on May 8, 1872. (Philadelphia Enquirer, May 9, 1872)

August 24, 1872
"Salt Lake, August 24. - The Emma Hill Consolidated Mining Company sold three hundred tons of their ore from the Vallejo tunnel today, on the dump, at forty-four dollars per ton." (Memphis Daily Appeal, August 25, 1872)

September 28, 1872
The following comes from "The Hallidie Endless Wire Ropeway" catalog of the California Wire Works, San Francisco, 1898. (research by Matt Mihalo)

Emma Hill Consolidated Mining Co.,
Little Cottonwood, Utah.
Superintendent’s Office, Sept. 28, 1872.
The Ropeway constructed by you (Hallidie’s Patent) for the Emma Hill Consolidated Mining Company has been built in a most substantial and workmanlike manner, and is at this time in splendid working condition. I most cheerfully accept the work for the Company, and recommend it to others wishing a sure and speedy transit for ores over places impracticable for wagon roads, etc.
Respectfully,
I. U. Colbath, Superintendent.

[From the Utah Mining Journal, Salt Lake, Sept. 23,1872 ]
The Vallejo Ropeway.
The Vallejo Tunnel Company’s Tramway, in Little Cottonwood, built on the Hallidie's Patented Plan, is a complete success. It is between 2,300 and 2,400 feet in length, and is supported by thirteen stations. The fall in this distance is about 600 feet, and the wire rope, which is five-eighths of an inch in diameter, will safely and easily deliver 100 tons in six hours. The machinery is automatic, loading or unloading the sacks or buckets. The stations are about 200 feet apart, and the entire apparatus is strong and safe. As the wire rope is elevated about forty feet above the surface of the hill, the Tramway can be worked all winter long without the slightest trouble.

Office of The Joab Lawrence Company,
Chas. Read, Sec’y; Joab Lawrence, Pres.
Salt Lake City, Utah, December 1, 1883.
I have been familiar with the working of the Hallidie Wire Ropeway, constructed eleven (11) years ago [1872], on the then property of the Emma Hill Consolidated Mining Company, since it was built, and have had charge of the same the last seven (7) years [1876]. It has been in practically continuous use since 1872, and is now in operation almost every day, not only in the transportation of ore, but in carrying mining timbers, lumber, cordwood, coal - in fact, everything used in the mines.
I can heartily recommend the Hallidie Wire Ropeway, because its action is simple, it is comparatively inexpensive, both in construction and operation, and is practically unlimited in capacity.
Yours, etc.,
Chas. Read.

January 15, 1881
A snow avalanche swept away the Vallejo boarding house, ore house and other buildings, and the tramway and the machinery running it. The mine had been shut down for the winter season the day before, so there was just two men in the boarding house, and both were swept away. (Salt Lake Herald, January 16, 1881)

(Research suggests that the Vallejo tramway was never rebuilt. The next two references to the Vallejo mine come in July and December 1885, both stating that the Vallejo mine itself was still shipping ore, without any mention of the tramway.)

(Read more about the Vallejo mine, before and after using its aerial tramway)

Chicago Mine Tramway - Dry Canyon, Ophir District, Utah (1873-1875)

Located on Hidden Treasure Hill in Dry Canyon, in the Ophir Mining District

The Chicago mine's wire-rope tramway replaced an earlier method of carrying the ore on horseback, down a distance of 1,500 feet, then using the early version of Jacob's tram-road for an additional 1,500 feet of drop from Jacob City at the head of Dry Canyon down to , then loaded on wagons and moved down to the site that later became the lower terminal of the wire-rope tramway.

(Research suggests that the Jacob's tram road was proposed as early as November 1875, and was built during early 1876.)

English company; William S. Godbe superintendent

"From the mouth of the mine the ore is carried in the same cars by which it is raised, over a railway, into the ore house adjoining, where it is dumped and loaded into the buckets of the Hallidie tramway and carried thence to the mouth of Dry Canyon, a mile and a quarter distant, when it is loaded into wagons and hauled to their furnace at Rush Lake. No sacks or sacking being required, and the wagons are loaded by slides. The buildings at the mine are all first class and substantial, including the commodious engine house, ore house, tramway house, boarding house, offices, etc. This Hallidie tramway is a magnificent institution, with a capacity of fifty tons per day, and is not surpassed by anything of the kind in the western country." ("Ophir Mining District" Utah Mining Gazette, 1874; copy available from BYU library, research by Matt Mihalo)

The wire-rope tramway reduced the method of transporting the ore from $5.50 per ton, down to $0.50 per ton

(Salt Lake Tribune, June 14, 1873; October 4, 1873; Utah Mining Gazette, October 11, 1873)

June 14, 1873
Work began on the Chicago mine's aerial tramway in June 1873. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 14, 1873)

December 1, 1874
The following comes from "The Hallidie Endless Wire Ropeway" catalog of the California Wire Works, San Francisco, 1898. (research by Matt Mihalo)

Office of the Chicago Silver Mining Co.
Salt Lake City, Dec. 1, 1874.
I have pleasure in stating that your Ropeway, put up at the Chicago Mine, Ophir District, Utah Territory, one year ago last summer, has been in constant use ever since, and with the most satisfactory results.
The line, as you are aware, is constructed over an extremely rugged country, one and one-quarter miles in length.
For the first half mile or so it is down a very steep mountain side, whence it passes over the brow of another one; thence it continues down Dry Canyon at an angle of fifteen to eighteen degrees.

Chicago mine and aerial tramway were idle by December 1875, with the Chicago smelter processing ore only from the company's Flavilla (former Hidden Treasure) mine.

(no references in available online newspapers after 1875)

Utah Consolidated Mining - Bingham (1897-1910)

Highland Boy mine, in the upper part of the Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon

(1898) Highland Boy Mine Tramway #1 (1898-1910): Bingham Canyon, Utah = 12,700 feet

(Read more about the earlier Utah Consolidated "Highland Boy" Aerial Tramway)

Centennial-Eureka Mining Company - Eureka (1900-1910)

Eureka, Utah (Tintic Mining District)

(Read more about the Centennial-Eureka's aerial tramway)

United States Mining - Bingham (1902-1914)

Jordan and Telegraph mines in upper Bingham Canyon.

All three branches were Bleichert patent design

Also known as the Telegraph tramway, likely because the location of the upper terminal of the main branch of the tramway was adjacent to the railroad loading bins of the Telegraph mine at the junction of Galena Gulch, and Bear Gulch, with the junction being the start of the main Bingham Canyon.

(1903) Telegraph Mine Tramway (1903-?): Bingham Canyon, Utah = 11,450 feet

1902
United States Mining Company - During 1902 these mines were connected with the Rio Grande Western railway, a distance of about three miles by a Bleichert wire rope tramway. This tramway was installed with an estimated capacity of sixty tons per hour. Owing to certain changes which have been found necessary since the erection, the tramway has not been able to handle the estimated capacity. Additional towers, strengthening certain parts and some minor changes in design, will, we believe make the tramway satisfactory in all respects. We expect to have these changes completed before June 1st of this year. (Salt Lake Mining Review, April 30, 1903)

December 30, 1903
"It will take about three weeks to complete the rebuilding of the tramway feeding station which recently burned at the Old Jordan mine in Bingham." (Deseret News, December 30, 1903)

February 9, 1904
"The machinery for the new headhouse of the United States Mining company's tramway at Bingham is being installed, the ropes being stretched, etc. The line will probably be in operation in a few days." (Deseret News, February 9, 1904, "Concentrates")

(Read more about the United States Mining Aerial Tramway)

Silver King Coalition Mines - Park City (1901-1952)

Silver King mine (Silver King Coalition mine after 1907)

(Read more about the Silver King Mining Company; Silver King Coalition Mines Company after 1907)

The system first operated in test in June 1901. The wire rope tramway was about 7,000 feet in length, with a fall of 1,000 feet. It was of a Finlayson Patent Automatic Wire Hope type, which was considered among the best double rope tramway systems at the time. The system was distributed by the Mine and Smelter Supply Co., Denver, with a branch in Salt Lake City. There were 80 buckets on the line spaced 175 feet apart, and each had a capacity of 500 pounds of ore and 325 pounds of coal. A distinctive feature of the line was the use of steel towers to support the ropes. These steel towers were manufactured by the Giliette-Herzog Company of Minneapolis. Minnesota, and varied in height from 16 to 65 feet, the highest being near the lower terminal.

August 1952
The Silver King Coalition aerial tramway was shut down in August 1952 when the mine converted to using trucks to get ore and concentrate down to the loading station in Park City. In March 1963, the tramway was started up to remove the 90 ore buckets, which had been decided to be a safety hazard after hanging suspended from the cable since 1952. The work was completed by the shop crew of the United Park City Mines Company, and the buckets were stored at the lower terminal. The towers and cable was to be left intact. (Summit County Bee Park Record, March 21, 1963)

Telegraph Mine Tramway (1903-?)

(See United States Tramway)

Continental Mines and Smelting Corporation - Alta (1904-1924)

Little Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County

Operated by the Michigan-Utah Consolidated Mining Company after 1911.

(Read more about the mines and railroads in Little Cottonwood Canyon)

October 30, 1904
"Good headway has been made in the construction of the tramway, which will be five miles in length, being the longest line yet built in the state, the material and equipment for which is being furnished by A. Leschen & Sons Rope Company, of St. Louis." "The tram will parallel and supersede about four miles of the old mule or horse tramway." (Salt Lake Mining Review, October 30, 1904, page 18)

June 1907
The Continental aerial tramway was completed at Alta to serve the Columbus Consolidated mine, shipping 100 tons per day. (The Mining Reporter, June 6, 1907, "this week")

March 1910
The Continental Alta aerial tramway was also used by the Columbus Consolidated company. At various times over the next 5 to 8 years, the aerial tramway was out of commission due to a snowslide taking one or more of the supporting towers. Finally in March 1910, a slide destroyed several towers and the tramway was out of commission for most of the following months. While the aerial tramway was being repaired, the mining companies were forced to depend on teams and wagons to get their ores to market, but due to poor road conditions, they faced higher costs and at times complete shutdown due to weather conditions that prevented the wagons from transporting the ore.

May 30, 1915
The Michigan-Utah has a force of men at work reconstructing the headhouse and repairing the aerial tramway (former Continental Alta tram), which extends from the mine to Tanners Flat, fur and one half miles, and it will be in operation in a few days. It is the intention of the company as soon as it is finished to extend the tramway to Wasatch, nearly three miles further down the canyon, to connect with the Salt Lake & Alta railroad. When completed to Wasatch the tramway will be of sufficient capacity to handle all the ores of the Alta district if the different mining companies of the district elect to avail themselves of this cheaper means of transportation." (Salt Lake Telegram, May 30, 1915)

1921-1922
During the winter of 1921-1922, the aerial tramway of the Michigan-Utah company was badly damaged. Work began on March 15, 1922 to rebuild the tramway. Some of the support towers were relocated to avoid snowslide damage in the future. The work was completed in August 1922, including prepositioning spare parts at known trouble spots to allow repairs to be completed should snowslides cause problems in the future. Plans were in place to allow operation year-around, allowing ore from all the Alta mines to be brought down to the standard gauge rail cars at the mouth of the canyon, and to avoid the intermittent service and high cost charged by the narrow gauge railroad. (Salt Lake Mining Review, August 15, 1922)

(The rebuilt tramway was 2000 feet shorter than the tramway that ended at Tanner's Flat, doing away with the lower and most troublesome part of the line. - Salt Lake Tribune, July 21, 1922)

May 17, 1923
The Michigan-Utah company's aerial tramway was started for the first time in the season on May 16, 1923. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 16, 1923)

(The Michigan-Utah aerial tramway was still in service as of September 1924 - Eureka Reporter, September 26, 1924)

Bingham-New Haven Copper & Gold Mining Co. (1905-1912)

Bingham-Congor Haven mine, in the upper part of the Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon

(1905) Bingham-New Haven Mine Tramway (1905-1912): Bingham Canyon, Utah = 4,600 feet

(Read more about the Bingham-New Haven Copper and Gold Mining Co.)

Grand Central - Tintic (1902-?)

Mammoth Hollow, Tintic District

(1907) Grand Central Mine Tramway (1907-?): Tintic, Utah = 7,920 feet

November 16, 1902
The Grand Central ore bins were connected to the Grand Central mine high up on the north slope of Mammoth Hollow by an aerial tramway. The Grand Central aerial tram went into "commission" the following day, November 17. (Salt Lake Tribune, November 16, 1902)

Utah-Apex Mining - Bingham (1907-1917)

Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon

February 4, 1907
The new tramway of Utah Apex Mining company went into operation. The tramway was 2,800 feet in length. (Deseret Evening News, February 5, 1907, "last night")

Yampa Mine - Bingham (1908-1910)

Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon

(1907) Yampa Mine Tramway (1907-1910): Bingham Canyon, Utah

Utah Consolidated Mining - Bingham (1910-1941)

Highland Boy mine, in the upper part of the Carr Fork branch of Bingham Canyon

(1910) Highland Boy Mine Tramway #2 (1910-?): Bingham Canyon, Utah = 20,975 feet

(Read more about the later Utah Consolidated aerial tramway)

Spring Canyon Coal Company - Spring Canyon (1913-1918)

Spring Canyon, near Helper, Utah

(1913) Spring Canyon Mine Tramway (1913-1918): Helper, Utah = 3,200 feet

January 2, 1913
"An entirely new method for conveying coal from the mine to the tipple is being tried out at this mine [Spring Canyon Coal company]. An aerial tramway capable of handling two thousand tons of coal in eight hours is to be made as an economical means for carrying the coal from where it crops out at high points in the canyon to the tipple." (Eastern Utah News Advocate, January 2, 1913)

The aerial cable tramway and mine haulage system at the Spring Canyon mine combined into a unique operation which used the mine cars as buckets on the cable tramway. The tramway buckets were designed to allow two of them to be placed on a suitable truck and run into the mine like a typical mine car. After loading, the two buckets were attached to the tramway cable, conveyed from the upper terminal to the lower terminal at the tipple, and returned to the upper terminal to be sent back to the mine for more coal. (Elliott, W. R. "A Recent Utah Coal‑Mine Development", Coal Age, Volume 4, Number 4, July 26, 1913, pages 114, 115)

The Bleichert aerial tramway of the Spring Canyon Coal Company conveyed the coal from the mine to the tipple at Storrs, located 3,200 feet distant and 350 feet lower. The tramway buckets each had a capacity of 2,400 pounds each and were used in pairs, mounted on a special truck, as mine cars, replacing the old fashioned "pit cars" used at other mines. At the upper terminal of the cable tramway a special transfer station allowed the buckets to be removed from the mine trucks and hung singly from the cable. The buckets traveled to the lower terminal where they were dumped automatically and returned to the upper terminal to again be mounted in pairs to the mine trucks and returned to the mine for reloading with coal. The loaded in pairs on the mine trucks, the cable tramway buckets were hauled between the upper terminal and the mine opening by one of two 15-ton General Electric electric mine locomotives in "trips", or trains of twelve cars, making each trip responsible for moving twenty-eight tons of coal from mine to cable tramway. To gather the loaded mine cars inside the mine, three 6-ton electric locomotives were used. (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 30, 1913, "The Spring Canyon Coal Company"; four-page article, with photos)

(Read more about Spring Canyon Coal Company)

Silver King Consolidated Mining Co. - Park City (1916-1922)

(Read more about the Silver King Consolidated Mining Company)

October 21, 1916
Silver King Consolidated Mining Company completed their aerial tramway between the mine and their mill, as distance of 10,200 feet, 52 buckets, five cubic feet each, traveling at 400 feet per minute. The new aerial tramway "went into commission" on October 21st, and will save about 75 percent of transportation costs. (Salt Lake Mining Review, October 30, 1916)

Nephi Gypsum Mine Tramway, Nephi, Utah (1925-1952)

Nephi Plaster and Manufacturing Company

(Read more about the Nephi Plaster and Manufacturing Company)

March 15, 1925
"The Nephi Plaster & Cement Company has recently awarded a contract to Gates & Glassbrook, local agents, for an Interstate Equipment aerial tramway, to be installed at the Plaster company’s properties near Nephi, Utah." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1925)

June 26, 1925
"Friday last the Nephi Plaster & Manufacturing Company closed a deal for the purchase and immediate installation at its properties near Nephi, this state, of an 8,700-foot automatic aerial tramway plant of 50-ton per hour capacity. It is planned to have the tramway completed and in operation by October next. G. K. Kilcar, vice-president of the Interstate Equipment Corporation, 25 Dey Street, New York, which manufactures this class of aerial tram, was on hand to assist in the details of the transaction for Gates & Glassbrook, local representatives of the Interstate company, with General Manager Will L. Ellerbeck of the Nephi Plaster Company. This tramway is to connect the Nephi Plaster’s recently opened quarry with the company’s big milling plant. The tram line has a drop of 600 feet between quarry and mill and, in addition to delivering fifty tons of gypsum rock per hour, it will develop 15 h.p. of reserve energy. Each bucket is of 20 cu. ft. capacity. They are loaded and dumped automatically and one man per shift runs the entire plant. These automatic trams are claimed to be the "last word" in efficient and economical transportation in the field they are designed to cover." (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 30, 1925, "Friday last" = June 26)

December 18, 1925
"The tramway which has been under construction at the plant of the Nephi Plaster and Manufacturing company was completed this week and put into operation. The tramway is 8500 feet long and was constructed by the Inter-State Construction company of New York, the work being in charge of W. J. Gentry, engineer for the construction company. The cost of erecting this improvement will amount to about $80,000 it is said. The tramway was built to connect the mill with a new deposit of gypsum located in the vicinity of the Rowley springs on the north side of the main canyon. The working of this new deposit will give the company a greater variety of gypsum than is now possible in the older workings on the south side of the canyon." (Nephi Times-News, December 18, 1925)

January 10, 1952
"U. S. Gypsum Company will close its Nephi Plant, within a few weeks, company officials announced Wednesday. Ray Gadd, superintendent of the Nephi Plant, said high grade mineral adjacent to the mill had played out. The company therefore will move machinery used in the mill to other locations where they own high grade deposits, he said. The original mill was built by a local group in 1887. In 1938 the U. S. Gypsum Company purchased the plant from the Nephi Plaster Company. The mill employs 13 men, Mr. Gadd said. When they have finished processing the rock on hand the tramway and other machinery will be dismantled and shipped to new locations, he said. This is expected to take several weeks, he said." (Deseret News, January 10, 1952)

Park-Utah Consolidated Mine (1926-?)

(1926) Park-Utah Consolidated Mine (1926-?): Park City, Utah = 4,700 feet

(Read more about the Park Utah Consolidated Mining Company)

January 2, 1926
An aerial tramway was completed and put into operation on January 2, 1926, between the mill of the Judge mine (owned by Park Utah Consolidated Mines) and the Ontario loading station. The tramway was one mile in length (with eight steel towers) and carried 210 tons per day. The tramway replaced the use of the wagon road down Empire Canyon, over which millions of dollars of ore from the Daly, Daly West, and Judge mines had been previously shipped. (Park Record, November 13, 1925; January 8, 1926, "last Saturday"; January 22, 1926)

Utah Rock Asphalt Company (1929-1947)

(1929) Utah Rock Quarry Tramway (1929-1947): Sunnyside, Utah = 15,840 feet (3 miles)

(Read more about Utah Rock Asphalt Co.)

More Information

Bleichert Aerial Tramways (Wikipedia)

Trenton's 1892 booklet (Google book)

Trenton's 1902 booklet (Google book)

Trenton's 1909 booklet (Google book; with Utah photos)

American Wire & Rope's 1914 booklet (Google book; very similar to Trenton's 1909 booklet)

Highland Boy Aerial Tramway -- Separate page at UtahRails about the Utah Consolidated tramway at Highland Boy in Bingham Canyon, Utah.

Photos and drawings

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