Little Cottonwood Mines, Huntley
Index For This Page
This page was last updated on July 18, 2025.
Little Cottonwood Mining District
[October, 1880.]
(D. B. Huntley, Mining Industries of Utah, Appendix I, Reports of the Tenth Census, 1880, page 422 to 427)
The Little Cottonwood mining district is at the head of Little Cottonwood canyon, near the summit of the Wasatch range. Mineral was first discovered by soldiers in 1864 and the Wasatch district was organized, but soon abandoned owing to the great expense of working, ln 1867 most of the claims were jumped and a new district organized called the Mountain Lake, which included a large area of country in the Wasatch range. It was divided in 1869 and 1870 into Big and Little Cottonwood, American Fork, and Uintah districts.
The Little Cottonwood district records show about 3,500 locations, of which probably not more than 400 aro still held. These claims are situated in an area 2-1/2 miles square. They are on precipitous hillsides and rdges, which rise from the bed of the canyon to summits from 10,000 to 12,000 ieet above sea level. The district is connected with the Utah Southern railroad at Sandy by the Wasatch and Jordan Valley railroad and tramway, 18 miles in length. The rise between Sandy and Alta, the terminal points, is 4,536 feet.
During the census year 6,343 tons of ore were shipped by this road; also 5,385 tons of granite for tho Mormon temple at Salt Lake City. Owing to the great depth of the snow in winter (from 6 to 15 feet) several miles of the Alta end of the tramway is protected by sheds. These are frequently swept away by snow-slides and the road is temporarily blocked. The railroad was completed in May, 1873, and the tramway in 1875 or 1876. The district was very dull at the time of the writer’s visit. But two mines, the Vallejo and the City Rock, were working regularly, and but few companies were driving long tunnels to cut their veins at any considerable depth; the others were idle or leased. This state of things was due to legal troubles, the exhaustion of the working capital of several large prospecting companies, the giving out of surface ore bodies, the finding of pyrite and water in the lower levels, and the low price of lead. Very little metallurgical work has been done in the district, as most of the ore was sold in the Salt Lake market. In 1866 the owner of the North Star mine built a Scotch hearth furnace, and ran out about 3 tous of lead. In the following year he erected a reverberatory and a cupel furnace. The former was a success, but the latter failed. The Jones smelter was built at the mouth of the canon in 1871 or 1872, and ran on custom ores for two years. In 1872 or 1873 the Davenport smelter was started at the same place. In addition to that from the mine, it worked some custom ore, but was shut down in 1875. The Flagstaff company also erected three stacks in this vicinity; several unsuccessful attempts were made, to leach ores on a small scale. Concentration works were built, for the Emma mine, which were financially successful, though the percentage obtained was low.
Emma Mine
The Emma mine is situated half-way up the southern slope of a high steep ridge called Emma hill. It was located in 1868 by Woodman, Chrisholm, Woodhull & Reich. Little work was done until the autumn of 1869, when the ore body was struck. Some ore was shipped and sold prior to the sale of the mine to the Emma Mining Company, of New York, in 1870. This company worked the mine quite vigorously, and shipped a large amount of ore. The following year the property was sold to the Emma Silver Mining Company of Utah (limited) for $5,000,000 cash; another authority placed the price at $3,500,000. The mine was then worked by English managers, paid $300,000 in dividends (one authority says $1,300,000) until September, 1874, when it was attached by T. W. Park and others for an indebtedness of $300,000. It was then idle until October, 1877, when the American Emma Mining Company was incorporated and work resumed, (There has been a great amount of litigation between the English stockholders and T. W. Park and others, but these differences have recently been ammicably adjusted.) The second ore body failed in the autumn of 1873, up to which time most of the ore had been shipped to Swansea, Wales. During the years 1873, 1874, 1878, and 1879 much low-grade ore was concentrated by jigs.
When the American Emma company began work it first prospected the old ore bodies, and then leased the Bay City tunnel, which was 1,700 feet long, and 90 feet below the lowest old workings of the Emma. This tunnel had been run by a Saint Louis company at a cost of $75,000, and had been abandoned in 1876. Since making the connection, a small ocher-stained seam, in an incline or winze 130 feet below the tunnel level, has been followed. At the mouth of the tunnel are two horizontal boilers, 14 feet by 40 inches, and two Clayton No. 2-1/2 air-compressors. These force the compressed air through a 4-inch galvanized iron pipe, warranted to stand a pressure of 150 pounds, 1,800 feet, to an 8 horse-power engine over the winze, and a Knowles No. 7 pump. The pressure of air is kept at 60 pounds. About 3,500 gallons of water per hour is raised. During the census year about fourteen men were employed. The property of this company consists of the Emma, 2,400 by 100 feet, and the Cincinnati, 1,200 by 100 feet. One hundred thousand dollars was paid for the latter, but the claim having been jumped, the title is in dispute. The ore-bearing formation is a belt of siliceous limestone, between a limestone hanging and a dolomite foot wall, the belt being about 200 feet wide, dipping 45 degrees northeast, parallel to the stratification of the country rock. The ore did not come to the surface, but was found by following a small seam of ocher 50 feet in a tunnel. Two large ore bodies were found somewhat nearer to the hanging than to the foot wall, following the general dip and strike of the belt. One began near the surface, and was 100 feet deep, 300 feet long, and from 1 to 30 feet wide; and the other, a few feet below the first, was 200 feet long, 150 feet, deep, and from 1 to 20 feet wide. The ore was a soft brownish-red ocher, containing cerussite, angiesite, galena, and some manganese oxide. During the census year 773 tons were obtained by chloriders and from jigs, which sold for $55,071.54. From Mr. Charles Smith, of Salt Lake City, whose accounts included all but the first few hundred tons sold, the writer learned that the sales of ore to June 1, 1880, amounted to 27,451 tons, for which $2,637,727 44 was received. The mine had been developed below the discovery only about 500 feet vertically and 350 feet horizontally. The openings of the old workings were estimated at something less than 4,000 feet, and those of the new workings at about 700 feet.
Flagstaff Mine
The Flagstaff mine is situated a quarter of a mile north of Alta, half way up the southern slope of a high ridge which separates Big from Little Cottonwood canyon, from 700 to 800 foot above the valley. It was located in 1879 by Grosbeck, Schneider, and others, who worked it under the name of the Salt Lake Mining Company until February, 1872, when it was bonded to one Davis for $300,000, who sold it to English capitalists for $1,000,000. They organized the Flagstaff Silver Mining Company of Utah (limited), aud worked the mine in a very expensive manner until December, 1873, when the ore bodies in sight gave out. The company was then found to be in debt to Davis, for money advanced, some three hundred thousand dollars. Davis took the mine aud worked it under agreement with the company until December 24, 1870, when he was dispossessed by the United States marshal under orders from the English directors. Heavy lawsuits with small results followed. Since 1876 the mine has been leased aud subleased many times, but has been idle since the summer of 1880. At the time of examination it was owned by Seligman Brothers, of New York, who took it for debt. They had lately bought the Nabob, an adjacent property, aud the new owners expected to begin work soon. The English company erected the Flagstaff smelter (three stacks) at the mouth of Little Cottonwood canon, and ran it until November, 1873, when they leased the Last Chance smelter, near Sandy. Smelting was not as profitable as selling the ore, which, after April, 1876, was disposed of in the Salt Lake market. The dividends paid to the English company amounted to about $350,000. The property consists of the Flagstaff, South Star and Titus, Virginia, and Nabob. The Flagstaff is 2,200 by 100 feet, but it extends across and not aloug the belt. In early times, before the suits, the right to "swing their patent" was insisted on, and the workings extended 1,000 feet or more on the belt. The formation is the same mineral belt as the Emma. Ore came to the surface in one spot, and, following this indication a short distance, the discoverers came to the first and largest body. It was 400 feet long and 500 feet deep, extreme dimensions, and 3 feet wide. Some twenty or thirty other large-sized ore bodies were found, in all shapes and positions, usually near the hanging wall, and invariably connected with one another by a small seam of ore or ocher. One body upon the foot wall was joined to another near the hanging wall by a pipe of galena the size of a lead pencil.
The total product was estimated by the superintendent to be as follows:
Prior to 1872 - 6,090 tons
1872 - 8,000 tons
1873 - 17,800 tons
1874 to 1876 - 35,000 tons
1877 and 1878 - 30,000 tons
1879 - 4,000 tons
Of this, 30,000 tons probably assayed $10 gold, 60 ounces silver, and 40 per cent lead, and sold for, or was worth, $50 per ton. The remainder probably assayed $4 gold, 30 ounces silver, and 20 per cent lead, and was worth $30 per ton.
The mine is developed by a 530-foot tunnel, from which there is an incline 515 feet in length, at an angle of 49 degrees. From this incline there are six levels, from 700 to 1,400 feet in length. The lower level is about 700 feet vertically below the discovery croppings. The total cuttings, exclusive of stopes, are variously estimated at from 9,000 to 14,000 feet. From the month of the tunnel the ore is sent to the foot of the hill on a tramway 2,800 feet in length. A 40 horse-power Babcock & Wilcox engine, situated in the tunnel, supplied with compressed air through 2,270 feet of 4-inch pipe, from two Burleigh No. 2 air-compressors, is sufficient to do the hoisting. No water has been encountered except surface water in the spring, which was controlled by a No. 4 Knowles steam-pump. The cost of the plant was about $60,000.
The South Star and Titus, an older location than the Flagstaff, has been constantly harassed by law suits. Several hundred thousand dollars' worth of ore have been extracted. It is developed by tunnel and shaft to the extent of several thousand feet. Active work ceased in 1878.
Tho Nabob was located in 1870. A large body of ore, lying partly in the Virginia ground, was struck in the winter of 1876-1877, which yielded about $100,000. Little has been done since. The mine is a part of the mineral belt of Emma hill. An ore body, 30 by 25 by 4 feét, was found not 50 feet from the surface. The average assay of this ore was $74-76, of which $26 was gold. The developments consist of a 115-foot incline and 300 feet of other cuttings.
Vallejo Mine
The Joab Lawrence Company, the principal actively working company on Emma hill at the time of the writer’s visit, was organized in the spring of 1879. Its property consists of the Vallejo and the North Star, adjacent claims, situated between the Emma and the Flagstaff. The North Star was one of the earliest claims of the district, having been located in 1865, and has yielded largely. There are said to be large bodies of low-grade oxide of iron ore in tho lower levels, but little had been done for some time excepting a small amount of "tribute" work. The Vallejo was worked in 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, and 1877 by several companies, and much ore was extracted. It was being worked on an extensive scale at the time of the writer's visit. The ore is found in irregular chutes or pipes near the hanging wall. Three bodies began near the grass roots, and others were found as depth was attained. At the period under review there were ten chutes having a triangular or lenticular cross-section, and a uniform dip southeast 80 degrees. These were from 20 to 100 feet apart, and lay almost at right angles to the strike of the belt. The largest was 150 feet long, extreme dimensions from 6 inches to 10 feet wide, and had been followed 300 feet deep. In this mine the foot wall of the belt had not been prospected, and the horizontal development did not exceed 200 feet. It was worked by tunnels, from which were raises and short inclines. It had no machinery. The total cuttings were estimated at several thousand feet. The mine was dry. The ore was an oxide of iron, carrying galena, cerussite, anglesite, and a little oxide of manganese and malachite. It was fine, and contained from 20 to 45 per cent lead, from 15 to 90 ounces silver, from 20 to 35 per cent iron, and from 9 to 14 per cent of moisture. It was in great demand among the smelters, owing to the lack of silica and the presence of so much iron. A low grade of ore containing from 40 to 50 per cent of iron, no lead, and a few ounces of silver was also shipped.
The ore was transported from the mine to the tramway of the Wasatch and Jordan Valley railway by a wire rope tramway.
###