Emma Silver Mine In Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

Prospecting.

To carry this idea into practical effect, General Connor encouraged the soldiers to prospect in the mountains, and gave them pack animals, provisions, and arms to protect themselves. They went in parties of six, eight, and twelve. The first party arrived in Little Cottonwood on July 8, 1864. Upon returning to Camp Douglas their report was so favorable that a meeting was called and a mining district was organized, mining laws adopted, and it was called the "Wasatch Mining District," but at a subsequent meeting the name was changed and it was called the "Mountain Lake Mining District." It commenced at Mill Creek, near the summit of the Wasatch range of mountains and extended south to the Provo river. In 1865, Robert Craig, Recorder, deputized James Wall as Recorder, as he was going to leave the territory. On the 29th of May, 1866, an election was held at Camp Douglas, at which James Wall was elected Recorder.

In view of the fact that the California troops were being disbanded, and that they would be scattered in various directions, and for our mutual protection, when left unprotected by our California soldiers, we adopted an article at this meeting and added it to our laws, in substance as follows:

Any claim holder who had faithfully performed one day's work on his claim, or any company who had performed twelve day's work on their lode was thereby entitled to a certificate of realty (from the Recorder) to him and his heirs forever, (except as against the United States Government) and such claim or lode was not subject to relocation.

This was done to protect ourselves, as none of us had any capital and our ores were not available, there being no transportation, and we would have to wait until the railroad was built. In the meantime we had to live, but as a Gentile could get no work in Utah, we had to leave it and go to other Territories in order to make a living.

The First Discovery.

During the summer of 1865, Silas Brain, a prospector, discovered a large body of ore at the head of Little Cottonwood canyon. It stood about six feet above the level of the ground on the lower side, and looked like a ledge of rock until he broke off a piece, when it proved to b solid argentiferous galena. He located this as the North Star, running northwesterly, and at the same time he located the St. Louis, from the same stake, to run southeasterly. This was in August 1865. About two months after the North Star was discovered, James Smith and Henry Pooler, two prospectors, discovered a body of ore about 800 feet in a southeasterly direction from the North Star mine.

They had it recorded in October 1865, the Recorder's office being then at Camp Douglas. They dug up a quantity of ore, and built a monument with the ore they dug out, and set a stake up on the monument. It was a pink stick, bowed on two sides, and the names of the locators were written on the stick with pencil. On the stake facing north-west was the "Susquehanna company." When I saw the pile of ore the next summer, I judged there were three or four tons of it.

Pooler left in the fall of 1866, and died somewhere on the plains. Smith was an old man, who might have been anywhere between sixty and seventy. He wore his grizzled locks down on his shoulders, and was a remarkable looking man. He had some unpleasantness with Dr. Conger, and said to me, "I leave the country to keep from killing Dr. Conger." I have never seen of heard of him since, and presume he is dead.

Send On The Silver Bricks.

Silas Brain having located Dr. Conger and his company on the North Star mine, kept the St. Louis end for himself and his company. Dr. Conger sold 1000 feet to James P. Bruner, of Philadelphia. Conger was appointed superintendent, with orders to erect a smelting furnace - a cupeling furnace - to work the mine, and send on the silver bricks to Philadelphia as fast as he could turn them out. To facilitate the silver making, he brought with him a Freiburge, who knew nothing about the business. They built a kind of Scotch hearth arrangement, also a small cupeling furnace, a large water wheel and a small fan. They managed to smelt about two tons of bullion, and then attempted to cupel it. For their whole summer's work, they had, as the result, a small box full of litharge.

Another Failure.

Dr. Conger left in disgust, and went to Pahranagat. The next season (1867), Bruner sent another metallurgist, who hailed from Berlin, also a youth just out of school, to take charge and superintend. This season there was about 200 tons of ore taken out of the North Star mine and piled up on the dump. They made a road up to the mine, and cut and piled up 1000 cords of wood. In trying to make silver with inadequate means and an incompetent manager, their failure was more disastrous that that of the season before.

In the fall of 1867, myself and others, relocated the Susquehanna mine, keeping Smith and Pooler in as they were before. Those who were first located by Smith and Pooler, never having made their appearance, were of course forfeited. A. Hirst relocated the Chenango some days previous, and had two men at work taking out ore. They dug a trench from west to east, about twelve feet long and three feet deep, and then turned north, and west about five of six feet in that direction, piling the ore along the bank as they went. Mr. Hirst put up a post about fifteen feet high, and on the top was a cross piece, on which was written the names of the relocators. My party worked about twenty feet north of the post and on that same red seam which afterward led to...

The Cave Of Silver.

Having performed work on the Susquehanna according to the requirements of the law, certificates of realty were given to each of the claim holders. We had to leave when winter came on, and the next season (1868) we worked on the Union Pacific railroad, our pres being valueless without railroad transportation. Before leaving I appointed a deputy Recorder in Salt Lake City. I came back to Salt Lake City the next season, and called a miner's meeting, to be held in Little Cottonwood, to elect a Recorder, and was again elected by thirty-nine majority.

Gobbled Up.

I now found that during my absence, the Susquehanna had been taken possession of; every pound of ore had been carried off and sold; the district was usurped, and all our mining laws ignored by this band of marauders.

The Sun's correspondent says: (as communicated to him by Chisholm) "In the meantime about thirty tons of 'float' had been gathered."

Now it a well known fact to every miner in Cottonwood, that not a pound of 'float' could be seen anywhere in the vicinity; that the whole surface of the Emma hill, from bottom to the summit, did not hold one tone of float - in fact, there is no float at all. But when we remember that on the dump of the Susquehanna and Chenango, there was over ten tons of ore dug out of the ground, and that in the vicinity about 390 feet from the Susquehanna or pile was the North Star dump, and that not one pound of ore was left on the Susquehanna, and only about on tons of refuse areas left of the North Star dump, then we can form a very decided opinion as to where the float was gathered. There was a gang or band of these flat gatherers, one of whom lost his life in the pursuit.

Many Names.

Those men having banded together, and having disposed of the thirty tons of "float," located the Susquehanna as a new discovery. They had received some grub from a man in Salt Lake City (the same man who brought them up and showed them the Susquehanna, and who was to be a full partner in the enterprise). They also received some money from James Lyon on the same conditions. They called the new discovery the Monitor first, then changed the name to the general Sherman, but when they struck the "cave of silver," they destroyed the book of records and opened a new one. It was then they named it the Emma.

The man's name who gave them grub, and showed them the Susquehanna, and Jim Lyon who furnished them the money to sink on it, were consigned to the flames with the first book of records. One of the band had the unparalleled audacity to claim 200 feet additional for discovery, and sold it to Walker brothers.

Thus the Emma christened on the alter of infamy.

There is always something to admire in a clever rascal, something at least positive, something which compels mankind to have some sympathy with the culprit in his conviction or punishment; but the human heart revolts against villainy, accompanied with meanness and ingratitude.

Lyon made his appearance on the scene sometime in 1870. He had a stormy interview with Woodman and his confederates. He was not the kind of man to submit to the arrangement they contemplated for him. He asserted his rights, which they knew he could maintain in the courts. They know his implacable nature and tenacity with which he would pursue them. They were at this time in a critical position; they had made application for a patent in order to sell the mine to the English company, and James E. Lyon filed his protest, and there was every prospect for tedious litigation. J. W. Haskins having bought the St. Louis title, which runs southeasterly from the North Star stake, and which would overlap the Emma ground, having been located and recorded two months earlier than the Susquehanna. He was also preparing for a vigorous siege in the courts to secure his rights. My company made out a patent and gave it to the Register to file, but as we were poor men, I suppose he consigned it to the waste basket, as we never heard anything of it until after the patent was obtained. We learned then, for the first time, that our protest was informal; that it was lacking in proper technical phraseology, and was consequently inadmissible. The august dignitary did not condescend to state this to us, when he received the protest and promised to file it, but he waited until it was too late for us to remedy the evil he had done us.

In the meantime, the discoverers of the Susquehanna ore pile, or dump (with ten tons of ore on it), were very anxious, and very much afraid of my books of record. They paid one ruffian fifty dollars to steal the leaf out containing the record of the Susquehanna; but I had taken a copy of that record sometime previous, they made nothing by that move. They then hired a ruffian to steal the books entire, they to pay him five hundred dollars to get the books, no matter what. He made the attempt, but failed. They made another attempt in Salt Lake City, and even had possession of them.

From the position these men occupied I never suspected they would stoop to the level of a common thief. However, they were again baffled in their attempt. Now, if these much-vaunted discoverers had really made a new discovery of the famous Emma mine, why exhibit this guilty fear, this frantic dread of the old books of record and this ardent desire to have them destroyed?

The Patent.

In this condition of affairs the Emma company made a secret arrangement with Lyon, he agreeing for a pretty large consideration to keep his protest on file until the expiration of the ninety days. On the last day he was to withdraw his protest and relieve the application. Everything being previously "fixed" with the Commissioner at Washington, the patent being already made out and ready to hand over the moment the protest was withdrawn, Lyon got his money and they got their patent. Haskins, after spending a large amount of money in preparing his case, was beat out of his ground by the combined operation of more able diplomatists, and by the facility with which business of that nature may be accomplished in Washington by a judicious expenditure of the requisite amount of currency.

I would merely remark here, for the benefit of the investigating committee at Washington, that it is my firm conviction that in the cleaning out that augean stable (the Departments at Washington) they would find in the United States land Office, probably as much venality and corruption as they have found in some of the other departments.

I have written this hasty sketch of the early history of mining in Cottonwood, omitting many details which might be of local interest to many, but which would make this communication too long. If I have ruffled the tender conscience of any, by unavoidable allusions to the principal actors, in the forgoing transactions, my motive has been the vindication of truth. Too long has the world received and retained the false concocted story of the discovery of the Emma mine. They wrapped themselves up in a garment of glorification and the world glorified them in return. It was time to strip them of their false plumage, and show them as they are, in all their naked deformity. They got away with the spoils; let that satisfy them. But let them not boast of actions which would make an honest or honorable man hide himself in obscurity.

Present Condition Of The Emma.

In conclusion, I propose to say a few words in relation to the present condition of the Emma mine. I will repeat what many have said before me, that the mine has been badly managed, or rather that it has had no proper management at all.

I worked in the mine about six months and until its shutting down. Although not a scientific expert, I profess to know in my crude, unscientific way, something about the workings and formation of mines from practical experiences and observation. The [xxxx] of my working in the mine was between the third and fourth levels. I stripped a vein of ore from two to twelve inches in thickness. It lay on a natural footwall, and followed the inequalities of this, with a decidedly determined dip in the northwesterly direction.

The overlying mass was of no regular formation or stratification, but was a mass of conglomerate, principally lime and mineral matter, of various values, very soft and of little cohesion. I worked at this vein, going down on this footwall, until it was shut off by a body of this same conglomerate, but of a harder texture, being cemented down near the footwall and soft above. This is the place where they lost the mine, in consequence of their not having followed the footwall, which would certainly have [unintelligible] the main deposits, or true vein, where all this mass of ore, deposited in the upper chambers or pockets, were up-heaved from.

My theory is that the bodies of ore so irregularly scattered near the surface, was an upheaval consequent upon some convulsion caused by contact of fire and water, with the generation of gases during the cooling process of the earth's crust, and that during these convulsive throes at that period great fissures were opened, the earth yawned, internal fires belched forth, condensing the impenetrable vapors which surrounded the earth, and fire and water met. The water descending these fissures was hurled back, carrying along with it this mineral matter and scattering it in those irregular pockets, which upon cooling, crystallized in masses of argentiferous galena.

It will perhaps startle a great many, mining experts included, when they learn that I have long that the main shaft, or incline, upon which so much money was expended, was being run outside and beyond the mine, or vein, into the country rock, or into the barren mountain formation; that the two last hard rock drifts which they ran, were also beyond and in the barren rock formation. They never seemed to comprehend that, though the vein matter was of variable widths, that it had a boundary, but they left the only guide they had, which was the plain descending footwall, running northwesterly, and worked outside of the mine altogether. The shaft or incline id one hundred feet too far past the vein matter.

The only way to properly work that mine now would be to blast out all the old timbers in the upper works and cave the mine, then start the incline on the true footwall and keep on it, and I am positively sure it will lead to a regular vein.

James Wall

Alta, March 31, 1876