Wellington Mine, Little Cottonwood

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This page was last updated on June 29, 2026.

Wellington Mining and Smelting Co.

(The Wellington mine in Little Cottonwood was one of the minor companies in Little Cottonwood, and later became the more successful Albion company. But its name was mentioned as part of the history of early smelting in Utah.)

"The ancestry of the Albion mine goes back to August of 1870 when the Wellington claim was filed. Located high in the southwest corner of the south fork of Little Cottonwood Canyon, the mine drew enough interest that the following year it was sold to a San Francisco investor, who immediately sold half of the mine to David E. Buel and Isaac C. Bateman. In 1870 they appeared in Utah where Buel erected a smelting works at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, followed by another in Bingham Canyon. The first one became dedicated to working ore from the Flagstaff mine, later becoming the property of that company. Another smelter, built by Jones and Pardee on Tanner's Flat early in 1871, worked ore from the Emma and other mines until October of that year when it was purchased by Buel and Bateman to process ore from the Wellington mine. In January of 1872 the Wellington Mining & Smelting Company, incorporated in San Francisco, assumed control of the Wellington properties." (Charles Keller, Faint Trails In The Wasatch No. 83, December 2013)

"In January 1880 the Wellington claim was relocated as the Albion by Charles M. Brough and James Watson. Watson was a miner who had worked in the Wellington mine two years earlier as a leaser. Brough was a miner in Alta as early as 1871 and over the years was involved in a number of well known Alta mines." (Charles Keller, Faint Trails In The Wasatch No. 83, December 2013)

(Watson and Bough worked their new Albion claim until an avalanche in January 1881 destroyed the surface works of the mine, at which time the two men abandoned their efforts. The mine continued to be worked on an irregular basis by leasers, with Bough still as mine owner. At this point in 1881, the story of the Wellington smelter at Tanner's Flat ends, but the mine's story continued as the mine was mostly idle until the end of July 1898, when Brough and two investors Henry Wallace and William Hatfield, incorporated the Albion Mining Company.)

July 19, 1870
The Wellington mining claim was registerd in the record books of the Little Cottonwood Mining District on July 19th, 1870. (Utah Mining Gazette, August 30, 1873)

January 27, 1872
"The Wellington Mining and Smelting Company incorporated yesterday [January 27]. The object is to carry on the business of mining in Little Cottonwood District, Salt Lake county, Utah. Capital stock, $2,500,000. Trustees — G. W. Benson, C. W. Kellogg, J. E. De la Montagnie, Richard Chenery and G. W. Prescott." (San Francisco Chronicle, January 28, 1872)

January 4, 1873
"Wellington Mining and Smelting Company, - Little Cottonwood, one furnace, capacity eight tons per day; built by Jones & Pardee, sold to Wellington Co., incorporated in San Francisco January, 1872; ore worked, Wellington mine and custom; approximate production by company 110 tons of bullion; value, 225 oz. of silver, gold and lead $350 per ton. R. Y. Anderson, superintendent." (Salt Lake City Weekly Tribune, January 4, 1873)

April 27, 1901
"Albion Mining Company. — This company has incorporated, with a capital stock of $50,000, divided into shares of the par value of $10. Royal B. Young, of Boston, one of the stockholders, who has been acting as superintendent, drops out, as well as other Eastern shareholders in the reorganization. Charles M. Ludden, of Boston, holds $49,940 worth of stock, the other $60 being divided among James F. Gallagher, of Boston, Ernest Cooper, of Alba, J. L. Naulty, Richard Martin, D. M. Roper and C. R. Dahlgren, of Carthage. The ground of the company is being prospected with a drill and a new shaft is being sunk." (Engineering and Mining Journal, April 27, 1901)

Not The Wellington

(In 1929 a history of early lead smelting in the West was published in the USSR&M employee magazine AX-I-DENT-AX. In that article, it was stated that the Last Chance smelter at Sandy had been built by the Wellington mining company. This is an error.)

"The Wellington Mining and Smelting Company also built a furnace just east of Sandy, in 1872. This was afterward called the "Last Chance" and in 1878 was leased by the Flagstaff company, who ran the plant on their own ore until April, 1876, when they closed it down and began selling their ore on the Salt Lake market, having found that smelting was not as profitable as selling the ore to custom smelters." (Early History of Lead Smelting in the West, AX-I-DENT-AX, Volume 14, Number 5, May 1929, page 9)

(Research has found that the Last Chance smelter's name was derived from the Last Chance of Bingham mine, and not any mine in Little Cottonwood Canyon, either the Wellington or the Last Chance of Cottonwood.)

(The confusion starts with this combining of the Wellington and the Last Chance smelter in 1929. Research in online newspapers in the 1872-1874 period finds that the Wellington mine is in either of two places; one on the ridge between Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon, and another on the ridge between Little Cottonwood Canyon and American Fork Canyon. The 1929 history of lead smelting states that the Wellington company built a smelter at Sandy and that it was called the Last Chance. Other research shows that there was a Last Chance mine in Little Cottonwood, but does not associate it with the Wellington company, or with the Last Chance smelter at Sandy.)

(Additional confusion comes from the Salt Lake Weekly Tribune of January 11, 1872, in its article "Resources of Utah." The article shows three separate Last Chance mines. One Last Chance mine was in the Bingham District, in Muddy Fork near the Saturn mine; a second Last Chance mine was in the Little Cottonwood District, near the Flagstaff and the Wellington mines; and a third Last Chance mine was in the Rush Valley District, near Stockton. As shown below, it was the Last Chance company at Bingham that built the smelter at Sandy, for the same reasons as the Saturn company.)

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