Mercur, Geyser Marion Mines
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This page was last updated on February 15, 2026.
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Four Companies
There were four mining companies in the Mercur district, west of the very successful Golden Gate (later Consolidated Mercur company). By the post World War II period, the properties had all been consolidated into the later Geyser Marion Gold Mining and Milling company. These four companies were:
Geyser Gold Mining and Milling company; located west of the Brickyard and Golden Gate, and immediately north of the town of Mercur.
Marion Gold Mining company; located northwest of the Brickyard and Golden Gate, and immediately north of the town of Mercur.
Sacramento Gold Mining company; located southwest the Mercur mining company, which was southwest and adjoining the Golden Gate, and immediately southeast of the town of Mercur.
Herschel Gold Mining company; located southwest the Sacramento, which was southwest and adjoining the Mercur mining company, and immediately south of the town of Mercur.
With the Golden Gate and Mercur companies, these four companies formed a crescent shape around the northeast, east, and southeast sides of the town of Mercur.
(Read more about the Sacramento and Herschel mines)
Geyser Gold Mining and Milling Company
1871
"It was opened as a silver camp in 1871 by the development of the Sparrow Hawk and Carrie Steele mines., In the former a pocket of ore fifty feet wide in places was tapped and worked to a small depth. At that time the Carrie Steele turned out rich ore. It was claimed that the two mines produced all of one million dollars. (Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1894)
November 1871
As part of the law suit of Marion Gold Mining company vs. Geyser Mining company: "Leandro Steele's Story - At this time court took a recess until 2 o'clock, at which hour Leandro Steele was called. Mr. Steele testified that he located the Carrie Steele claim, which he named after his daughter, in November, 1871, and remained in the locality for a number of years. He saw no work done on the west end of the Marion prior to 1875. In that year he and Higginson both did work on the Marion, which he believed was at a point between the present incline house at the head of No. 2 incline, and the south side line of the Marion. Mr. Steele was confident that there was no incline upon the property in 1872. Mr. Steele testified on cross-examination that he never owned an interest in the Marion. He had seen a monument or a stake on the southwestern part of the claim near post 4, in 1872." (Salt Lake Tribune, July 17, 1896)
1872
The Sparrow Hawk, Last Chance and Marion claims were among the first lode claims located, and were the first ones surveyed for patent, the surveys having been made early in 1872. (E&MJ, April 24, 1897)
November 22, 1872
The Camp Floyd Silver Mining company was incorporated "this past season." The Sparrow Hawk, Marion and Last Chance mines were owned by an English company, and the bullion was being shipped direct to England. The company's mill had 20 stamps, and regularly runs out of water, hindering operations. Baxter and Hussey were building a mill at Fairfield, eight miles from camp. The Jenny Lind was the only cinnabar mine in Utah. (Salt Lake Herald, November 22, 1872, includes a long list of active mines)
February 26, 1874
A lengthy article providing a summary of the Camp Floyd district with a list of the mines in the district, and the town of Lewiston. The first mines mentioned by name, about halfway through the article, and therefore likely the most important and most active, were the Sparrow Hawk, Last Chance, and Marion mines. The three mines are shown as "owned and worked by the Camp Floyd Silver Mining company, a British corporation, who have erected a twenty-stamp mill a little south of Lewiston." (Salt Lake Herald, February 26, 1874)
July 23, 1879
The Carrie Steele Mining company was incorporated. (Silver Reef Miner, July 23, 1879)
January 1, 1884
"The principal mines are the Sparrow Hawk, London, Marion, Geyser, and others of the Camp Floyd Silver Mining Company. These mines are largely developed by numerous shafts, inclines, drifts and adits, and have produced a great amount of silver, which would have been made more profitable if the early management had been more judicious." (Salt Lake Herald, January 1, 1884, "Geology of Utah.")
"The next summer, 1894, the Geyser company, whose claim adjoins the Marion, commenced work on a cyanide plant with a capacity of about 100 tons of ore daily." (Ore Deposits of Utah, USGS, Professional Paper 111, 1920)
1894
"Matt Gisborn, C. R. Bothwell and S. B. Milner, of Salt Lake, put up a plant of the same capacity [as the Marion mill in 1893] on the adjoining Geyser mine. Both these plants employed straight leaching in tanks, after a preliminary coarse crushing, and were very crude affairs." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1913)
April 19, 1895
The Geyser Gold Mining and Milling company filed its articles of incorporation. There were to be seven directors: three to be named by Milner and Bothwell, and two to be named by Gisborn. Although their differences were settled by the organization of this new company, control remained with Milner and Bothwell, with Gisborn's stock being held as security for payment for money owed. Gisborn was to continue operating the mill until August 1st. (Salt Lake Herald, April 19, 1895)
(The newspaper item includes good detail of the circumstances of what resulted in the organization of the company, which were to be the seeds of the later law suit in 1897.)
1897
"Matt Gisborn, controlling the Geyser, and Bothwell, the Marion, joined their interests in a new company called the Geyser-Marion, and both mills were operated at a capacity of 150 tons up to the latter part of 1900, in which year the cost was given at 67 cents a ton." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1913)
(See Geyser Marion Gold Mining company, below)
Marion Gold Mining Company
"The Marion was the first mill to be built in the Mercur area. It was part of the old Sparrow Hawk works erected for the treatment of silver ores in 1872-73, operated again on silver ores in 1880, and again, for the last time, in March, 1889, when it treated 12 tons of ore daily by pan amalgamation with poor success. In 1893 it was changed to a cyanide plant, the second in the district, and was equipped for a capacity of about 50 tons of ore daily." (Ore Deposits of Utah, USGS, Professional Paper 111, 1920)
"In March, 1889, Capt. Joseph Smith put up a mill on the Marion ground for the purpose of working the silver ore and tailing dump. After spending $9,000 or $10,000 with no substantial result, Capt. Smith was forced to abandon the idea of making the silver ores pay. He remembered the stories of cinnabar and gold being found in the Mercur ore, sampled the vein in the summer of 1889, and got good returns in gold. All thought of mining for silver or cinnabar vanished, and during the winter of 1889-90 some work was done on the Mercur lode. A 5-ton lot of the ore was brought across the canyon to the Marion mill and treated with apparent success." (Ore Deposits of Utah, USGS, Professional Paper 111, 1920)
1893
"Shortly after the successful application of the cyanide treatment to Mercur ores at the Manning mill, "Cyanide" Joe Smith built a 50-ton mill on the Marion mine within a stone's throw of the Mercur mine. The Marion company was a combination of the Sparrowhawk, Marion and other claims, which had been extensively worked for silver in the early days. The mill was put up in 1893." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1913)
November 1893
"Notice — All Persons Are Hereby notified that the Marion Gold Mining company, is the owner of the Sparrow Hawk spring, and of all the water flowing therefrom, which water is now flowing through this company's pipe line to its mill at Mercur or Lewiston in Camp Floyd Mining district, Tooele county. A portion of this water is at present allowed to flow past said mill and to discharge at the Mercur Gold Mining and Milling company's boarding house. Said Marion company requires for its use all of said water for present and future operations, at its said mill and will very soon shut it off from flowing past said mill, and refuse to permit any person to use any of said water for the purpose whatever. All persons interested will take due notice hereof and govern themselves accordingly. -- Marion Gold Mining Company. Dated Mercur, Utah, Nov. 23, 1893." (Salt Lake Herald, November 28, 1893, with daily legal notices through December 28th)
September 12, 1894
The Marion Gold Mining company filed its articles of incorporation with the county clerk. with 100,000 shares. Incorporators and officers were: Theodore Bruback, president, 25,000 shares; Joseph Smith, vice president, 50,001 shares; Robert L. Scannell, secretary and treasurer, 24,977 shares; Maurice M. Kaighn and Simon T. Pearson, one share each. All were residents of Salt Lake City. The properties owned were: the Marion claim; the Sparrow Hawk claim; the Last Chance claim; along with the Coleman Fraction No. 2, Maid Marion, Robin Hood, and Madonna claims, together with the Sparrow Hawk spring, and the leaching mill and reduction works known as the Marion mill. All in the Camp Floyd mining district. (Deseret News, September 12, 1894)
September 13, 1894
"Heretofore the properties of this combination of capitalists have been worked as a partnership proposition. The mill of the company is the Camp Floyd district, which has regularly turned out monthly gold bars to the value of $12,000, with a considerable amount of cinnabar added to the revenues. At a recent consultation of the owners of the properties it was decided to incorporate under the name given, and the necessary deals were closed." (Salt Lake Herald, September 13, 1894)
(R. L. Scannell passed away in London, England, on October 13, 1894, at age 44. He had traveled to his old home in London a month previously in hopes of bettering his health. He was an associate of Theodore Bruback, and had been a resident of London prior to coming to Utah in 1872 to serve the interests of the English owners of the San Pete Valley Railway as secretary of the railroad company, where he was first associated with Bruback. In 1894 Bruback was president of the Marion Gold Mining company, and Scannell was the secretary, until July 1894. -- Salt Lake Tribune, October 14, 1894)
(In February 1896 Bruback and his associates organized the Herschel Gold Mining company, located on a set of mining claims south of the Sacramento company on the opposite side of the town of Mercur.)
(Read more about the Herschel company, as part of the story of the Sacramento company.)
"In 1897 the Geyser-Marion interests were combined, and the Marion equipment added to the Geyser mill." (Ore Deposits of Utah, USGS, Professional Paper 111, 1920)
1897
"Matt Gisborn, controlling the Geyser, and Bothwell, the Marion, joined their interests in a new company called the Geyser-Marion, and both mills were operated at a capacity of 150 tons up to the latter part of 1900, in which year the cost was given at 67 cents a ton." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1913)
(See Geyser Marion Gold Mining company, below)
The Geyser-Marion Fight (1894-1897)
November 26, 1894
"A contest over valuable mining property in the Camp Floyd mining district in Tooele county has reached the District Court. Matthew T. Gisborn, S. B. Milner and G. R. Bothwell commenced a suit yesterday against the Marion Gold Mining company, to enjoin the defendant from trespassing upon and extracting ores from the Florence No. 3 mining claim and a portion of the Geyser Lode mining claim, and for damages in the sum of $50,000 for ores heretofore taken from the claims. The plaintiffs are now working the property involved in the suit, while the defendant, which owns an adjoining mine, maintains that its claim extends into the property claimed by the plaintiffs." (Salt Lake Tribune, November 27, 1894)
(Gisborn, Bothwell and Milner were the majority stockholders and owners of the Geyser company.)
(From November 1894 through to February 1897, there were suits and counter-suits, and variations of restraining orders as the former partners brought their on-going problems out into the public.)
(In October 1896, the case was found in favor of the Marion company. The Geyser company's argument was that the Marion company had crossed the surveyed line of patent to extract the ore. The Marion company responded that it was following the vein and was entitled to extract the ore because of the "extra-territorial" rights under mining law, meaning that the vein had its apex within the Geyser company's surveyed patent. This was another case in which apex rights were reaffirmed by the courts. -- summarized in the October 15, 1896 issue of the Deseret News)
(In January 1897, the Marion company reversed to contest with another suit in January 1897, alleging that the Geyser company had extracted 3,500 tons of ore from the property of the Marion company, beginning in September 1894. In this suit, the Marion company held that it was entitled to the ore because the vein within its property had its apex on the Geyser's property. -- Deseret News, January 15, 1897)
(The suit from January was settled in February 1897 and the two properties were combined. Then there was a controversy over 88,000 shares of the new company being held in trust by Glenn R. Bothwell, and a disagreement as to who the shares were held in trust for, either Matthew T. Gisborn, or the former Geyser Mining company. Gisborn argued that the shares were held in trust for him, and that he was entitled to the $9,680 in dividends paid by the new company. On February 12, 1905, the state supreme court on appeal found in favor of Bothwell and his co-defendant S. B. Milner, and their statement that the original trust and contract with Gisborn was that the dividends were to be paid to the former Geyser company, for the purpose of paying down the debt of the former Geyser company. The money had been paid to Bothwell and Milner as holders of the debt. -- Ogden Morning Examiner, February 12, 1905)
Geyser Marion Gold Mining and Milling Company
February 8, 1897
The Geyser-Marion Gold Mining and Milling company filed its articles of incorporation with the county clerk. The incorporators were: Theodore Bruback (president); S. F. Pearson (first vice president); Matthew T. Gisborn (second vice president); Glenn R. Bothwell (secretary); Stanley B. Milner (treasurer); Edward H. Airis; and Joseph Smith. The company owned the Geyser, the Marion, the Florence No. 3, the Front No. 3, the West Geyser, and the North Geyser mining claims, all in the Camp Floyd mining district. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 9, 1897, "yesterday")
1897
"Matt Gisborn, controlling the Geyser, and Bothwell, the Marion, joined their interests in a new company called the Geyser-Marion, and both mills were operated at a capacity of 150 tons up to the latter part of 1900, in which year the cost was given at 67 cents a ton." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1913)
(As of November 1897, George H. Dern was a director of the new company.)
February 16, 1898
"The fact is that the closing down of the Marion mill is a benefit rather than a detriment to the company's operations, inasmuch as with its cessation the Geyser mill is to be strengthened to an extent greatly exceeding the former capacity of both. Besides, the Marlon mill has never been worked to advantage, and this also is a sufficient reason for bringing its operations to a halt. Heretofore, with both mills running, the Geyser-Marion had a daily capacity of about 140 tons, whereas the strengthening of the Geyser mill's capacity will give the company a daily output of something like 200 tons." (Deseret News, February 16, 1898)
February 19, 1898
John Dern was reported as being manager of both the Mercur and Geyser-Marion companies. "He reports the final clean-up and abandonment of the Marion mill yesterday, and hereafter all ore will be put through the Geyser plant, the plans for enlargement of which are to be submitted by Joe Dederich in the next few days. the intention is to increase the capacity to 200 tons a day. " (Salt Lake Tribune, February 20, 1898)
(From this time onward, there were references to the Geyser-Marion mill, which was in fact the original Geyser mill.)
(As a side note, the new Geyser-Marion Gold Mining and Milling company levied an assessment on May 24, 1900 against the company stock, and in August 1900 Matthew T. Gisborn was shown as owning 80,525 shares that were delinquent. The delinquent stock was to be sold at public auction on August 10, 1900.)
1900
"In 1900, the last year of the Geyser-Marion, M. T. Gisborn was president; A. T. Moon, first vice president and secretary; J. H. Hedges, second vice president; Arthur Parsons, treasurer; A. B. Sawyer, Allen T. Sanford and Grant Swan, additional directors. The profit was used up in a lawsuit which ended disastrously for the company, which was sold out under sheriff's sale. The property was bought in by W. S. McCornick, of Salt Lake, for $10,000."
(Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1913)
(Throughout the 1900-1910 period, the adjoining Geyer and Marion companies, and the sdjoing Sacramento and Herschel companies, continued to fight in the courts, asking the courts to decide who extracted whose ore, and where the dividing lines were. None of the parties were willing to compromise, for fear of losing access "valuable" ore veins. This, again, shows how marginal the Mercur mines always were, except for the Consolidated Mercur company. None of the four companies appear to have been actively mining, with the only activity being leasers attempting the extract gold from the dumps of the mills using variiations of old and new processes.)
(By October 1903, the only references to the Geyser Marion company's mill were in references to various leasers re-opening the "old Geyser Marion mill," suggesting that the mill had been shut down in the 1900-1903 period.)
Geyser Marion Mill Burned, 1909
July 22, 1909
From the Salt Lake Herald, July 23, 1909.
The news was telephoned in from Mercur yesterday morning that the milling plant of the old Geyser-Marion Gold Mining company was completely destroyed by fire during the evening previous. As there is not even a suspicion of fire protection in the town or about the works that could be made available, the population of the little camp could no nothing but congregate on the hillside and watch the flames lick up the big frame building and ruin the machinery and equipment, some of which was considered just as good as it was the day the works closed down, something like ten years ago, when the ores became too low grade to permit of profitable operation.
The control of the Geyser-Marion company rests with W. S. McCornick and A. B. Sawyer, of this city, H. Otto Hanke of Cincinnati, and a crowd from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who long since gave up the idea of ever trying to do anything more with the mine. The milling plant had a capacity of something like 150 tons of ore a day and, while the mine was in its prime, substantial dividends were paid. The plant, of course, was altogether out of date, and it is possible that the only portion of the equipment that might have been disposed of to advantage was the crushing machinery, the cyanide tanks, etc.
The old mine workings and the dumps have been sampled at different times by parties claiming to have processes to successfully handle the low-grade stuff, but none of them ever developed enough nerve to secure a lease and get busy. It is hardly likely that anything will ever again be done with the property, unless future developments in the district uncover new ore-bearing channels in that portion of the district that are rich enough to work and concerning the existence of which nothing is now known.
Franklin Builds New Mill, 1912
April 30, 1912
Franklin Leasing company of Mercur filed its articles of incorporation with the secretary of state. Officers were: T. H. Franklin, president; T. W. Bacon, vice president; H. F. Daniels, second vice president; G. W. Bryan, secretary; Alma Swenson, treasurer. (Salt Lake Telegram, April 30, 1912)
August 1912
"Work was begun by the Franklin Leasing company on a mill to treat the low-grade ores of the Geyser Marion mines, which have a long history of sporadic production. In these mines there is still a considerable tonnage of low grade ores running about $2.50 to $2.60 per ton, which is available for treatment. The character of the ore is the same as that of the oxidized ores of the Mercur mine."(Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1913)
1913
"The Franklin Leasing company, which operates the mines and mill, is headed by T. H. Franklin, as president and general manager, a man of long experience in the treatment of Mercur ores; G. W. Bryan, secretary; Alma Swenson, treasurer, and W. T. Bacon, vice-president. Additional directors are William Daniels, Parley Bryan . and Thaddeus Pannell. These are men, who may be said to belong to the Mercur district, and mostly residents of the camp at the present time." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1913)
August 21, 1914
By virtue of a receiver's sale ordered by the Third District Court on July 13, 1914, all of the real and personal property of the Franklin Leasing company was sold on August 21, 1914. Included was the mill building, the leaching, precipitation, solution, and storage tanks, crushers, rolls, motors, compressor transformers, pumps, 10 one-ton mine cars, six wheelbarrows, and a variety of hand tools, together with supplies of cyanide, zinc, and equipment and supplies of an assay office. (Tooele Transcript, July 24, 1914, with weekly legal notices through August)
(The law suit that resulted in the receiver's sale had been brought by the Mine & Smelter Supply company of Denver, likely due to unpaid debt.)
(During March 1915, the Franklin Leasing company of Mercur was shown on a list of thousands of corporations that were delinquent in paying their state corporate license fees.)
Geyser Marion New Mill, 1935
August 18, 1932
Geyser Marion Gold Mining Company. Incorporated at Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 1932. (Condensed Mining Handbook of Utah, 1945, U of U Bulletin B-29, page 44)
May 4, 1935
"The Geyser Marion Gold Mining company will begin operating its new 300-ton cyanide mill at Mercur before the end of the month, Glenn R. Bothwell, president of the company, announced Friday [May 3rd]. Work on the mill was suspended during the winter, but was resumed recently with a crew of 50 men, and is nearing completion." "The ore is low grade, running about $3 a ton in gold, but lies near the surface and will be mined with a steam shovel. The shovel is already on the ground." "The operation marks Mr. Bothwell's return to a venture in which he was interested 40 years ago, as it was he who built the first mill at Mercur in 1895. Associated with him in the Geyser Marion Gold Mining company are his son, E. B. Bothwell, Edward L. Sheets, Benjamin F. Redmond, John A. Houghton and Andrew L. Hoppaugh." (Salt Lake Tribune, May 4, 1935)
(This suggests that with the higher price for gold, Glenn Bothwell was able to convince investors that there was still gold worth having in the Mercur district. The success of the Snyder mill at Manning, five miles away, was a great motivation, with similar dumps readily available at the old Geyser Marion mill, and the old Sacramento mill. The Snyders later built their own mill at Mercur, a quarter mile from the Geyser Marion mill, to process the millions of tons of the old Consolidated Mercur's Golden Gate mill.)
(Read more about the Snyder organization at Mercur)
July 5, 1935
Glenn R. Bothwell died of a heart attack on July 5, 1935. Surviving him were two sons, Roy C. and F. B. Bothwell both of Salt Lake City, and four daughters. His wife died six years ago. Bothwell was born on October 9, 1861 in Illinois, and came to Utah in the early 1890s. During the Mercur boom days he was president of the Sacramento Gold Mining & Milling company. During the past two years, Mr. Bothwell again became interested in the Mercur district, and at the time of his death was engaged in constructing the Geyser Marion mill for the handling of gold bearing ores. He had been ill for two days prior, after "overexerting himself while making a survey of a pipe line from Ophir to a recently constructed mill in the Mercur district." (Deseret News, July 5, 1935)
December 1935
From the Salt Lake Tribune, December 8, 1935.
As 1935 draws to a close, the Geyser Marion Gold Mining company, operating an open-cut gold mine in the Mercur district, can look back with justifiable pride at what it has accomplished this year.
In May the company began erecting a 300-ton cyanide mill. Two months later the mill was completed and operating. Numerous difficulties have been encountered, but most of them have been remedied and the company expects to be able to remedy the others. Leakage in the tanks, for example, was overcome by lining them with steel and new thickeners and classifiers have improved the rate of recovery. Late in the summer the company installed a refinery and the first batch of bullion was shipped in October.
F. B. Bothwell, general manager, reports that the company is employing 25 men and milling 350 tons of ore daily. The mill-heads average $3.25 a ton and the tailings 75 cents.
Operations will be suspended for the winter, Mr. Bothwell says, but a second shovel will be installed as soon as snow melts in the spring, and it is expected that the mill-heads will increase in value to $5 or $6 a ton as depth is gained.
In addition to milling ore from the open-cut mine, the company expects to treat approximately 200,000 tons of tailings from earlier workings. These, it is said, carry values of about $2.50 a ton in gold.
The company's property consists of 200 acres across the canyon from the Lewiston Peak mine, operated by W. F. Snyder and Sons.
June 1936
The Geyser Marion Gold Mining company existed as late as June 1936, as shown in a law suit filed in Third District Court, in which the company sued the Camp Floyd Silver Mining company, and hundreds of associated stockholders, vendors and debtors, claiming ownership of a large number of mining claims in the Camp Floyd Mining District.
The Geyser Marion Gold Mining company, as plaintiff, sued a wide variety of persons and companies to recover and "quiet" the title of the Marion mine, the Sparrow Hawk mine, the Last Chance mine, and 11 lode mining claims, including the Geyser, West Geyser and South Geyser claims. Among the companies named as defendants in the suit were the Camp Floyd Silver Mining company, the Camp Floyd Milling and Mining company, the Mercur Deep Mining and Milling company, the DeLamar's Mercur Mines company, the New Mercur Gold Mining company, its own surviving former officers and directors, "and surviving known and unknown officers, directors, stockholders, creditors and assigns of each and all of the named corporations." (Tooele Transcript Bulletin, June 26, 1936, with weekly legal notices throughout late June through late July)
(The legal notices stated that if the defendants did not respond within 20 days, that the Geyser company would take ownership of the mining claims by default.)
September 26, 1937
The Geyser Marion Gold Mining company's 300-ton cyanide mill was situated a short distance north of the Snyder Mines' Lewiston Peak shaft and mill. "In two years it has treated 80,000 tons of ore, averaging $3 a ton, and has produced $225,000 in gold bullion. At present it is treating 7000 tons and producing $18,000 a month. The company mines from open cuts with power shovels, mine and mill together employing about 75 men. Company officials are now contemplating construction of a 1000-ton cyanide mill at a cost of about $150,000. Plans have been drawn and a site has been selected 500 feet down the canyon from the present mill. Principal argument for a new mill of large capacity is the fact that the company has proved up an immense ore body, a body estimated to contain between 10,000,000 and 15,000,000 tons." (Salt Lake Tribune, September 26, 1937, with photo)
May 17, 1938
From the Tooele Transcript, may 17, 1938.
Steam shovels have been in operation for the past month excavating the foundation for the Geyser Marion Gold Mining company, new cyanide mill at Mercur, which adjoins the Snyder property.
This new mill will have an initial capacity of 800 tons daily and will be expanded to an ultimate capacity of 1500 tons.
The mill will be built down the canyon about 500 feet west of the company's present 300 ton mill, completed in 1935. F. B. Bothwell, general manager, said the company expects to have the mill completed to its initial 800 ton capacity and in operation early next fall. The two mills will be interconnected until new mill is built to its ultimate capacity, after which the old one will be dismantled.
Besides milling ore from the Geyser Marion's open cut mine and tailings from the mill operated there 40 years ago, the new plant will mill ore and tailings from the neighboring Sacramento property, on the south side of the canyon, the property being controlled by the same interests as the Geyser Marion.
Mr. Bothwell estimates that the company has a 30 year supply of milling material, divided as follows: 10,000,000 tons of ore on the Geyser Marion ground, averaging about $2.50 a ton; 300,000 tons of tailings from the old Geyser Marion mill, also containing about $2.50 a ton; 2,000,000 tons of $4 ore on Sacramento ground and 700,000 tons of tailings, containing about $2.50 a ton, from the old Sacramento mill.
The Sacramento was a profitable mine in Mercur’s early days, having paid $500,000 in dividends. Last year the Geyser Marion mill treated 5000 tons of Sacramento ore.
Ore and tailings from the Sacramento will be reduced to slime pulp on the spot and reach the mill through a pipe, saving about 40 cents a ton in transportation costs. Workmen are now driving a 100 foot tunnel into the Sacramento tailings dump and a raise will be driven from end of the tunnel to the surface. Tailings will be removed from the dump by a conveyor system and the hole in the dump will serve as a bin for mine ore.
A crushing plant and ball mill will be installed on the Sacramento ground and two five-inch pipes will be laid between the mill and the Sacramento workings, one to carry the barren solution up the hill and one to carry the slime pulp down the hill to the mill. The pipes will be 3500 feet long, and a 350 foot lift will require installation of two pumps at the mill. The pipe system will circulate 250 gallons a minute.
Equipment for the new mill includes four 100-foot thickeners and two seven-foot ball mills, and the existing precipitation plant will be enlarged. A 2000 ton ore bin has been excavated on the hillside above the mill site and a crusher with a capacity of 150 tons an hour will be installed above the bin.
The mill will be built principally of concrete, with little or no steel, and will be almost entirely underground. The job will require 1500 cubic yards of concrete, to make which the company has installed a complete plant for screening, washing and crushing gravel.
The mill, when complete, will cost about $150,000. Its operation will require 1500 horsepower, which will be supplied by the Utah Power and Light company.
Geyser Marion Shut Down, 1942
December 8, 1942
The Mercur gold mine of the Geyser Marion company was shut down in December 1942, in accordance with the federal War Production Board Gold Limitation Order. The activity of the gold mines was competing with the mining of metals needed for the war effort: copper, lead and zinc.
The Order went into effect on December 8, 1942, and remained in effect until June 1945. But the Mercur mine did not reopen.
(Read more about the WPB's Gold Limitation Order L-208)
1944
Geyser Marion Gold Mining Company. Incorporated at Salt Lake City, Utah, August 18, 1932. President, B. F. Redman; vice-president. E. S. Sheets; secretary and treasurer, Roy C. Bothwell. c/o F. B. Bothwell, 215 Kearns Bldg., Salt Lake City. Utah. Property in Tooele county — Camp Floyd, Mercer, La Cigale and Ophir Mining Districts. 1,095.4 acres of mining claims. Mill, cabins, Diesel power shovels, bulldozer, transformer station, pump house, scales, trucks and compressors. Mine at Mercur. Production — 40,122 tons of gold and silver ore. (Condensed Mining Handbook of Utah, 1945, U of U Bulletin B-29, page 44)
(The Geyser Marion Gold Mining company remained as an inactive mining company as late as January 1952 when a mutual exchange of quit claim deeds took place between the Geyser Marion company, the Herschel Gold Mining company, and the Sacramento Gold Mining company, as parties of the first part, exchanged quit claim deeds with Snyder Mines company and First Security Bank acting as receiver for the bankrupt Consolidated Mercur Gold Mines company, as parties of the second part. -- Western Mineral Survey, January 1952 issues)
(It was at this time in 1952 that Snyder Mines, Inc. acquired control of former Geyser, Marion, Sacramento, and Herschel properties, with plans to continue exploratory drilling and prospecting, in addition to their lease agreements for the former Consolidated Mercur company's Mercur and Golden Gate mines, under their company name of Lewiston Peak Mining company. In later years the agreemets were held by the Snyder's Combined Metals Reduction company. Then in 1977, Snyder and Getty Oil combined their interests and began development of the Mercur properties.)
(Read more about the Herschel Gold Mining company, as part of the Sacramento-Herschel story)
(Throughout June to September 1957, the closed Geyser Marion mill was dismantled by the Bothwell Construction company. -- Weekly advertisements in the Tooele Bulletin newspaper)
(The story of Mercur continues after 1945)
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