Salt Lake Valley Smelters Closed
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Salt Lake Valley Smelters Closed, 1907
Overview
The "Salt Lake Valley smelter suit" refers to the historic lawsuits by farmers against smelters like American Smelting and Refining (ASARCO) in the early 1900s, where farmers won an injunction stopping polluting smelters, leading to closures but also job losses.
The Issue: Farmers in the Salt Lake Valley sued smelters (like ASARCO) for sulfur and arsenic pollution destroying crops and livestock.
The Ruling: A federal judge ordered smelters to process ore with lower sulfur content or shut down, leading most to close or move, though ASARCO paid farmers to continue operating.
From "The Salt Lake Valley Smelter War" History Blazer, April 1995.
By Jeffrey D. Nichols
Most Utahns welcomed the smelting industry; it provided hundreds of jobs and contributed to the strength and diversity of the new state’s economy.
Salt Lake Valley farmers, however, soon regarded the smelting industry as a menace. In the summer of 1903 strong winds and rain spread “smelter smut” across the valley, blighting crops wherever the smoke touched ground. The problem was sulfur dioxide fumes in the smoke; when the fumes mixed with water, they created deadly sulfuric acid. The farmers demanded an investigation, and authorities turned to Professor John A. Widtsoe at the Utah State Agricultural College in Logan.
Widtsoe stated his findings carefully: He expressed concern that farmers were blaming all of their problems on airborne pollutants, while other factors contributed to the crop failures. He had determined, however, that the sulfur dioxide problem was real, particularly in areas that received direct smoke contact. The farmers demanded a complete and immediate stop to the pollution; when smelting company officials asked for time to study and mitigate the problem, arbitration efforts broke down. The farmers took their grievances to federal court.
A number of cases were filed, but the one with the greatest impact was James Godfrey et. al. v. American Smelting and Refining Company et. al. Taking a leaf from labor organizers, the farmers had united behind this case involving 419 farmers and five different smelters. Federal Judge John A. Marshall ruled for the farmers, granting an injunction requiring that the smelters process ore with no more than 10 percent sulfur content. Smelters failing or refusing to meet that standard would be permanently enjoined from operation. All but one company chose to close or move their operations. American Smelting and Refining paid the farmers $60,000 compensation to allow its continued operation.
While farmers celebrated their victory, others in the community were incensed. The smelting business had provided many jobs, and now many Salt Lake Valley residents were unemployed. In the ensuing decades farmers would realize that they were losing ground in the long run. Utah’s rapidly growing population filled the Wasatch Front communities and turned farmland into housing developments. Simultaneously, a variety of industries moved into former farm areas as well.
The Highland Boy mine in Bingam Canyon was owned and operated by Utah Consolidated Mining Company, which had its own smelter out in the Salt Lake Valley. The smelter smoke suit of 1904 forced them to close that smelter and find other smelting capabilities. The obvious choice was the newly completed Garfield smelter on the south shore of Great Salt Lake, but the two companies failed to come to agreeable terms for a contracts that would bring all of Utah Consolidated's ores solely to the Garfield smelter. Instead, the principle persons, along with investors (referred to as the Cole-Ryan interests), organized the International Smelting & Refining Company to build a new smelter, in competition to the Garfield company to process ore coming from Utah Consolidated's mines, and custom ores from other mines in the region.
Timeline
1907
After the settlement of the smelter suit in 1907, in which several area farmers sued the smelters at Midvale and Murray over crop damage from sulfuric acid emissions, the smelters either closed or changed their operations. United States Mining Company closed the copper portion of its Midvale smelter and Bingham Consolidated closed its Midvale smelter completely due to smoke litigation (sulfur fumes from smelting of copper sulfide ores). (Hansen, p. 274; Kennecott Historical Index)
March 7, 1907
For the United States company, the changes were so extensive that they organized a new company to fund the changes in its Midvale smelter. The new company, named United States Smelting Company, was organized on March 7, 1907 as a new subsidiary of the larger United States Smelting, Refining & Mining Company. (Utah corporation files, index 4172)
January 1908
Utah Consolidated closed its smelter in January 1908. (Mining Science, January 2, 1908, p. 29)
January 28, 1908
The copper smelter of the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company at Midvale ceased operation on January 28, 1908. It was the last of three smelters affected by smoke litigation in Salt Lake Valley. Ore for the smelter was being furnished by the Centennial-Eureka mine at Tintic at the rate of 250 tons per day. With the closure of the copper smelter at Midvale, 200 tons per day would be sent to the United States smelter at Kennett, California, and 50 tons per day would be sent to the Yampa smelter in Bingham Canyon. (Deseret News, January 28, 1908, "tonight")
Smoke Farming
Smoke Farming: Smelting and Agricultural Reform in Utah, 1900-1945 -- The text of Michael A. Church's article in Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, Number 3, 2004
Additional information about the Salt Lake valley smelter smoke case can be found in Michael Church's excellent article "Smoke Farming: Smelting and Agricultural Reform in Utah, 1900-1945" in Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, Number 3, Summer 2004)
(Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol. 72, No. 3, at Issu.com)
Map
Salt Lake Valley Smelters -- A Google Map showing the locations of many of the railroad-served smelters in the Salt Lake Valley.
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