Morgan-Hanauer Smelter
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Morgan/Hanauer Smelter
(About 4300 South and West Temple streets)
The Hanauer Smelting Works was located on the south bank of Big Cottonwood Creek, west of Main Street at about 4250 South, between Main Street and the former Union Pacific, now UTA TRAX railroad tracks. (The address used by the EPA is 4280 South West Temple, with Fireclay Avenue being 4295 south.)
According to a UP engineering map from the ICC valuation period, "Bullion Spur" branched off of the Utah Southern line in an eastern direction for a distance of about 1200 feet. The points of the Bullion Spur switch was almost exactly on the line between Township 1 South, and Township 2 South, both within Range 1 West.
The following comes from Crofutt's New Overland Tourist Pacific Guide, published in 1878, page 127. About five miles south of Salt Lake City, at the crossing of Big Cottonwood Creek, on the east side "is situated the Morgan Smelting Works."
About 1000 feet south of Bullion Spur was the brick works of Western Fire Clay Company, which was located between the UP and D&RGW tracks (including some joint trackage), just south of the Murray city limits along Big Cottonwood Creek and north of Fireclay Avenue.
In 1874 the Morgan/Hanauer smelter was built in Murray, making the Salt Lake Valley one of the smelting centers of the west. (Arrington, Leonard J. "Abundance From The Earth: The beginnings of commercial mining in Utah", Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, Number 3 (Summer 1963), p. 207)
"The Hanauer was built a little farther north, about midway between 48th and 45th South streets. later, a brick yard was located at this place." (History of Murray, by R. R. Rasmussen, Murray City Recorder, May 1936)
The following comes from the January 1, 1877 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune:
The Morgan Smelter, situated on the south bank of the Big Cottonwood stream, and close to the line of the Utah Southern railroad, is a new works, and considering it has but one furnace, it is a very superior smelter, if the quality and not quantity of bullion produced by it are facts to judge from. It has been completed and running about thirty days altogether, during which time some thirty-five car lots of bullion have been turned out, the average capacity of the one stack being sixteen tons every twenty-four hours. But owing to the limited supply of ore to be had at present, twelve tons is its average daily product. When it was first fired up, to test its capacity, it was put under full blast and given all the ore it could take. The result was two car loads every twenty-four hours were produced.
A breakage in the machinery delayed operations for a week, early in December, and the fact that a sufficient supply of ore is hard to get, the number of tons they produced in one month was limited to 350. Of course the furnace in this smelter is the chief feature, being the largest stack in the country. It is a water-jacket furnace, on which Mr. Morgan has a patent. Each of the four sides is hung to the deck beam by hinges, and the whole are kept in position by an iron belt, which may at any time be removed, thus permitting the jackets to be swung up to the roof of the building to allow repairs to the furnace, causing only a few hours delay.
The machinery is all first class, the buildings and coal sheds conveniently and substantially built, and when all the designed improvements are finished this will be a paying smelter, turning out superior quality of lead bullion. Twenty-five picked men, all of extensive experience in smelting, and none other, are employed. They work eight-hour shifts, and the company pays the highest wages. The smelter is the property of B. W. Morgan & Co.
"Morgan Mining And Smelting Company. - The works of this company are situated on the line of the Utah Southern railroad, 6 miles south of Salt Lake City. They were built in 1874, and have been running almost continually from that time. The company owns the Pittsburgh mine, in the American Fork district, but their principal ore supply is purchased in the Salt Lake market." (Huntley, D. B. "Appendix I: The Mining Industries of Utah." In "Statistics and Technology of the Precious Metals," page 433. 1885)
"The Pittsburg mine was located in April 1871. In 1879 the owners of the mine bought the Morgan furnaces, later known as the Hanauer smelter, near Salt Lake City." (USGS Professional Paper 201, "Geology And Ore Deposits Of The Cottonwood-American Fork Area, Utah, 1943, page 134, citing The Engineering and Mining Journal, October 25, 1879, Vol 28 Issue 17, page 302)
Woodhull Smelter (1870)
(The Woodhull Brothers' smelter was built in 1870 and was located at about 4200 South, west of the State Road and east of the Utah Southern (Union Pacific) tracks, on the south side of Big Cottonwood Creek.)
(The site of the Woodhull smelter was where the Morgan smelter was built in 1876, and the later Hanauer smelter in 1883.)
(Read more about the Woodhull smelter)
Morgan Smelter (1876-1883)
1876
"This smelter was built by Ben. W. Morgan about nine years ago [1876], and cost $5,000." (Deseret News, January 17, 1885)
November 24, 1876
"The Morgan smelter on Big Cottonwood, is running out about fifteen tons of bullion every twenty-four hours. It is a smelter of only one stack, and the rapidity with which it is turning out the shining metal is a matter of wonderment to all." (Salt Lake Tribune, November 24, 1876)
November 1876
From the Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1877. (This item suggests that the smelter was opened very recently; "running about 30 days.")
The Morgan Smelter, situated on the south bank of the Big Cottonwood stream, and close to the line of the Utah Southern Railroad, is a new work, and considering it has but one furnace, it is a very superior smelter, if the quality and net quantity of bullion produced by it are facts to judge from.
It has been completed and running about thirty days altogether, during which time some thirty-five car loads of bullion have been turned out, the average capacity of the one stack being sixteen tons every twenty-four hours. But owing to the limited supply of ore to be had at present, the smelter is at present reduced in its product. When it was first fired up, to test its capacity, it was put under full blast and grossed sixteen tons it could take. The result was two car loads every twenty-four hours were produced.
A breakage in the machinery, delayed operations for a week, early in December, and the fact that a sufficient supply of ore is hard to get, cut the number of tons they could have produced in one month down to 350. Of course the furnace is smaller than another in the division, being the largest stack in the industry. It is a water-jacket furnace, on which Mr. Morgan has a patent. Each of the tuyeres is long in the dual, bound by hinges, and the whole are kept in position by an iron bolt, which may at any time be removed, thus permitting the jackets to be swung up to the roof of the building to allow of repairs to the furnace, causing only a few hours' delay. Another improvement is found in the siphon of the tuyeres, the nozzles of which are so arranged as to keep themselves from burning out or clogging up with slag.
The water power of this furnace is received from a turbine waterwheel run by a canal four miles long from the Big Cottonwood creek, and discharging at the mouth of the flume 1,000 cubic feet of water per minute. The machinery is all first class, the buildings and coal sheds commodious and substantially built, and when all the designed improvements are finished this will be a paying smelter, turning out a superior quality of lead bullion. Twenty-five picked men, all of extensive experience in smelting, and regular, are employed. They work eight-hour shifts, and the company pays the highest wages. The smelter is the property of B. W. Morgan & Co.
May 1, 1877
"The Morgan Smelter has been running along at a high blast until a few days ago when the jackets were taken out, and some slight but necessary repairs were made. It is now running again, however, and doing good work. Since our New Year's report on this smelter, the company have put up two roasting furnaces, which will be fired up in a day or two, and have constructed an elevator from the level of the dump to a car track which is laid on a platform running out to the railroad track and on a level with the car doors. The elevator is run by water power. The company have now over 1,000 tons of ore on the platform, besides several hundred tons of Nevada flue dust, a portion of the 5,000 tons recently purchased to be sent to this Territory for reduction. The smelter is turning out an average of eight tons of bullion per day, and is employing thirty men." (Salt Lake Tribune, May 1, 1877)
August 6, 1877
"Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 6, 1877. - The depressed state of the bullion market is still in force, and no purchases are being made, and the effect of a very low lead market in New York is becoming most apparent. Ben. Morgan's extensive smelting works, on the banks of the placid creek of the Cottonwood, is soon to shut down." (Chicago Inter Ocean, August 21, 1877)
January 5, 1878
The smelters of the Territory included: "B. W. Morgan's, one stack, running." (The Inter-Ocean [Chicago], January 5, 1878)
1879
During 1879, the U. S. Mint reported that the Morgan smelter produced 2,673,200 pounds of lead, 257,568 ounces of silver, and 1,480 ounces of gold. During 1880, the figures were 2,733,782 pounds lead, 157,374 ounces silver and 519 ounces gold.(Huntley, D. B. "Appendix I: The Mining Industries of Utah." In "Statistics and Technology of the Precious Metals," page 418. 1885)
October 18, 1879
"The Pittsburg Morgan Mining And Smelting Company. - The Pittsburg and War Eagle mines of American Fork, and the Morgan Smelting Works, at Morgan station, on the Utah Southern railroad, have been deeded to the above company, a new corporation, with B. W. Morgan as its President and Treasurer. Work has been resumed on the mines, and a large amount of ore will be shipped this coming winter. This is the choicest smelting ore in Utah, and one of the largest lead and silver mines in this part of the country.'" (Salt Lake Tribune, October 18, 1879)
August 13, 1880
B. W. Morgan was shown as owning 14,990 shares of the Pittsburgh Morgan Mining and Smelting company, reported as being worth $149,900. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 13, 1880)
Hanauer Smelter (1883-1899)
1883
"Hanauer Smelting Works. The Hanauer was originally known as the Morgan Smelting Works, but ownership changed in 1883 and its name was changed at the same time." ("Early History of Lead Smelting in the West," Ax-I-Dent-Ax, Volume Fourteen; Number Five; May 1929)
January 1885
The Hanauer smelter was completely destroyed by fire on January 16, 1885. The fire was caused by an overturned slag pot. (Engineering and Mining Journal, January 24, 1885, p. 60)
"The Morgan Smelter was originally built by B. W. Morgan; he ran heavily in debt to the London Bank of Utah, and the works were seized by that institution and sold under the Marshal's hammer, Mr. Hanauer buying them in; the ground and water works are owned by James Gordon, of South Cottonwood, but Mr. Hanauer had them on a twenty years' lease, at a rental of $300 per month." (Salt Lake Herald, January 18, 1885)
"Eight years ago [1877] the works were started with a capacity of fifteen tons of ore per day, and were known as the Morgan smelter up to the time it was purchased by A. Hanauer in 1880, since which time it has been called the Hanauer. Mr Hanauer has rebuilt the works within the past three years, increasing the capacity to sixty tons per day, while side-tracks have been put in from both the Utah Central and Denver and Rio Grande roads, so that the facilities are equal to any for doing business. The proprietor is interested in the Lead, Sampson and Spanish mines, from which he draws supplies of ores, and also purchases from the market. He now has 20,000 tons of ore in the bins." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 18, 1885)
January 17, 1885
"This smelter was built by Ben. W. Morgan about nine years ago [1876], and cost $5,000. About four years ago [1881], A. Hanauer Esq., took the works in charge, and has since enlarged to double the capacity. Eighty men were employed, and nearly all of them will be out of employment for a month or more. Mr. Hanauer expects to have one furnace in blast inside of thirty days, provided the English Insurance Companies, with whom the works were insured to the amount of $10,000, make an immediate settlement. Mr. Hanauer says it is his intention to rebuild and improve as soon as practicable. The loss is estimated at $25,000." (Deseret News, January 17, 1885)
March 11, 1885
The Hanauer smelter was restarted. The rebuilt smelter had a larger capacity. (Engineering and Mining Journal, March 7, 1885, p. 198)
May 15, 1899
American Smelting and Refining Company incorporated on May 1, 1899. Holdings in Utah included the Germania, Pennsylvania, Hanauer, and Ibex smelters. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 1, number 3, May 15, 1899, p.7)
April 20, 1899
"It was learned that the formal conveyance of the Hanauer smelter to the combine would be made today [to American Smelting Refining Company, ASARCO], but Manager Jones refused to anticipate the figures the deed would disclose." (Salt Lake Tribune, April 20, 1899)
July 2, 1899
After the Asarco consolidation, only the Germania and Mingo smelters were in operation, and the Hanauer smelter had been shut down, and would likely be abandoned entirely. (Salt Lake Herald, July 2, 1899)
December 31, 1899
"When the three custom smelters—the Germania, Mingo and Hanauer—were absorbed by the American Smelting & Refining company last June, the two latter were closed down and an attempt was made to handle the business with the Germania alone. At the end of a very few weeks the inadequacy of the works became very plain to Manager Jones, and the Mingo was again blown in. With these two plants in full operation the management has had to resort to all sorts of expedients to make room in the yards for the ores which began to accumulate. The Hanauer plant has not been started for the reason that it would require much repair work to make it available, and he is not inclined to bother with it. This would indicate that the combination contemplates the erection of a new works in the early spring." (Salt Lake Herald, December 31, 1899)
June 17, 1900
"The Hanauer plant will not be resurrected." (Salt Lake Herald, June 17, 1900)
December 17, 1904
"The old Hanauer smelter, the ruins of which still mark its location near Murray, was operated from 1870 up to about six years ago [1898], when it was blown out for good." (Deseret News, December 17, 1904)
(Research has not yet found when the Hanauer smelter was demolished, and the smelter site re-purposed for development. Slag from the slag dump was crushed and used as road base by Salt Lake County.)
(Aerial photos from 1937 show the site, on the east side of the Union Pacific tracks, as being cleared of structures, but still vacant. The site of the Utah Fire Clay company are plainly visible on the west side of the railroad tracks.)
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