Ogden Smelters

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This page was last updated on April 22, 2022.

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Utah Smelting Company

The Utah Smelting Company built a smelter north of Ogden, directly west of the junction known as Hot Springs, the site of a large public bath and hot springs resort.

(Read more about the Utah Hot Springs, and the railroad that served it)

The smelter was planned in late 1905; its site selected in early 1906; a railroad spur completed by Southern Pacific by March 1906; its 150-foot smoke stack completed in September 1906; and the smelter completed by November 1906.

A smelter depends on receiving shipments of both ores and concentrates, and this new smelter was put into operation at the same time as, and therefore in competition with the massive American Smelting Company's smelter at Garfield. There were also several competing smelters operating in the Salt Lake Valley.

The smelter of the Utah Smelting company was very small by smelter standards, and never went into full operation. With a lack of business, and a suit in 1908 by local farmers and stock men, the smelter was vulnerable to financial troubles, which came in 1910 with a suit from an investor, claiming stock fraud. The suit lingered in the courts from 1910 to 1914, until a judge agreed with the fraud argument and ordered the smelting company to be dissolved and the proceeds used to compensate the investor.

Brief Timeline

1905, Dec -- site selected, west of Hot Springs
1906, Jan -- articles of incorporation
1906, Jan -- site selected, railroad spur
1906, Mar -- railroad spur
1906, Mar -- 150-foot stack
1906, May -- foundations and railroad spur
1906, Sep -- 150-foot stack completed
1906, Nov -- operations begin
1907, Jan -- not yet in operation
1907, Mar -- furnace blown in
1907, Nov -- shut down
1908, Jan -- agreement pending with local farmers and stock men
1908, Feb -- opposition from local farmers and stock men
1910, Oct -- sued by local farmers and stock men
1910, Jul -- stock fraud suit
1914, Jun -- court ordered receivership and liquidation

Newspaper Research

Utah Smelting Company Newspapers -- An on-line album of newspaper clippings covering the short life of the Utah Smelting Company.

Photo

Distant view of Utah Smelting Company, in the background of a 1908 photo of Utah Hot Springs; photo posted to Ogden Glory Days Facebook group, April 18, 2022, courtesy of Lindsay Deamer

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