Tintic Smelter

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Tintic Smelting Company

First Tintic Smelting Co.

January 4, 1873
"Tintic Smelting Company. Diamond City; completed October 1871; built by Hopkins, Parsons & Co..; two furnaces; capacity, twenty tons per day; treating ore from the Shower mine; Charles Pointer, superintendent." (Salt lake Weekly Tribune, January 4, 1873)

Second Tintic Smelting Co.

"Nothing further is recorded of attempts at smelting in the district until 1908, when the Tintic Smelting Co. erected furnaces at Silver City for treating lead and copper ores from a number of mines controlled by the Knight syndicate. Before the end of the year two lead furnaces, each having a capacity of 250 tons, were operating, and a copper furnace was about ready to be placed in operation. Two additional lead furnaces, making four in all, were added in 1909 and operated until October. The lime and iron for flux were supplied from near-by quarries and mines of the smelting company, and as the ores of the district are of a siliceous nature fluxing conditions were ideal. Coke was shipped from Sunnyside, Utah." (Geology And Ore Deposits Of The Tintic Mining District, Utah, USGS Professional Paper 107, 1919, page 114)

"This venture was the last of the attempts at smelting in the Tintic district. Although a success in smelting, the Tintic Smelting Co. was dominated by other more powerful interests and the lowering of smelting rates made it more profitable for the producing mining companies to ship to the smelters near Salt Lake. The smelter was dismantled in 1915." (Geology And Ore Deposits Of The Tintic Mining District, Utah, USGS Professional Paper 107, 1919, page 115)

December 1, 1906
"Articles of Incorporation of the Tintic Smelting company have been prepared by Atty. Joel Nibley and will be filed in the office of the secretary of state within the next few days. With a single exception, the incorporators are influential Ogden and Provo citizens and the headquarters of the company will be in Salt Lake. The president of the Tintic company will be Charles W. Nibley, one of Utah's loading business men; the vice presidency will go to Jesse Knight, the well known and successful mining operator of Provo; the secretary will be former district Judge H. H. Rolapp of Ogden and John Pingree, cashier of the First National Bunk of Ogden will be treasurer. The foregoing named persons with David Eccles of Ogden, Bela Kadish of Ogden, William Eccles of Ogden; C. E. Loose of Provo and M. J. Donnelly of New York are mentioned as incorporators. The board of directors will consist of Charles W. Nibley, Jesse Knight. C. E. Loose, David Eccles and Bela Kadish." (Deseret News, December 1, 1906)

January 11, 1907
Surveying in work for new smelter west of Robinson. The survey was being done by West & Brown of Ogden. William Knight was on hand, and was the manager of the Beck Tunnel and Black Jack mines. Nibley was president of the smelting company. (The Eureka Reporter, January 11, 1907)

February 22, 1908
"The Tintic Smelting Company, which was originally planned to treat lead ores in connection with the copper smelter of the Utah Smelting Company at Ogden, is to equip its smelter at Tintic with a furnace for the treatment of copper ores. The Tintic plant now has no connection whatever with the Ogden plant and is controlled by Jesse Knight, of Provo. Construction is being pushed vigorously and at least the lead stack will be ready by the end of April. All of the equipment for the copper unit has been ordered and shipped from the factory." (Engineering and Mining Journal, February 22, 1908)

June 5, 1908
First ore at the new Tintic Smelter was received about June 1st, and was from the Silver Shield mine, at Bingham. (Eureka Reporter, June 5, 1908)

July 10, 1908
The Grand Central mine began shipping to the Tintic smelter yesterday; and there is to be a celebration of the starting-up of the smelter on the 24th of July. (Eureka Reporter, July 10, 1908)

July 24, 1908
"On July 24, 1908, Silver City and all Tintic celebrated Smelter Day. This festival or celebration was without doubt the most lavish and best attended of any ever held in Tintic District. Special excursion trains in addition to the regular schedules were run to the District by both railroads. Special pavilions were erected for the occasion. Special sight-seeing runs were made by Knight’s East Tintic narrow gauge railroad to the various Knight mines." (History of Juab County, by A. P. McCune, 1947, page 229)

September 28, 1908
"The management of the Lower Mammoth Mining company will put in some hard licks on development during the shut-down of the Tintic smelter. When the plant goes into commission again, the mine will be in good shape for production." (Deseret News, September 28, 1908)

June 15, 1909
"The first lead furnace was blown in August 28, 1908, and was followed a few days later by lead furnace No. 2, and the starting of a large independent smelter was hailed with joy by the mining industry. Then trouble came and first one furnace and then the other was shut down, and started up again and rumors of one kind or another were set afloat. After a change of management, things began to shape themselves and give an appearance of successful operation. Lead furnace No. 1 was blown in October 29, No. 2 on November 1, No. 3 on January 9 and the copper furnace on March 22." (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 15, 1909)

September 18, 1909
"Tintic Smelter To Close About Oct. 1 - That the Tintic smelter will be closed about Oct. 1, to remain closed indefinitely, was announced yesterday by officials of the company. Ores of the Knight mines are to be diverted to the United States company's smelter at Bingham Junction. Inability to obtain the kind of ores required for fluxing the siliceous ores of the Tintic district is the reason given for shutting down the plant at this time." (Salt Lake Herald, September 18, 1909)

September 29, 1909
"Tintic Smelter And Dragon Mine Closed. - The last fire was drawn from the Tintic smelter yesterday, according to word from camp. In the meantime various improvements which were under way are being carried to completion and plans for the future in regard to the operation of the plant are as much in the dark as ever. Uncle Jesse Knight admits that a deal for the plant is pending; that he has named his low price for it, and is awaiting word of its being accepted or declined. The Dragon mine, from which the fluxing ore for the smelter was largely drawn, was also closed yesterday." (Salt Lake Herald, September 30, 1909)

October 1909
"The Tintic smelter owned by Jess Knight at Silver City closed in October 1909 and has since been idle. The plant is being well taken care of, the machinery has been wrapped and is in good condition. The plant was operated but a year and two months." (Deseret News, December 19, 1914)

October 2, 1909
"Two cars of copper matte, the cleanup of the Tintic smelter, were sent to the Valley smelter during the last week." (Salt Lake Herald, October 2, 1909)

(The Tintic smelter was receiving ore from the Horn Silver mine near Milford, and from the Nevada-Utah mine in the Pioche district in southern Nevada. The Nevada mine closed, but the Horn Silver mine began shipping its ore to Salt Lake.)

December 18, 1909
"The most severe blow that the district received during the year was the closing of Jesse Knight's Tintic smelter. Silver City was hit the hardest by this and several hundred men were thrown out of work. It was declared that on account of the grade of ore received at the smelter it was impossible for the work to go ahead at a profit. Mr. Knight decided to close the plant down until such a time as ore for the proper mix could be secured. Since then Mr. Knight has acquired interests in Nevada, which it is believed will be productive of the kind of ore most needed for his furnaces." (Deseret News, December 18, 1909)

(The closing of the Tintic smelter at Silver City also resulted in two general merchandise stores in Silver City closing and selling their goods at steep discounts. The stores were the L. E. Riter store, which moved its stock to its Eureka store, and The Leader store, which moved its stock to its Mammoth store.)

December 31, 1909
The most important reason for the closing of the Tintic smelter was the unfair rates the railroads were charging to supply coal and coke. The Tintic smelter was paying 50 to 75 cents more per ton than the Salt Lake smelters were paying. The Tintic smelter was receiving five of six car loads per day of coal and coke. The railroad rates for inbound ore was also higher than the Salt Lake smelters were paying. It was reported that there was nothing wrong with the Tintic smelter, except its location, which in-turn resulted in high railroad rates. (Eureka Reporter, December 31, 1909)

February 25, 1910
"According to a story that appeared in an eastern publication the International Smelting & Refining Refining company, which is a Cole-Ryan company, is after the Tintic smelter and the Knight properties. Just about a year ago the same story was told, but nothing happened. In fact the smelter closed down last October. According to a person in a position to know, there is little credit given the report. As it was expressed, the Cole-Ryan people are after copper and thus far have not entered the lead-silver field. It therefore would not seem probable that they would now change the policies of the company and enter a new field." (Deseret News, February 25, 1910)

April 17, 1910
"Concerning the Tintic smelter, and the restrictive railroad rates: "The New York Mining Age quotes an eastern engineer, who says that owing to the control over the railroads held by the smelting trust, the Tintic plant is hopeless, for railroad rates at present are ruinous. He says the plant apparently is a good one, well constructed and can give good service, but until conditions change there is little hope of a resumption of operations or that large outside interests will purchase the plant. So far there has been little need for the smelting companies already well established in the Utah field to purchase the Tintic plant. One often hears, though not as frequently as in the past, that the local mining held requires greater competitive smelting facilities, and that large private capital could find no better application than by installing a plant where no favors are asked or given. The Knights certainly began their plant under ideal auspices, and nearly every one was certain that the day of the small producer had arrived, but if the east is correct the one small item of freight rates silenced the enterprise." (Ogden Morning Examiner, April 17, 1910)

December 17, 1910
"The Tintic smelter at Silver City has been closed for more than a year yet Uncle Jesse Knight persistently declares that some day he will again open the plant on which he has spent $1,000,000 in an effort to run independent reduction works. The plant is being well taken care of. The machinery, although standing, has been wrapped. The plant has been placed in condition to run the moment it is decided to start." (Deseret News, December 17, 1910)

January 30, 1911
"Eureka Reporter: This week the Tintic smelter shipped four cars of flue dust and slag to the U. S. Smelter. The dust and slag contain sufficient values to make its shipment profitable at this time, and other shipments will no doubt follow." (Salt Lake Mining Review, January 30, 1911)

(During 1911, the Tintic smelter shipped an average of one carload per month of slag to other smelters for processing.)

December 16, 1911
"Out of nine smelters only four worked throughout the year. They were the Garfield and Murray plants of the American Smelting & Refining company, the United States plant at Midvale and the International smelter at Tooele. The Yampa smelter closed down in 1909, and the year before the Tintic smelter closed. Neither of these plants have been started since. With the return of activity in the mining industry they also would be running. The four smelters that are now running are capable of taking care of 10,300 tons of ore a day." (Deseret News, December 16, 1911)

April 8, 1912
There were rumors that the reason Jesse Knight purchased coal lands in Spring Canyon in Utah's Carbon County, and built his Spring Canyon Coal company to mine that coal, and his five-mile railroad branch to haul coal from his mine, was to supply his Tintic smelter with coal to reduce the overall costs of the smelter operation, thereby allowing him to re-open the smelter. The smelter had been forced to close because it could not compete with the Salt Lake and Tooele smelters. (Provo Daily Herald, April 8, 1912)

October 19, 1912
"The Tintic smelter during the week made a shipment of two cars of ore that have been stored in the bin for close to two years. This ore was some that was left over when the smelter closed." (Salt Lake Herald, October 119, 1912)

August 31, 1915
The Tintic Smelting Company petitioned the District Court for permission to dissolve the corporation. Jesse Knight, J. William Knight, C. W. Nibley, W, Lester Mangum and R. E. Allen represented 4,844 shares of the company and there was no opposition. Organized on November 30, 1906, and completed "two or three years later," the company soon found that it could not operate at a profit, and the smelter was closed. Its machinery had been sold "piece by piece." (Provo Post, August 31, 1915)

(The site of the closed Tintic smelter was taken over by the Tintic Milling Company, also a Jesse Knight enterprise.)

September 1, 1915
From the Salt Lake Telegram, September 1, 1915.

Provo, Sept. 1 -- A petition for the dissolution of the Tintic Smelting company, a corporation, has been filed in the Fourth district court, the dissolution having been voted at a special stockholders meeting held August 9, 1915. The petition sets out that there are no unsatisfied claims against the company. Hearing on the petition has been set for October 4. It is signed Jesse Knight, J, W. Knight and W. Lester Mangum, directors.

The company was organized November 30, 1906, and the smelter at Silver City built at a cost of over $1,000,000. It was operated for about a year in 1908-1909, but did not prove a paying proposition and was shut down and has not been operated for six years. Some of the equipment and material will be used by the Tintic Milling company in the construction of its new mill.

The reasons given for the failure of the smelter as a financial venture is that the Knight interests who controlled the smelter were unable to supply all the ores required for a proper flux from their mines and they were prevented from buying the needed ores by reason of the smelter trust having contracted for all such available ores, which had the effect of closing the Tintic smelter.

September 3, 1915
"Some of the material at the Tintic Smelter is being used in the construction of the new mill which the Knight and Dern interests are now putting up." (Eureka Reporter, September 3, 1915)

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