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Tintic, Copperopolis Court Cases

This page was last updated on September 23, 2025.

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Overview

(The focus of this information is to establish a timeline using sources not previously readily available, showing the variety of court cases and law suits concerning the English investors fight to regain the Mammoth Copperopolis mine at Tintic.)

The Copperopolis mine was first operated by the Mammoth Copperopolis of Utah, a company organized in England in 1872. It became the American Eagle Mining company mine in 1883, then the Ajax Mining company mine in 1894.

(Read more about the Copperopolis mine under its various owners, including the Ajax mine after 1894, then the Gold Chain mine after 1909)

The English investors lost ownership in 1883, after which and for the next 14 years, continued their legal fight in the courts of Utah Territory to regain ownership of the mine.

The following description comes from "The Towns of Tintic" by Beth Kay Harris, published in 1961.

Timeline Of Court Cases

January 16, 1874
"Mammoth Copperopolis. -- The men working in the celebrated Mammoth Copperopolis mine in the Tintic mining district are said to have attached the mine for back wages. A car load of bullion belonging to said company, is also said to have been attached at Ogden a few days ago, at the suit of some of its creditors." (Deseret News, January 16, 1874)

January 12, 1874
"Two attachment suits were brought on Monday [January 12], by attorneys Strickland & Ashbrook, in favor of Messrs. P. Crandall and Wm. Baxter, against the Mammoth Copperopolis Mining Company. The attachments were put on bullion at the Provo depot, the greater part of which was loaded on a car ready to be transported. The railroad company refused to unlock the car for several hours, but finally did so, and the bullion was removed. Yesterday a Mr. Johnston came from Salt Lake, avowedly to take the bullion back with him, but returned without it, thinking it best to secure possession legally. The Mammoth Copperopolis has been securing work done without paying. They will now have to pay for the work done, or the indications are that trouble is upon them." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 16, 1874)

January 13, 1874
"A meeting of the miners employed at the Mammoth Copperopolis was held on Tuesday last [January 13], and it was determined to shut down the mine and not work any more until wages due them were paid, and to hold possession of the mine until settlement was made by the Company." (Daily Ogden Junction, January 15, 1874)

January 21, 1874
"Wells Fargo & Co. have attached the mill and mine belonging to th Copperopolis Mining Company; and M. P. Crandall has sued the same company for $4,000, and today attached a car load of bullion, now at the Depot in this city, belonging to the company." (Deseret News, January 21, 1874, citing the Provo Times of January 12)

February 7, 1874
"The Mammoth Copperopolis Mines are still closed, and all labor is suspended, the Superintendent does not see why the men has not been paid their wages regularly, as there has been shipped over ninety thousand dollars worth of bullion since the work commenced on the mine; the miners are losing confidence at such conduct being practiced by men in high positions, it militates greatly to the injury not only of the mine but to the whole district. A change is necessary and the miners are anxiously looking for it speedily to take place." (Utah Mining Gazette, February 7, 1874, citing the Provo Times)

March 14, 1874
"At an extraordinary meeting of the Mammoth Copperopolis of Utah Company, a resolution was passed in favor of increasing the capital of the undertaking by the creation of 2,000 shares of £10 each." (Provo Daily Times, March 14, 1874)

March 28, 1874
The Mammoth Copperopolis. -- At a special meeting, held recently in London, of the shareholders of the above mine, it was decided to increase the capital by the sum of £20,000 divided into 2,000 shares of £10each. This sum will enable the company to avoid future embarrassments and doubtless develop the mine to a dividend paying condition." (Utah Mining Gazette, March 28, 1874)

May 30, 1874
"The Mammoth Copperopolis has tickled its shareholders with a single dividend of five shillings [about $1.35], paid about eighteen months ago." "At an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders in the Mammoth Copperopolis mine, recently held in London, a committee was appointed to consult with the directors as to the best method of raising funds to extricate the company from its embarrassments, and to investigate the past conduct of its officers. It was thought at the meeting that £15,000 [about $81,300] would he sufficient to put the affairs of the company in proper shape for business." (Utah Mining Gazette, May 30, 1874)

August 18, 1874
"Ore Sale at Tintic. -- On next Saturday [August 22] a large quantity of ore, mining tools and other property, will be sold at Tintic by the United States Marshal, on an execution from the Third District Court, in favor of Wells Fargo & Co., against the Mammoth Copperopolis silver mining company of Utah, limited." (Salt Lake Tribune, August 18, 1874)

(The sale was postponed, pending a settlement agreement by the parties involved. -- Deseret News, August 24, 1874)

December 3, 1874
Almost a year after attaching the mine for back wages, the suit of the miners vs. the Mammoth Copperopolis Mining company was settled by a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs (the miners) and a payment of back wages.

May 1, 1875
"Why is it that the magnificent Mammoth Copperopolis mine in the Tintic district, is a 'lame duck' on the stock market of London? Let the company's $100,000 mill, useless in connection with smelting ore, as a fifth wheel to a coach, its three expensive offices, at Salt Lake City, at the mill and the mine, in connection with its generally admitted looseness, if not dishonesty of management, answer." (Real Estate and Mining Gazette, May 1, 1875)

(The above is an example of the claims by local observers, of extravagant and faulty mismanagement of the Mammoth Copperopolis and other local Utah mines owned by British absentee investors.)

September 9, 1876
The company by the of Kahn Brothers (Samuel Kahn and Emanuel Kahn), plaintiffs, filed suit against Claud Hamilton (commonly known as Lord Hamilton), and John Elliott, trustees of the Mammoth Copperopolis of Utah, Limited, defendants. The defendants were ordered to appear in the Third District Court in Salt Lake City within 40 days of September 6th, 1876. The typical period to appear was 10 days, but was 40 days in this case because the defendants were out of the country. If they failed to appear, the case would be decided by judgment by default. The action was being brought because the defendants owed $7,894.95 on eight promissory notes given to Thomas E. Clohecy and five other persons, all of whom had assigned the notes to the Kahn Brothers for collection. (Salt Lake Tribune, September 9, 1876)

(Also in September 1876, two other cases were filed with the Third District Court. One was an Issac Woolf, vs. Lord Hamilton and John Elliott as trustees of the Mammoth Copperopolis, for a promissory note in the amount of $2,960. The second case was James E. Matthews vs. Lord Hamilton and John Elliott as trustees of the Mammoth Copperopolis, for another promissory note. The source for this information is the online Salt Lake Tribune newspaper, which is largely illegible.)

January 19-21, 1879
By these dates in January 1879, the above court cases from September 1876, were heard before the Supreme Court of Utah Territory. There were three cases, all with Lord Claud Hamilton as defendant, "involving the title to the Mammoth Copperopolis." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 19, 1879)

June 23, 1879
In the Utah Supreme Court, "In three cases of Cain, Mathews and Woolf vs. Claud Hamilton et al., regarding claims against the Mammoth Copperopolis, the decision of the lower court is reversed." (Daily Ogden, Junction, June 25, 1879, "Monday June 23rd")

(The three cases were accepted by the Third District Court on March 29, 1877, and were "set aside by consent," to be heard during the court's session beginning on April 18, 1877. A decision on all three cases was extended sixty days on September 13, 1878 to allow the defendants time to prepare an appeal to the court's overruling of the defense's motion for a new trial.)

British Tintic Mining Company (1877-1883)

(The newspapers regularly reported the mine as the Mammoth Copperopolis mine, although the company had changed ownership in England.)

1877
"The Mammoth Copperopolis. -- The English company who bought the mine, leased it to another organization known as the British Tintic company. This corporation worked the mine for a time, and then fell into arrears to its laborers, who took hold of the mine under a lien, and have been steadily working it and shipping from it since. It is even said that they formed themselves into a company under the name of the American Eagle, and that it will take some pretty strong proceedings to dispossess them." (Salt Lake Herald, October 5, 1884; Salt Lake Tribune, July 6, 1895)

June 1, 1880
The Mammoth Copperopolis was still owned by Lord Claud Hamilton, "whose great mine has figured in more law suits than any other Britisher. The mine is at last free from litigation and is now being worked by his Lordship through the supervision of Messrs. Rosborough & Merritt, who are employing the men in reopening the property and putting it in shape for more extensive development." (Salt Lake Tribune, June 1, 1880)

American Eagle Mine (1883-1895)

(The first reference to the American Eagle Mining Company was in April 1884, "The American Eagle mine (once the Mammoth Copperopolis)" -- Salt Lake Herald, April 30, 1884)

(The American Eagle Mining company was formed by John Bastian and others based their possession of the Mammoth Copperopolis property, which in-turn had been ordered to be sold as a court judgment to recover the back wages of miners who had filed suit in 1881. Bastian had purchased the miner's lien, and therefore held possession of the property.)

March 22, 1883
"The Copperopolis Mine. -- This property, formerly belonging to an English company, is worked under a long lease by parties resident in Silver City. The ores extricated are similar in character to the Mammoth ore and are sold to the Mammoth Smelting Company. This ore body is about three feet in width with a tendency to improvement in extent as the work of sinking on the vein progresses. The ore carries about 300 ounces per ton, and a fair showing of gold." (Salt Lake Herald, March 22, 1883)

May 2, 1883
On May 2, 1883, Claud Hamilton (also known as Lord Hamilton) and John Elliott in England, as plaintiffs, filed suit against John Bastian, John Firth, Arthur Brown and the American Eagle Mining Company, as defendants, to regain ownership of the Copperopolis mine in Juab County, Utah. The specific suit was a claim that the defendants had extracted $20,000 in ore from the mine which they did not own. The defendants claimed that they owned the mine and that it was their right to extract the ore. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 18, 1895)

October 13, 1883
The order to dismiss the case of Claude Hamilton et. al. vs. John Bastian et. al. was rescinded and reinstated. (Ogden Standard Examiner, October 13, 1883)

April 30, 1884
"Silver City, Juab County, Utah, April 27, 1884. -- The American Eagle mine (once the Mammoth Copperopolis), now owned by parties resident in your city [Salt Lake City], has suspended operations for the present. The cause of this suspension of work on this really fine productive property, is not definitely understood." "The A. E. Mining Co. having leased the Wyoming mill at Homanville for the purpose of working rich ores of a peculiar character, which was being excavated in large quantities from the mine." (Salt Lake Herald, April 30, 1884)

June 3, 1884
"Lord Claud Hamilton, brother of the Duke of Abercorn, and formerly M.P. for the county of Tyrone, died yesterday at his residence in Portland-place in his 71st year." (Morning Post, London, June 4, 1884) (His two sons, Claud John Hamilton and George Hamilton, each took the title of Lord Hamilton, and were noted in the Liverpool newspaper that they were traveling to Canada in August 1884. Both were members of Parliament.)

(On September 14, 1886, the suit of Lord Hamilton vs. John Bastian was still on the calendar of the First District Court in Provo. The case was called to be heard on April 27, 1889.)

June 15, 1888
The American Eagle Mining Company applied to the U. S. Land Office for a patent on the Copperopolis No. 2 mining claim, 1,092 feet by 554 feet. The patent was granted on October 25, 1892. (The Ensign, Nephi, June 15, 1888; Deseret News, October 25, 1892)

(1889 - The proceedings from 1883 lay dormant until 1889, when upon the death of Lord Hamilton in 1884, the other plaintiffs asked that the suit proceed without him. By 1889, the American Eagle Mining Company had succeeded the defendants, and had made "great improvements" to the property.)

April 5, 1889
The case of Lord Claud Hamilton vs. John Bastian et al. was set to be heard in First District Court on April 27, 1889. (Provo Utah Enquirer, April 5, 1889)

(This case continued to the Third District Court into November 1895, when it finally died."Claud Hamilton et al., appellant, vs John Bastian et al.; petition for rehearing denied." -- Salt Lake Tribune, November 7, 1895)

August 16, 1889
The case of John Elliott vs. John Bastian was set to be heard during the First District Court's September term. (Provo Utah Enquirer, August 16, 1889)

March 14, 1890
The legal troubles started on March 14, 1890 when Edward Austin and Charles H. Tindal, as successors and trustees to the previous English owners, Lord Hamilton and John Elliott, began negotiating with American Eagle Mining company to settle their claim of not receiving the shares promised in the new company. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 3, 1894)

Austin and Tindal sued the American Eagle Mining company in Third District Court to be paid $39,632, the value of 8,000 shares in the new company. Austin and Tindal included the two English companies, Mammoth Copperopolis Mining company and the British Tintic Mining company in their suit as plaintiffs. Austin and Tindal, as trustees claimed that they were to receive, but did not receive, 8,000 shares in the new American Eagle company as part of a settlement with the two English companies. The settlement [in 1883] was part of a judgment from the First District Court case in which the English companies lost control and ownership of the Copperopolis mine to the group of workers for back wages (and $13,000 owed to Well Fargo). (Salt Lake Herald, June 3, 1894)

(Edward Austin was by this time in 1890 a resident of Kansas City. But in 1883 he was the manager of the London Bank of Utah in Salt Lake City. The bank was owned by Charles H. Tindal, who had been in Salt Lake City during the summer of 1883. The bank failed in September 1884 and Austin traveled to England, then returned to Salt Lake City in February 1885 to act as Tindal's attorney. "Tyndale" arrived in Salt Lake City on May 16, 1886, to look after the properties he held in connection with Austin. Edward Austin and his wife moved to Kansas City in October 1886. While living in Kansas City, his wife passed away in mid-May 1888.)

April 15, 1891
John Elliott died on April 15, 1891. Elliott had been the surviving trustee of the Mammoth Copperopolis company, and its successor British Tintic Mining company. Elliott's wife, with the consent of the directors of the British Tintic Mining company, named Edward Austin and William F. Tipping as trustees, and she deeded her interest to them as trustees. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 6, 1895)

September 17, 1892
The American Eagle Mining Company sued Caleb Chamberlain, for trespass and encroachment for taking ore from the wrong side of the boundary line between the Copperopolis claim and the Chamberlain claim. The court issued an junction on August 23, 1893 in favor of the American Eagle company. (Provo Daily Enquirer, September 17, 1892; August 24, 1893)

October 23, 1893
The case from 1883 (filed in May 1883, dismissed, reinstated in October 1883) was tried 10 years later on October 23, 1893, and was decided in favor of the defendants (American Eagle Mining company), meaning that Hamilton and Elliott were denied in their attempt to take the company back from the American Eagle company.

(Hamilton and Elliott were both deceased by this time.)

November 7, 1893
There was a special stockholders' meeting of the American Eagle Mining Company on November 7, 1893, to ratify or disaffirm the action of the Board of Directors in selling all of the company real estate. (Deseret News, October 6, 1893, with daily notices after that)

November 5, 1894
Edward Austin et. al. sued American Eagle Mining company et. al. (Salt Lake Herald, November 11, 1894)

(This new suit was a request to set aside the 1893 judgment because at the time John Elliott in England had passed away. As noted above, Lord Hamilton had passed away in June 1884, nine years before.)

The new suit replaced Hamilton and Elliott with Edward Austin and William Fearon Tipping as plaintiffs, and as trustees for the interests of the former Mammoth Copperopolis Mining Company, as well as the affiliated Copperopolis Mining Company and the British Tintic Mining Company. The suit also asked that the decision of October 1893 be set aside because both Hamilton and Elliott had died, and the attorneys for Elliot's estate were not notified and the case was lost by default.

The District Court refused to set aside the 1893 judgment, and in June 1895 the Utah Supreme Court decided that the request to set aside was made too late. (Provo Evening Dispatch, November 13, 1894; Salt Lake Tribune, June 18, 1895)

(As shown below, the case was settled in October 1894 by the organization of the Ajax Mining Company.)

January 12, 1895
The John Elliott vs. John Bastian et al. case, with Edward Austin and William F. Tipping as appellants, was one of 42 cases to be heard by the Utah Supreme Court during its January term. (Deseret News, January 12, 1895)

January 30, 1895
The following comes from the January 30, 1895 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune.

May 10, 1895
Edward Austin et al. vs. American Eagle Mining company et al. was one of 364 cases to be heard on the current term of the Utah Supreme Court. (Salt Lake Herald, May 10, 1895)

(Samuel A. Merritt was Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court, since 1894)

June 17, 1895
The Utah Supreme Court heard the case and upheld the lower court's decision, refusing to vacate the judgment of October 1893 in which the result was the American Eagle Mining company retained possession of the Armstrong claim. "The Supreme Court holds that the motion to set aside was made too late, as it was not presented until more than six months has elapsed after the adjournment of the term at which the judgment waas rendered." (Salt Lake Herald, June 18, 1895, "yesterday")

(By February 1896, the American Eagle name for a mine was being used for a mine in Box Elder County, Utah. -- Salt Lake Herald, February 8, 1896)

September 3, 1896
The case of Edward Austin et al. vs. American Eagle Mining company, before the District Court was dismissed upon plaintiff's payment of costs. (Salt Lake Tribune, September 4, 1896, "yesterday"

July 3, 1895
A new suit, filed in the First District Court in Provo, asking to set aside the October 1893 judgment. "The Mammoth Copperopolis Again. -- Edwin Austin and William Fearon Tipping, trustees, vs. the Ajax Mining company, the American Eagle Mining company, John Bastian, John Firth, Arthur Brown and the Utah Mining company." (Evening Dispatch, Provo, July 3, 1895)

(On July 6, 1895, Chief Justice Merritt of the First District Court in Provo handed down a judgment in a request of the

June 19, 1897
In his on-going battle to regain owership of the Copperopolis mine, Edward Austin filed suit in Third District Court: Edward Austin vs. Ajax Mining company. Case was set to be heard June 29th. (Nephi Times News, June 19, 1897)

(There were no further references to Edward Austin in available online newspapers to this court case.)

Ajax Mining Company

October 23, 1894
The articles of incorporation of the Ajax Mining Company were filed with the county clerk "today." (Deseret News, October 23, 1894)

(By November 1897, the Ajax mine was "free from litigation and one of the most valuable properties in existence," having produced over a million dollars in its early years to 1883.)

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