Tintic, Eagle & Blue Bell Mine

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This page was last updated on September 17, 2025.

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Overview

(The focus of this page is the surface workings of the Eagle & Blue Bell mine, as visible in photographs, as well as a general description of the mine, with minimal coverage of the geology and financial returns. Also to establish a timeline using sources not previously readily available.)

USGS Professional Paper 107, Tintic Mining District, published in 1919, page 207-208

The property of the Eagle & Blue Bell Mining Co. is about half a mile southeast of the town of Eureka, in Eagle Canyon. The collar of the present working shaft has an altitude of 6,818 feet, or about 400 feet above the town. At the time of the earlier report (1897) this mine was developed only to a depth of 400 feet. During the last few years it has been opened to a depth of 2,019 feet (ground-water level), and it is now a large producer of heavy galena ore. The principal developments consist of an old tunnel opening the southern part of the property; of No. 2 shaft, which is 1,000 feet south of the tunnel portal and 1,043 feet deep, with levels 100 feet apart; and of the present No. 1 working shaft, which is close to the tunnel portal and has workings extending mainly eastward on . the 700, 1,000, 1,200, 1,350, 1,550, 1,700, and 1,876 foot levels. The total openings amount to many thousand feet. The 1,350-foot level of the mine connects with the 1,000-foot level of the Chief Consolidated property.

The production from 1897 to 1916, inclusive, was 220,343 tons of ore, yielding 35,385 ounces of gold, 3,217,676 ounces of silver, 1,413,102 pounds of copper, 33,796,415 pounds of lead, and 22,856 pounds of zinc. In earlier years the ores taken out were siliceous and lean in lead; of late large bodies of galena ore have been found in the lower levels. There is very little copper, the principal value of the ore being in lead and silver.

Eagle & Blue Bell Mining Co.

1898
The Eagle & Blue Bell Mining company was incorporated.

1903
"Controlling stock interest was bought in 1903 by the Bingham Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co. Duncan McVichie, president and general manager. Lands lie between the Centennial-Eureka and Grand Central mines, two of the best properties in the Tintic district. Mine shows large bodies of auriferous copper ores on the 700-foot and 70-foot levels, and is sinking a blind shaft from end of the main tunnel." (The Copper Handbook, Volume IV, 1903, page 358-359)

July 27, 1915
The Eagle & Blue Mining company purchased the interests and assets of the Victoria Consolidated Mining company. By this time, the Eagle & Blue Bell was under the control of the Bingham Mines company. Full control was obtained by stock exchange, Eagle & Blue Bell stock for Victoria stock , by early November 1915. (Salt Lake Herald, July 27, 1915; August 29, 1915; Salt Lake Tribune, November 7, 1915)

1922
"Bingham Mines Co. -- Is a reorganization of the Bingham Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co. Controls about 97 percent of the outstanding stock of the Eagle & Blue Bell Mining Co. of Eureka, Juab County, Utah." "Eagle & Blue Bell Mining Company to be dissolved in 1922." (The Mines Handbook, Volume XV, 1922, page 1491, 1514)

Victoria Mining Co.

USGS Professional Paper 107, Tintic Mining District, published in 1919, page 210

The Victoria mine, owned by the Victoria Consolidated Mining Co. until 1915, when it was purchased by the Eagle & Blue Bell Mining Co., is on the northern slopes of Eureka Peak, in Eagle Canyon, about three-quarters of a mile south-southeast of the town of Eureka. It lies south-southeast of the Eagle and Blue Bell mine, and the Grand Central property adjoins it on the south, the Grand Central shaft being three-quarters of a mile south of the Victoria shaft. The altitude of the collar of the Victoria shaft is 6,998 feet, or about 600 feet above the town.

The shaft is 1,200 feet deep, and dry. The workings extend 400 feet north and 1,100 feet south of the shaft, continuing northward into Eagle and Blue Bell ground and southward into Grand Central ground. Drifts have been turned on the 900, 1,050, and 1,200 foot levels; the 600, 700, 800, and 850 foot levels are reached by raises from the 900-foot level. The 1,050 and 1,200 foot levels connect with the Eagle and Blue Bell workings. The 600, 700, and 900 foot levels connect with the Grand Central workings, the 900-foot level of the Victoria corresponding to the 1,100-foot level of the Grand Central.

The production of the property has not been made public . Shipments of ore have averaged about 3 carloads a week. Much second-class ore remains in the mine awaiting better conditions for reduction.

 

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