Tintic, Eureka Hill vs. Bullion Beck

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Eureka Hill vs. Bullion Beck

November 11, 1884
The Eureka Hill Mining company filed a suit with the First District Court in Provo, asking to obtain a decree that the Eureka Hill Mining company was the owner of Eureka claim No. 39, patented September 27, 1875, which was in dispute with Bullion mining claim No. 76, patented October 16, 1882.

November 23, 1884
"There were rumors of war, or the beginning of a small one, wafted yesterday from the hitherto peaceful district of Tintic. A couple of weeks ago the miners at work in the Eureka mine, one of the group owned by the Eureka Hill Mining Company, broke through into the Bullion, one of the mines included in the property of the Bullion, Beck and Champion Mining Company. The result has been a series of maneuverers on the side, which indicate a law suit in the near future. After the break, the Bullion boys instituted a regular smoking-out of the parties of the second part, using in their experiments, Giant powder, sulphur, cayenne pepper, and kindred stuff. Breastworks and fortifications were erected and guard mounted with a determination to 'hold the fort' at all hazards. At last accounts the Beck crowd were first best, and the indications were that they would remain so. Both mines are patented, and according to the laws, rules and regulations governing mining property, it is probable a decision of the courts will be necessary to settle the possession question." (Salt Lake Herald, November 23, 1884)

(There ensued a lengthy series of court cases between the Eureka Hill Mining company and the Bullion Beck and Champion Mining company, to determine which company held the rights to the dispouted 03. acre of mineral ground. After being decided by the First District Court in Provo, then appealed to the Territorial Supreme Court, then to the U. S. Supreme Court, it was settled by compromise in July 1888, before the U. S. Supreme Court could make its own decision.)

December 7, 1884
"The temporary restraining order has left the ground in dispute clear of combatants on either side, but shipping from both properties has not been interrupted in the least degree. The maps of the ground in conflict are being made and a strong fight will fake place when the case comes up." (Salt Lake Herald, December 7, 1884)

(The original suit was Eureka Hill Mining company vs. the Bullion Beck and Champion Mining company, claiming that it owned the property in question.)

(The Bullion Beck company immediately counter-sued the Eureka Hill company in the First District Court in Provo, claiming that beginning on January 3, 1883, and continuously since then, the Eureka Hill company, by various drifts, tunnels, stopes, raises and other underground workings, extracted 2,000 tons of silver ore with a value of $75 per ton, from Bullion Beck property, namely the Bullion mining claim Lot No. 76, encompassing 0.392 of an acre. The Bullion Beck company claimed $150,000 in damages, being the value of the ore extracted. This second suit in the overall case asked for a restraining order and injunction against the Eureka Hill company to stop extracting ore from the described Bullion Beck property.)

($150,000 in 1886 was equal to about $4.8 million in 2025; these were obviously important court cases. Well worth the legal fees and court costs involved.)

(In answer to the second suit, the Eureka Hill company denied that there was any valuable ore in the described Bullion Beck mining claim, or that they had taken any rock from the described mining claim. The Eureka Hill company also stated that they were during this entire period, working in their own claim, described as Eureka mining claim Lot No. 39, which lay directly eastward and adjacent to the Bullion Beck company's property.)

January 10, 1885
"Two New Suits. -- Reference has heretofore been made to the suits of the Eureka Hill Mining company and J. Q. Packard against the Bullion Beck and Champion Mining company on Eureka Hill, in Tintic, and in which the last named company John Taylor is heavily interested. During the present week the Bullion Beck and Champion company has planted a suit in District Court at Provo against the Eureka Hill company for $150,000 damages and another suit against J. Q. Packard for $300 and an injunction to restrain the defendants in both cases from working the ground in conflict. The papers were served in these last two actions yesterday, by the deputy from Provo." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 10, 1885)

(At the time, John Taylor was president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.)

February 16, 1885
February term of the First U. S. District Court of Utah. Case to be heard beginning on February 16th. Eureka Hill Mining Co. vs. Bullion Beck & Champion Mining Co. (Ogden Standard Examiner, February 5, 1885)

January 12, 1886
The First District Court found in favor of the defendants, the Eureka Hill Mining company and John Q. Packard and John McChrystal. The Bullion, Beck and Champion Mining company had sued the Eureka Hill company, charging trespass and theft of mineral ore when the Eureka Hill company crossed the line between the two companies and removed "a considerable amount of ore." The case was headed for the Utah Territorial Supreme Court. (Salt Lake Evening Democrat, January 13, 1886, "last evening")

February 20, 1886
The Eureka Hill company, as defendants, had made a motion to have the injunction against them extracting ore from the contested ground removed. Judge Power overruled the motion, and gave the Bullion Beck company 10 days to "perfect their appeal." (Salt Lake Herald, February 25, 1886, "held on Saturday")

(The fight between the Eureka Hill company and the Bullion Beck company had grown to become three separate suits and counter-suits, and were to be heard by the First District Court in Provo on April 16, 1886. Changed to April 23 and 24. -- Provo Territorial Enquirer, March 16, 1886; Deseret News, March 29, 1886)

The three court cases were:

(There were motions to dissolve, and motions to show cause; each of which required separate court sessions. On April 27, 1886, the Eureka Hill's motion to dissolve the various cases were argued and considered, then were continued until September. The restraining order against the Eureka Hill company remained in place. -- Salt Lake Herald, April 30, 1886)

(Among the suits and counter-suits, and resulting injunctions and restraining orders, one of the injunctions was to prevent the Bullion Beck company from dissolving its corporation.)

June 15, 1886
"The only matter before the three judges in the [Territorial] Supreme Court yesterday was the case of the Bullion Beck and Champion Mining Company, appellants [plaintiffs], vs. the Eureka Hill Mining Company et al., respondents [defendants]." The arguments of lawyers for appellants occupied the entire afternoon. "The amount of maps, diagrams, etc., in use, is such as to paralyze the ordinary observer. It is not expected the case will be submitted before Saturday evening." "The hearing of this case will probably last the entire week." (Deseret News, June 15, 1886; Salt Lake Herald, June 16, 1886)

July 8, 1886
The Territorial Supreme Court found in favor of the Eureka Hill company, as defendant. The Bullion Beck and Champion company, as plaintiff, was allowed to appeal the court's decision to the U. S. Supreme Court. The plaintiff was "enjoined" from working any of the mining claim in "controversy," part of Bullion Lot No. 76, in consequence to an injunction being ordered. (Deseret News, July 9, 1886, "yesterday")

(The Bullion Beck and Champion Mining company posted a $150,000 bond to the Eureka Hill Mining company at this time, stating the the bond would be turned over to the Eureka Hill company for damages suffered while the injunction was in place pending the appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. -- Salt Lake Herald, July 10, 1886)

($150,000 in 1886 was equal to about $4.8 million in 2025)

(Read the transcripts of the Supreme Court proceedings, June 1886; HathiTrust; PDF; 1,412 pages)

September 10, 1886
In the case of the Bullion Beck and Champion Mining company vs. the Eureka Hill Mining company, pending before the Supreme Court of the United States, "It is said that about $3,000 worth of ore per diem has been taken out of the disputed ground by the Eureka Hill people, and this injunction will necessitate the abandonment of the rich lode until the case is finally settled by an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States." (Salt Lake Evening Democrat, September 10, 1886)

July 4, 1888
From the Salt Lake Herald, July 4, 1888.

The celebrated mining case of Eureka Hill Mining Company vs. Bullion Beck Mining Company, with the details of which the readers of The Herald are already more or less familiar, involving millions of dollars' worth of some of the richest mining property in the world, has been completely settled by the parties.

The decision of the Territorial courts was averse to the Bullion Beck Company, and, pending an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, the entire property of the latter company was transferred to a San Francisco syndicate, composed of wealthy and prominent men, headed by Governor Perkins, as president. Hon. Alex. Badlam and Col. Isaac Trumbo, representing the Bullion-Beck Company, with their attorneys, have been negotiating with Judge R. Harkness, of the Eureka Company, for about two weeks past, and yesterday the settlement was finally made and papers passed. The parties refuse to divulge the particulars of the compromise, but it is learned that it is an agreement on vertical lines between the claims in dispute.

Both parties express themselves as well satisfied with the settlement, and the best of feeling prevails between them. The Herald congratulates the parties in interest, on making the settlement, as well as the Territory at large, as it permits the uninterrupted working of these great mining properties, and insures the continued payment of the present large dividends by both companies.

July 14, 1888
The following comes from Engineering and Mining Journal, Volume 46, July 14, 1888, page 31.

Eureka-Bullion-Beck Compromise. -- The important litigation long pending in the United States Supreme Court between Eureka Hill Mining Company and the Bullion Beck & Champion properties, has been compromised and settled on the basis of a division of the ground and ore-bodies.

The settlement is threefold in nature, involving first the Eureka Hill, second the Bullion Beck. The dividing line between these two companies was agreed upon. The Bullion people take all the lodes and ores on the west side of the line just described and the Eureka people all the lodes and ores on the east side of said line. The ores taken out and stored heretofore under order of the court are to be divided accordingly to the locality from whence they were taken; those from the west of the vertical plane to go to the Bullion and those on the east side to the Eureka.

There are numerous suits for damages, infringement and injunctions brought by each party now pending in the courts. All these will be dismissed, and each side will pay its costs. Mutual releases for causes for action are given.

The third feature of the compromise is the dividing line between the Germania Mining Company and the Bullion-Beck California Mining Company. The compromise dividing line in this case is, generally speaking, though not exactly, the easterly side line of the Beck mining claim only to the northerly end of the line of the Beck. All ores taken out heretofore are to be divided as in the first instance.

Our Salt Lake correspondent says the settlement of the above case has occasioned no little satisfaction to every body hereabouts. It can be seen that the terms of settlement are not only honorable but must also be satisfactory to the litigants. We may now look for two good mining properties to be worked for all they are worth. Millions in value of the precious metal have been taken out of both mines, and it is well understood that millions still exist in them awaiting only the powder blast and the miner's pick.

(Throughout these series of suits, counter-suits and injunctions, the Bullion Beck and Champion Mining company, and the Eureka Hill Mining company both continued to ship their usual amounts of ore from other parts of their respective mines. The shipments from both companies averaged about 150 to 200 tons per week, or about five to seven carloads per week. Sometimes more; sometimes less.)

(The court cases still before the First District Court in Provo were dismissed on September 22, 1888. -- Salt Lake Herald, September 23, 1888)

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