Tintic, Eureka Lily Mining Co., Before
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This page was last updated on November 2, 2025.
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Eureka Lily Mining Predecessors
(The focus of this page is the surface workings of the predecessors of the Eureka Lily 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.)
August 28, 1908
"The six claims and all other interests of the Lily Milling company passed into the possession of a new organization to be known as the Eureka Lily Mining company. The new company also owns an option on the Provo Mining company interests at Tintic, consisting of three additional claims, giving a group of nine claims, all located on what is known on Mineral hill, in the Tintic camp." (Salt Lake Tribune, August 28, 1908)
The Eureka Lily Mining company was incorporated on August 28, 1908, as a consolidation of the Lily Mining company and the Provo Mining company. (This was control of the stock, not full ownership of the company; minority shareholders would later cause troubles.)
Lily Mining Company (1897-1908)
(The story after 1908 continues with the Eureka Lily Mining company)
(The Lily of the West mine dated back to 1880 and was listed as one of the active mines in the Tintic district. The Lily of the West mining claim formed the south end of the Lily Mining company ground, and later the Eureka Lily company's holdings.)
March 10, 1897
The Lily Mining company filed its articles of incorporation withe Secretary of State. Incorporators were Thomas Barrett, P. P. Hindmarsh, W. M. McKendrick, Edwin M. Peck, Imla Collins, J. W. Clark, Samuel Barrett, C. H. Barrett and Mary E. McEwen. Officers were: Thomas Barrett, president; P. P. Hindmarsh, vice president; W. M. McKendrick, secretary and treasurer. "It is the intention of the company to operate in the Tintic district, the Lily of the West, the Aurora and the Sampson mining claims, being some of the properties owned." (Salt Lake Herald, March 10, 1897)
May 25, 1897
The Lily Mining company's shaft was located one mile east of the Humbug mine. The shaft was down to the 100-foot level, where gold-bearing rock was discovered. (Provo Daily Enquirer, May 25, 1897)
June 15, 1899
The shaft of the Lily of the West mine was down to 200 feet, and the company had found a large body of lead ore. A drift was started and within ten feet, the ore body was struck. Plans were being made to start 100 feet of stoping, bringing the mine into production. The company had shipped four cars of ore, which was 78 percent lead and silver, and had made arrangements with Taylor & Brunton to ship a car every other day. The mine was being operated by leasers. (Salt Lake Herald, June 15, 1899)
July 21, 1900
The Lily Mining company was again back in production, after a period of shut down due to law suits; one with a local bank, and another as a boundary dispute with the adjacent Big Hill company. The mine was now under a one-year lease. (Deseret News, July 21, 1900)
(There was another "Lily of the West" mining claim in the 1901-1902 period, located in Park City.)
August 2, 1907
"Barret and Leetham now have four men at work at the Lily mine. A drift is being run from the 200 level. The object in running this drift is to get beneath the old stope from which some rich galena ore was taken some time ago" (Eureka Reporter, August 2, 1907)
(Research suggests that all during this time, until 1908, the only activity was development work, i.e., sinking the shaft and driving drifts in search of the ore body everyone knew was there.)
(The story after 1908 continues with the Eureka Lily Mining company)
East Tintic Development Company (1907-1916)
(The story after 1916 continues with the Eureka Lily Mining company)
March 22, 1907
The East Tintic Development company filed its articles of incorporation with the clerk of Utah County. The mining claims of the company included the Caroline, the Highland Mary, the Sarah, and an option on the Ralph claim. The officers were: M. M. Kellogg, president; Wilford F. Giles, vice president; Alfred L. Booth, secretary-treasurer; these three plus Harvey Cluff, W. D. Bonham, and Richard H. Beasley made up the board of directors. Ralph M. Kellogg, of Searchlight, Nevada, had sold the above mining claims to the company in exchange for a 1/100th interest, plus $1,000. (Eureka Reporter, March 22, 1907)
(Ralph Kellogg had sued the Lily company in June 1900 for trespass and encroachment for the Lily company removing ore from a 1/3-acre segment of the Ralph claim that adjoined the Lily of the West claim. The Ralph claim lay directly west of the Lily of the West claim, and directly south of the Caroline, Highland Mary, and Sarah claims. The suits and counter suits were finally decided in June 1906, in favor of the Lily Mining company, saying that no ore had been extracted from the Ralph claim.)
June 8, 1907
A. L. Booth and Wilford F. Giles, of the East Tintic Development company, proposed a lease from the Lily company to allow them to enter the East Tintic company's Ralph shaft and extract ore from Lily company ground, which was adjacent to the East Tintic Development ground. The ore vein extended from the Ralph mining claim of the East Tintic company into the Lily company's ground. (Salt Lake Herald, June 8, 1907)
(Research suggests that all during this time, until 1908, the only activity was development work, i.e., sinking the shaft and driving drifts in search of the ore body everyone knew was there.)
October 24, 1914
The East Tintic Development company, along with the Eureka Lily Mining company, and the Provo Mining company, "and other properties," were all controlled by the A&S Exploration company, with Samuel S. Arentz as president. (Deseret News, October 24, 1914)
(H. G. Snyder was reported as the person who made the consolidation happen, through his control of the Eureka Lily, East Tintic Development and Provo companies.)
(Horace Greeley Snyder; 1873-1952)
(This period in October 1914 is the only reference to the A&S Exploration company.)
December 21, 1915
C. M. Richards and G. P. Huntley, of Clyde, Ohio, won their foreclosure law suit against the East Tintic Development company, with the mining company owing Richards and Huntley $3,873.83, the remainder of a $5,000 mortgage from several years before. (Deseret News, December 22, 1915; Eureka Reporter, December 24, 1915)
February 1, 1916
The property of the East Tintic Development company had been purchased at a Sheriff's sale on February1, 1916 by Huntley & Richards, and they were very willing to sell to another company. (Salt Lake Telegram, February 2, 1916; Salt Lake Herald, March 26, 1916)
April 11, 1916
The property of the East Tintic Development company was deeded to the Eureka Lily company. (Salt Lake Herald, June 29, 1916)
June 3, 1916
A law suit was filed by minority stockholders against the officers of the East Tintic Development company, calling for any decision they made since April 5, 1915 to be null and void, and to have a receiver appointed. (Salt Lake Telegram, June 4, 1916)
(The suit was decided by the Fourth District Court in Provo on February 22, 1917, in favor of the mining company. Recall that the mining company had no property or assets.)
June 5, 1916
The East Tintic Development company closed up its affairs, by vote of the board of directors. (Salt Lake Telegram, May 23, 1916)
August 4, 1916
The Eureka Lily company made the final payment of $3,600 for the "East Tintic Development ground" located about 2,000 feet west of the Tintic Standard workings. This gave the Eureka Lily company possession and rights not only to the ground (the mining claims), but to the machinery that consisted of the 500-foot deep shaft and its hoisting plant. The ore vein at the 500-foot level was reported as being 120 feet wide and 30 feet thick. (Deseret News, August 4, 1916)
(The story after 1916 continues with the Eureka Lily Mining company)
Provo Mining Company (1887-1908)
(The story after 1908 continues with the Eureka Lily Mining company)
December 23, 1887
The Provo Mining company filed its articles of incorporation with the Probate Court of Utah. The incorporators were John Leetham (holding 93,000 of the original 100,000 shares); James Dunn; J. C. Graham; E. L. Jones; S. S. Jones; all of Provo, and Hugh Anderson of Salt Lake City. The company owned the Ann, Highland Mary, Sarah and Carolina mining claims in the Tintic mining district. (Salt Lake Herald, December 24, 1887, "yesterday")
(There was no apparent activity reported for the Provo company property from 1887 to 1899. No reports of any development or ore strikes. The property was known as the "Old Leetham Mine.")
November 17, 1899
The Provo Mining company sued James M. Robbins and others to obtain clear title to the Caroline mine, along with the Highland Mary, Sarah and Ann mining claims in the Tintic district. (Salt Lake Herald, November 17, 1899)
(Suits and counter suits progressed through the courts until March 1902. The court awarded 99/100ths ownership of the property in question to the Provo Mining company, and 1/100th to the Joslyn heirs, heirs of one of the original suing parties, now deceased. These heirs then deeded their share to the mining company.)
May 17, 1901
"Provo, Utah Co., May 18. - The Provo Mining company made a contract, yesterday, with John Leetham to drive 100 feet on the tunnel in the company's mine on Mineral hill, Tintic." (Deseret News, May 18, 1901)
January 12, 1903
John T. Leetham, 52 years old, passed away at his home in Eureka on January 12, 1903 from kidney disease. He was one of the old timers of the Tintic district, having worked in most of the mines in the district during the past 15 years. At the time of his death, he owned some mining property in the vicinity of the Lily mine. (Salt Lake Telegram, January 13, 1903; Deseret News, January 14, 1903) (John Leetham had done "a great deal of work" on the Provo Mining company property without uncovering any ore.) (FamilySearch: KWV5-6WF)
May 8, 1903
"The Ralph owned by M. M. Kellogg of Provo and the ground of the Provo Mining company in the same vicinity, will also come into their share of work this year." (Eureka Reporter, May 8, 1903)
October 30, 1904
"Claims in Conflict. -- Ralph M. Kellogg of California, has filed suit in the United States Circuit court against the Provo Mining company, the Lily Mining company, James C. Leathem, Henry C. Leathem, William T. Leathem and Kitty A. Hines to prevent them from taking ore from the Caroline and the Highland Mary, alleging that in mining these two claims in the way in which they are operating now, the companies are taking ore from property belonging to the Ralph lode claim, of which Kellogg is the owner." (Salt Lake Tribune, October 30, 1904)
(James, Henry, William and Kitty Hines were siblings of John T. Leetham, and had taken over the Provo Mining company on his death.) (The Caroline and Highland Mary claims were on Provo Mining company property.)
(The boundary lines of the three companies, Lily Mining, Provo Mining and East Tintic Development, which owned the Ralph claim, were immediately adjacent and the working areas were all within 50 feet of each other.)
(In August 1905, the Lily and Provo companies both filed counter suits against Ralph Kellogg. In June 1906, the court found in favor of Ralph Kellogg in his case against the Provo company, but in favor of the Lily company in that separate case.)
August 28, 1908
The Eureka Lily Mining company was incorporated on August 28, 1908, as a consolidation of the Lily Mining company and the Provo Mining company. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 28, 1908)
(This was control of the stock, not full ownership of the company; minority shareholders would later cause troubles.)
(Research suggests that all during this time, until 1908, the only activity on the Provo mining claim was development work, i.e., sinking the shaft and driving drifts in search of the ore body everyone knew was there.)
(There were numerous reports in the July and August 1914 period that the three mining companies, East Tintic Development, Eureka Lily and Provo, had been "merged" or "consolidated" under a single management of Samuel S. Arentz.)
(The story after 1908 continues with the Eureka Lily Mining company)
(A mining claims map of the East Tintic area, in the March 9, 1918 issue of Mining & Scientific Press, shows the Provo company surrounded by Eureka Lily on the west and south, and Tintic Standard on the north and east.)
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