Tintic, May Day Mine

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This page was last updated on November 26, 2025.

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(The focus of this page is the surface workings of the May Day 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.)

May Day Mining and Milling Company

(No references for when the May Day Mining and Milling company was organized or incorporated.)

February 16, 1895
Judge King of the First District Court in Provo awarded James H. Larsen, et al., two-thirds undivided interest in the May Day mining claim in the Tintic mining district. The case was James H. Larsen et al. vs. R. W. Stevens. (Deseret News, February 16, 1895)

May 23, 1896
"The May Day Mining and Milling company, whose property adjoins the Godiva in Tintic, will begin systematic search for the Godiva vein at once, ample means for the sinking of the shaft having been provided in the sale of 12,000 shares of the company's treasury stock yesterday. Manager John A. Hunt expresses the belief that the vein will be encountered at a depth of 200 feet, and that the May Day will be among those to be added to the list the present season." (Salt Lake Tribune, May 23, 1896)

(Other newspaper stories mentioned that the new activity was the inital activity for the company.)

April 10, 1897
Officers of the May Day Mining and Milling company were: John A. Hunt, president; Judge D. H. Wenger, vice president; Henry Peery, treasurer; F. W. Mulenbruch, secretary; K. S. Hamilton, director. "The May Day Mining company has been working two shifts and situated as it is, between the Humbug and the Godiva, it is regarded as an excellent proposition. The lower tunnel, which is being driven on the property, is in now within six feet of the ore body, according to actual measurement, and it is conceded that the work now in hand will disclose pay ore." (Salt Lake Herald, April 10, 1897)

April 8, 1898
"The May Day Mining company has decided to renew their search for ore bodies that they are convinced are to be found in the ground, and to that end will in the next few days let a contract for the driving of the tunnel 800 feet further into the hill. The property of the company adjoins the Humbug and Uncle Sam at Tintic, and has already been opened up by a tunnel for a distance of 125 feet." (Salt Lake Tribune, April 8, 1898)

April 9, 1899
The May Day Mining company will build ore chutes, ore bins, and a road between the mine and the railroad. Nine men were at work getting out a shipment of three cars of ore, but it will be a week before the road is cleared of snoe and hauling can commence. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 9, 1899; Salt Lake Herald, April 9, 1899)

October 25, 1899
The May Day Mining company has ordered a hoisting plant that will enable the company to put the shaft down to 600 feet, and an air compressor to furnish air for seven drills. Plus a pump for when they hit the water level. All to be powrede by two 40-horsepower boilers. The new hoisting plant was put into operation on December 8, 1899. Before the hoist was installed, the company used a hand windlass. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 25, 1899; Deseret News, December 18, 1899)

February 14, 1900
The Yankee Consolidated company had extracted ore from a vein that was found to be in the May Day company's ground. At a meeting to settle the encroachment, John Hunt of the May Day company proposed that the May Day company be allowed to use the Yankee Consolidated company's tunnel for a period of two years, to extract the ore from the vein, stopping when the vein enters Yankee Consolidated ground. (Salt Lake Herald, February 14, 1900)

November 9, 1900
The Yankee Consolidated and the adjacent May Day mine settled their conflicting borders. The Yankee management acknowledged that they had trespassed and extracted ore from May Day ground, and paid $3,000 for the ore it took. The May Day company took the payment and benefited by the Yankee company having found a continuation of the rich ore vein that the May Day had already been working, hundreds of feet from where the May Day company was actively extracting and shipping. (Salt Lake Herald, November 9, 1900)

April 15, 1901
"During the fiscal year the company shipped 3,219 tons of ore carrying-average values of $30.75 per ton. It is expected that the new mill being erected for the treatment of May Day low grade ores will be in commission by the 10th of May next." (Salt Lake Mining Review, April 15, 1910)

December 20, 1902
From the Deseret News, December 20, 1902.

At the May Day mine has been erected the first dry concentrating plant to he put up in the district or in fact the state, but whether the new process will be a success remains to be proven. The mill was completed early in the year 1902, and a few hundred tons of low grade ore from the May Day mine treated by the new process. The ore was reduced to concentrates in a very satisfactory manner but some of the machinery was not strong enough to stand the strain upon it and oonsequently had to be taken out and replaced. Other repairs have been going on at intervals during the year.

The new mill is the property of the Crown Mining and Milling company of San Francisco and is a new invention. Should dry concentrating prove a success it will revolutionize the mining industry in sections like Tintic where water is a scarce article.

A number of important strikes have been recorded at the May Day mine this year and besides the ore which has been treated at the May Day mill and May Day jiggs 44 carloads have been sent to the smelter, with the new mill in operation to handle the immense deposits of low grade ore the shareholders of the May Day Mining company should soon be able to draw down some bread money in the form of regular dividends.

April 25, 1908
"May Day Mining Company -- The annual meeting resulted in the election of all but two of the retiring directors. John Dern, of Salt Lake, has been made president. Last year, 153 carloads of crude ore and 15 cars of concentrate were marketed; the former bringing an average of about $1000, and the latter $1500 a carload. Six dividends were paid, totaling $64,000, and on April 1, the company had a cash balance on hand oi $9084. The May Day mine is in Tintic." (Engineering and Mining Journal, April 25, 1908, page 880)

1919
From "Geology And Ore Deposits Of The Tintic Mining District, Utah," USGS Professional Paper 107, 1919.

The May Day and Uncle Sam claims are now operated by the May Day Mining & Milling Co. They are on the northeastern slope of Godiva Mountain a few hundred feet east of the Godiva mine. In 1911 the property was worked both by the companies and by lessees, twelve sets of lessees being busy between the tunnel levels and the 1,000-foot level.

The mine is opened from the north by the upper and lower Uncle Sam tunnels, at altitudes respectively of 7,115 and 6,931 feet. The Uncle Sam shaft is sunk from the upper tunnel level through the lower tunnel to a depth of 800 feet; below the bottom of this shaft the ground is opened by a winze 300 feet deep.

The May Day tunnel has its portal at an altitude of 7,142 feet, 800 feet east-southeast of the Uncle Sam shaft, and 780 feet from this portal the May Day shaft is sunk from the tunnel level to a depth of 500 feet. The workings have·a total length of many thousand feet.

The May Day claim has been worked from the May Day shaft (altitude of collar 7,655 feet), which is 500 feet deep, but it is now opened from the Uncle Sam shaft.

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