Tintic, Sioux Mine and Mill

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This page was last updated on September 5, 2025.

Overview

The following comes from "A Hand Book on the Mines, Miners, and Minerals of Utah," by Harry W. B. Kantner, published in 1896

The Utah And Sioux Groups.

The Sioux and the Utah were located about 1880. They fell into the hands of Hon. T. R.Culter, Mr. S. S. Jones, and that indefatigable miner, Ed. Loose, and others. In prosecuting the work, Messrs. Jones and Cutler bought out many of the other owners, among them Mr. Knight, owner of the new find, the Humbug. In 1893 Mr. Geo. H. Robinson, the mining expert, and Mr. Franklin Farrell, of Ansonia, Conn., bought into the Sioux, securing a control for a fixed sum, conditionally on the erection of a mill, a condition complied with. Later they also obtained control of the Utah.

The Sioux group is capitalized for 100,000 shares, $10 each. F. Farrell, S. S. Jones, T. R. Cutler, Geo. H. Robinson, and F. H. Peyton are directors. Mr. Farrell, president; Mr. Jones vice-president; and Mr. Peyton, secretary and treasurer.

The Utah is capitalized for 250,000 shares of a par value of $1 each. S. S. Jones is president; T. R. Cutler vice-president. These gentlemen, with Geo. H. Robinson, L. Holbrook, and F. H. Peyton constitute the directorate. John R. Twelves of Provo is secretary and treasurer.

The Utah and Sioux mines, owned by distinct companies, but practically the property of the same persons, may be classed among the close corporations, because the stockholders are so few that little of public interest attaches to them. However, Mr. G. H. Robinson, the noted mining engineer, and Mr. Franklin Farrell are the chief owners.

The Farrell mill works the ores from this group of mines, while a tunnel to go into the mountain 4,000 feet and already in a distance of over 1,000 feet since last May, is under direction of Mr. Robinson and is supposed to be connected with the mining companies named. The Sioux and Utah are on the east side of the mountain from the Mammoth and Ajax, and the tunnel is on the west side of the range, so that the ores from the mills, once the tunnel is completed, will all come to the west side on which are the mills and the railroads.

Sioux Mine

The Sioux mine was across the Sioux Peak ridge from the Mammoth mine. On the Mammoth side of Sioux Peak was the Ajax mine, near to the Mammoth mine.

In May 1892, the Sioux Consolidated Mining company was making plans to erect a cyanide reduction plant on the Provo Bench. The company had negotiated for a favorable rate with the Rio Grande Western railroad form the company mine at Eureka. (Provo Daily Enquirer, May 17, 1892)

(This planned cyanide reduction mill was not built.)

December 27, 1894
Franklin Farrell was shown in late December 1894 as, "Franklin Farrell, the multi-millionaire of Ansonia, Connecticut," when he and George H. Robinson paid $75,000 for 80,000 of the 100,000 total shares of the Sioux Consolidated Mining ans Milling company group of mines. The purchase gave Farrell's group 80 percent ownership of the company. Franklin Farrell was the new president, and George H. Robinson the new general manager. The Utah group of mines, supposed a "twin" of the Sioux property, was originally to be part of the deal, but several minority shareholders held out for a better percentage and purchase of the Utah group was dropped. The sale contract stipulated that within six months, the new owners would put up a 20-stamp mill. (Salt Lake Herald, December 27, 1894, "today")

(Farrell was also the president of the successful Parrot Mining and Smelting company, located in Butte, Montana. He also had extensive plantation interests in Cuba and in the Southern states. -- Salt Lake Herald, December 28, 1894)

(George H. Robinson resigned as superintendent of the Mammoth mine and mill company on May 11, 1895. He had been in his position with the Mammoth company when it built its own mill, which opened on January 1, 1894.)

September 18, 1895
C. E. "Ed" Loose resigned as director and general manager of the Utah Mining and Milling company, and was replaced in those positions by George H. Robinson. (Provo Daily Enquirer, September 18, 1895)

September 27, 1895
Farrell purchased control of both the Sioux Consolidated Mining and Milling company, and the Utah Mining and Milling company, and would soon be consolidating the two properties. The two properties were adjacent to each other with the Utah company being about one-half mile north of the Sioux company, both being on the east slope of Sioux Peak. A road was completed between the two properties in late October 1895. (Salt Lake Herald, September 27, 1895; October 19, 1895)

Utah Consolidated Mining and Milling Co.

August 9, 1892
The Utah Consolidated Mining and Milling company was incorporated, with offices in Provo. The directors and officers were the same as the later Utah Mining and Milling company that was controlled by Farrell and Robinson in September 1895. (Salt Lake Herald, August 10, 1892, "yesterday")

(Newspaper references in early 1895 giving legal notice of an annual meeting of the company used the Utah Consolidated Mining and Milling name.)

(There were no further references to the Utah Mining and Milling company in available online newspapers. The name was reused in April 1896 by a new corporation with gold mines in Kingman, Mojave County, Arizona.)

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Sioux (Farrell) Mill

The Sioux mill at Mammoth (or Robinson) was first announced in mid-February 1895, and was to be built on property already owned by the Sioux Consolidated Mining and Milling company. The mill itself was built 200 yards east of the existing Mammoth mill at Robinson. The spur (or "switch") was built east from the New East Tintic line. In later years, the Sioux mill was known as the Farrell mill, named for Franklin Farrell, the largest investor, who lived in Ansonia, Connecticut, and visited Utah to oversee the construction of the mill. Farrell had purchased the rights to the milling process that was to be used. (Salt Lake Herald, February 19, 1895)

The Sioux mill had 20 stamps and a daily capacity of 60 tons, compared to the Mammoth mill, which had 60 stamps and a daily capacity of 180 tons. (Salt Lake Herald, May 9, 1895)

Construction of the Sioux mill began in late June 1895. Frazer & Chalmers had the contract for the mill machinery, and the building to house it, with a completion set for 90 days. Trent & Company had the contract for the boilers and other power equipment. The retaining walls and building frame was completed by late August, but there were delays in the delivery of the machinery. Carloads of machinery began arriving in late September, with the final delivery coming in mid-October. By the first of December, ore was being stockpiled in the ore bins, and the crusher had been running for "over a week" passing crushed ore to its own ore bin. By the third week of December, the Sioux mill was in production and was shipping three carloads of concentrates per week to the smelter. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 29, 1895; Salt Lake Herald, July 14, 1895; August 24, 1895)

(The new Sioux mill reached an agreement with the nearby Mammoth mill to use that mill's water supply, from the Cherry Creek Aqueduct completed in December 1894.)

August-September 1895
By late August 1895, the Sioux mill building was essentially complete, and the company was waiting for the delivery of the mill machinery. By late September, the mill building was being painted and made ready for the installation of the mill machinery, which was not yet delivered. Throughout October, the machinery was delivered in several separate shipments in a large number of car loads. (Salt Lake Herald, August 24, 1895; September 27, 1895; October 11, 1895; October 23, 1895)

"L. C. Trent visited Mammoth during the week. He reports the new Sioux mill doing splendid service and handling about eighty tons per day. This plant was designed by L. C. Trent & Co., who also furnished a portion of the machinery." (Inter-Mountain Mining Review, January 28, 1896)

By mid 1899, ore from the Mammoth mine was being milled at the Sioux mill, with the Mammoth mill being idle due to needed repairs. After a recent breakdown of its concentrating tables, the Mammoth company had shut down the Mammoth mill, and laid off its master mechanic, who promptly took a similar position with the Sioux mill, which was being run as a custom mill by leasers.

The Sioux mill shipped its last carload of concentrates in mid January 1900. It sat idle until November 1901 when it was sold by Franklin Farrell to a group headed by Robert Grant, the former general manager of the Sioux mine, with plans to restart it as a custom mill. But the plans never took shape and the mill remained inactive. The sale price was reported as $30,000, for the purchase of the mill in which the machinery alone was worth $80,000.

By May 1903, the Sioux-Ajax mill was no longer in operation and its machinery was to be sold. In July 1903, the building and machinery were sold to a salvage dealer. By early September, all of the timber framework had been removed. The last of the timbers were moved to Santaquin in mid November.

Sioux-Ajax Tunnel

April 4, 1896
A new enterprise known as the Sioux-Ajax Tunnel was started with the goal of driving a tunnel 4,000 feet, extending the existing Ajax tunnel's current 600 feet, under Sioux Peak, to the Sioux property on the east side. The mouth of the Ajax tunnel was at the head of Mammoth Hollow, about 1000 feet south of the Mammoth mine. The new tunnel would allow the ore from many mines to be transported to the surface, and be further transported by the recently announced New East Tintic railway to either the Mammoth or Sioux mills, or to its interchange with Union Pacific and Rio Grande railroads. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 4, 1896)

(There were reports as early as June 1895, before the Sioux mill was built, that the Sioux company would approach the Mammoth company to connect the two properties underground, which would reduce transportation costs for the Sioux company by giving it access to the planned Mammoth railroad. The Mammoth company's tunnel was 1,200 feet "under cover" and would require extending 3,000 feet to reach Sioux ground. -- Salt Lake Herald, June 12, 1895)

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