Tintic, To Do
Index For This Page
This page was last updated on March 16, 2026.
Tintic Project Ends
What began in July 2025 as a simple inquiry into the Grand Central mine's aerial tramway quickly spiraled into a six-month deep dive into the entire Tintic Mining District. This project represents the first major update to my Tintic research since 2005, expanding from railroad operations into the complex, often chaotic history of the mines and mills they served.
There were a few minor updates as the mines continued to be consolidated throughout the period from 2005 to 2015, but these were only minor updates, with very little research other than press releases. This all stems from an overall project on UtahRails to document the railroad-served aerial tramways for the transportation of ore from Utah mines. A side project has been to document Utah's railroad-served ore transportation and drainage tunnels longer than 2,000 feet.
The Tintic district was where Union Pacific ran its Shay steam locomotives until the late 1940s. The narrow-gauge Eureka Hill Railway also operated a fleet of Shay locomotives in the district. A fascinating place for railroad operations.
The real Tintic project started in September 2025. It became a massive research project to tell the story of the mines, large and small, of the Tintic Mining Distinct in central Utah. My focus was on the predecessor companies that formed the large mineral tracts of the survivors, namely Chief Consolidated and North Lily. These companies outlasted the district's late-1940s collapse by subsisting on royalties from leasers and exploration firms. These royalties were paid by exploration companies looking for ways to mine the ore reserves that geological reports say were, and are still there.
The number of newly created web pages continued to grow, and soon needed an index page. In September 2025 I added the Tintic index page to UtahRails. The Tintic index page includes links to the new series of pages about the mines and mills of the Tintic Mining District, many of which were served by railroads. The mines and mills include the Mammoth, the Sioux-Ajax, the Centennial-Eureka, the Grand Central. Work continued to include the Bullion-Beck and the Eureka Hill mines and mills.
The project continued to grow and grow and grow, becoming almost unmanageable. The major source has been online newspapers offered by Newspapers.com, with its excellent search engine and clipping function. The clippings were first transcribed either by hand, or by using various OCR programs, usually ABBYY. Then in January 2026 I discovered that Google's Gemini AI service does a more than excellent job at OCR and deciphering some of the unreadable text.
On the longer newspaper articles, in addition to transcribing the text, Gemini does a good job at summarizing the major points. In every case, its summary helped me see the major points and I re-wrote what the AI generated, creating my own summary, in my own style. I like the concept of a summary, and have asked the AI to provide similar summaries of a few longer articles on UtahRails where I had gone into lengthy discussions of subjects that I now realize will likely never be read or used by anyone.
But now, after taking up six months of my time, and with the Tintic project still unfinished, it's time to bring the project to a close. There is too much to do on the other parts of UtahRails, and spending more time focused solely on Tintic is not a good use of my time.
There is no need to further document the dumb-ass luck of a few prospectors from the early years: the McChrystals, the Bestelmeyers, the Knights, the McIntyres, the Snyders, the Fitches, and the Raddatz family. With the first successful mines, these families began exchanging mining claims like baseball trading cards, consolidating what became massive blocks of mineral lands.
There is no need to further document the ongoing optimism of small-money investors, and the big-money bankers and promoters who take advantage of them. I have seen how the small-money common stockholders seldom benefit, whereas the big-money, preferred stockholders and majority owners always benefited the most. In addition to the bankers, the lawyers are always there to file law suits about conflicting mining claim boundaries, and law suits brought by stockholders fighting with management and among themselves over who owned what and when.
There is no need to further document how the mineral rights holders, since the early 2000s, continue to promote the mineral reserves, spending large amounts of other people's money, hoping that the forever explorations will somehow discover a profitable way to extract minerals that haven't been profitable since the late 1970s. At Tintic, the valuable ore reserves will always be there, preserved in the hot caustic water below the water level. The water has killed every mine, and every mining company.
Tintic Project To Do
Follow is a list of Tintic subjects needing additional research, with research notes.
Bullion Beck -- Essentially complete March 12, 2026, but needs more work.
Beck Tunnel -- Essentially complete, December 20, 2025
Colorado Mining Company -- became Colorado Consolidated Mining company in 1916 by combining with the adjoining Beck Tunnel company. (incomplete as of March 15, 2026)
Carisa (to Empire Mines 1917) (incomplete as of December 24, 2025) More research is needed to determine the extent of crossover between the Northern Spy and the Carisa mines.
David Evans -- active in the Tintic district from 1898 to 1905, then after selling out and moving to Los Angles, until his death in 1923.
-- David Evans and Grand Central
-- David Evans and May Day
-- (Dragon Consolidated mining, 1911-1999, at Newspapers.com)
-- (Eagle & Blue Bell, 1917-1935, reverse sort at Newspapers.com)
-- (Eagle & Blue Bell, 1940-1999, reverse sort at Newspapers.com)
Empire Mines Company, 1917 -- The consolidation in 1917 of eight Knight-controlled properties including the Carisa and Lower Mammoth. Became part of the North Lily group in 1929.
Eureka Hill -- One of the earliest mines in the Tintic district, dating back to 1870. Became part of the Chief Consolidated group in 1922.
-- (Gold Chain Mining, 1910-1940 at Newspapers.com)
-- (Grand Central mine in 1900 at Newspapers.com)
Iron Blossom -- Much work is needed concerning this mine, which became one of the most important Knight properties, but was not part of the later North Lily and North Lily Knight consolidations.
Iron King Mine -- A project dating back to 1907 by C. E. Loose and associates in the vicinity of the Beck Tunnel and Colorado property. Became part of the Eureka Lily group in 1938, then the Tintic Standard group in 1936.
L. E. Riter, Sr./Jr. -- Levi E. Riter, Sr., and his son were active in the Tintic district as part of the Tintic Iron company in 1888, and through to the Dragon iron mine as late as 1916.
-- (L. E. Riter at Newspapers.com)
May Day Mine -- active in the East Tintic area after 1896
-- (May Day, 1911-1999 at Newspapers.com)
-- (May Day Mine, 1903-1999 at Newspapers.com)
New East Tintic -- (More research is needed to fill in the period for the New East Tintic railroad, from 1896 to 1900, and the phrase "New East Tintic" as applied to the mines in the East Tintic district.
-- (New East Tintic at Newspapers.com)
North Lily (Utah DOGM) -- research the documents on file at the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining, for the North Lily group after 1981
Northern Spy -- More research is needed to determine the extent of crossover between the Northern Spy and the Carisa mines.
Sioux and C. E. Loose -- From 1891, C. E. Loose held an interest in the Sioux Consolidated mine since the earliest development of the mine, "from the grass roots down," until he sold his interest to Jesse Knight in March 1919.
Sioux Mill -- 1895-1903; also known as the Farrell mill; located immediately east of the Mammoth mill
Tesora -- More research is needed to find when the Bingham Consolidated Mining company buoght its controlling interest in the Tesora mine in Tintic. Binghgam Consolidated became Bingham Mines company, which was purchased by USSR&M in 1929. Research suggests that the Tesora was inactive after the 1902 period.
Thomas Weir, 1898 -- (more research is needed to fill in the period after Weir became president of the Ajax mine.)
-- (Thomas Weir, 1897 at Newspapers.com)
Tintic Milling company
"Tintic Standard", February 24, 1980 (newest)
Victoria Mining company
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