The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-06-24
NIercuri

Mercur!
Where is it?
What does it amount to now?
What are its prospects for the future?
These are. the questions which it is
the purpose of this article to answer.
If a resident of Salt Lake will cast
his eyes towards the serrated horizon
at the southwest angle Of the valley,
he will see the mountain SUBMITS
which lie Immediately northeast of
Mercur.
4 The ride from the capital to Mercur
Consumes four hours. The Union Pa
cific conveys the pilgrim first thirty
miles southerly to Lehi Junction, and,
then after a change of cars, westward
TO Fairfield siding, a distance Of twenty
miles. From this station the Village of
Fairfield is not more than two miles
distant. 1t is an oasis OF trees and
green fields in the midst of the other
wise unrelieved desert of Cedar valley,
and occupies the identical site of the
historic Camp Floyd. At the siding are
generally found two or three four
horse conveyances, enc of which car
ries the mail, and either Of which for
one dollar will convey the pilgrim
northward over the seven miles of
mountainous country which must be
traversed before the new camp is
reached. The road rises to an eleva-
ton above the railroad grade of 200
feet al the Mercur mill in distance Of
four miles, and thence rising very
abruptly crosses a summit 1900 feet
above the initial point from which it
drops with equal suddenness 100 or 500
feet into the town. The latter lies at
the confluence Of two gulches which
join to form a canyon, walled by a
towering mountain ridge on the north
and by high hills on the south, and
which, pursuing devious course to
the westward, debouches into the sage
brush plains of Rush valley. The
camp is probably not more than thirty
five miles from Salt Lake city in an
airline. 1t lies a few miles south Of
Ophir canyon and about thirty miles
north of Tintic.
An inventory of the camp would be
with approximate accuracy as follows:
One hundred frame buildings of vari-
Gus sizes. from the Marion mill and
Billy" Ryan's three-S tory hotel down
TO { > humble shanty Il the China
man; to these may be added a few
tents, the abodes of the newer arrival
and of the struggling prospector. Of
these buildings, two are hotels, Ryan's
and PrCSser's, both comfortable two
dollar houses; four are saloons, three
are general stores, one is a meat mar
ket, two are livery stables, one a news
paper office, one Is d cigar store, three
are occupied by sporting ladies'" and
a number of others by miscellaneous
enterprises, comprising lunch stands,
Chop houses, boarding houses and ba-
n Tor ,la dor. l,a
of the population, which at night time,
when the itinerant prospector reluc-
family abandons his tiny shaft or tun-
mel and seeks food and repose, num-
bers not to exceed 300 souls. This pop
ulation is made up chiefly of miners
and prospectors, with a few dozen
women and a proper complement Of
children.
It is a town without "a theatre or a
dance hall; there are, however. four or
five women Of the town, Who be is said
to the credit of the prevailing morals,
are housed either in unpTetentious
shanties or, as in one case, in a small
tent with an adjoining covered wagon,
and one of whom, at least, finds it
necessary to take in washing to exc
out an otherwise precarious existence
There is not a church in the place.
Hnd apparently the absence is not felt.
The Sunday liquor law has not been
ATTENDED up to this distant corner of
1Tooele county, and faro and the seduc-
tive "stud-horse'' poker are played
openly in the principal buildings Of the
place.
It is said that a wandering dentist
recently reached town and for the bene-
fit of the health of his wife, who ac-
companied him, decided to spend a
week or ten days; but the night of
their arrival was the occasion of a
grand ball. and notwithstanding the
fact that Billy Ryan slowed the new
arrivals way back from the madding
crowd on the mountain side of his inn,
their rest was so much disturbed by
the terrorizing manner in which the
jovial sons Of the stope celebrated the
event that they took the first stage for
other and more pastoral scenes never
to return. Our former townsman Mr.
Shoebridge, who sells confectionery.
dry goods, boots and shoes, groceries
and drugs, and who also of1iciates as
best his age and sex will permit as the
hello girl for the new telephone line. is
the chief representative of law and
order in the place, being the justice of
the peace Of the precinct
Twenty years ago there were from
1900 to 1880 people on what is now
the Mercur site. The place was then
called Lewiston, but nothing now re-
mains TO tell the story of its former
population except a log cabin and a
frame building at the junction of the
two ravines in the town, and the caved-
in workings of the once famous and
productive Sparrow Hawk and Carrie
Steel mines. What strange trans
formation, a camp which was then
celebrated for its production Of silver.
is now not producing an ounce of the
white metal but more than half mil
lion dollars. per year of the yellowl
What Of the present stage of devel-
opment Of the mining industry at Mer-
cur2
There are only two working mines in
the vicinity. the Mercur lying south Of
the camp. seen at the top of the hill
on the left Of our cut, and the Marion
lying at about an equal elevation in
the hills at the right The Mercur is
within stones throw of the camp and
the Marion only a few hundred yards
AWAY. There are only two mills in the
vicinity and these are owned by the
two mines mentioned. They are not
custom mills, but confine their opera
tons to their own output For this