The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-12-28

Excepting for the mines of Camp
Floyd district that were earlier
worked for the values in the silver
vein which underlies the gold ore that
is now being worked with such signal
success. a history of the district
would mean a history of the Mercur
mine. When the Sparrowhawk, Mar
ion and Last Chance mines were turn
ing out great wealth in high gradei
silver ores. and what is now the Gey4
ser was attractive on account of the
presence of cinnabar, the Mercur
mine. the development of which has
created a new gold field, was I'M
known
The story as to how the Nebraska
farmers" as they We're often desig-
mated. came to Utah and purchased
the Mercur. has never been explained
fully. In 1888 Gill S. Peyton and H.
w. Brown had been attracted here
from Nebraska by the real estate
boom that just then was in it's pre-
liminary symptoms in Salt Lake.
Their curiosity led them to look into
the mineral possibilities of the noun
tains surrounding this valley, and in
their wanderings they visited the old
Lewiston district. Then they met
Moses Manning, who took them up
above the Hickman spring and showed
them a hole in the ground about thirty
feet deep. the sides and face of which
were in a silicious limestone that has
since proved to be mineralized, and
carrying gold values which. while not
high on the average, have become
very attractive on account of the
cheaDnesS with which they can be
extracted by means of the cyanide
process.
The hole in the ground that Moses
Manning had run was the origin of
the Mercur mine. Peyton and Brown
were both practically ignorant as to
mining, but each had made successes
in other pursuits. and they did not
know whether they had a good thing
or not in the property that was offered
to them at a nominal figure. They
took assays and found gold values
which were very attractive in view
of the then prevailing opinion that
the ore could be treated by the free
milling process, a belief that was later
diSSipated and came nearly resulting
in funeral services being held over
the hopes and capital of the Nebraska
men. Messrs. Dern. Heinrich and
Airs. of Fremont. Neb., were induced
to go into the enterprise and the re-
suit was that the Manning location
was purchased for a price that would
be cheap now, but in those days was
excessively high. considering the fact
that. although the purchasers did not
know it. there was no process known
by which the values could be extrac-
ted. Mr.. Airs. who has since become
secretary of the Mercur company,
came out here and took. a lot of
samples from the property, which
were carried to Omaha and there
tested by the assayer of the Omaha
and Grant Smelling works, with the
result that the gold values were still
apparent. Moreover. the assayer was
positive that the gold was free, and
on this showing the owners at once
commenced the erection of a stamp
mill to work the ores by the pan
amalgamation process.
The Mercur mill commenced opera
tons in 1889 and after a years oDer-
ations in which a fortune was spent
trying to save the values, it was con-
cluded that the attempt was a failure
and a bdck-doWn appeared to be the
only means of escape left for the
owners. This result seemed all the
more probable from the fact that the
wise guys who had followed mining
in Utah from the time of it's inception
knew that there was nothing to be
made in working the Mercur ores"
but in the meanwhile the owners Of
the Mercur mine had Incorporated for
a capital of S5.000.00O. Accordingly
they felt themselves in a. better con-
dition to continue experiments. and
commenced to do so with the process
that uses cyanide Of potassium and
zinc shavings as medium for ex-
tracing and saving the values. This
process resulted in unqualified sue
cess on the ores that had formerly
wfthstood all the efforts and knowI-
edge of the amalgamator to extract
the gold contained. and from that
period to the present the process, later
used in a, modified form. has been
continuously used in the Mercur mill
and in the other mills that have since
been erected to work the ores in the
district.
1t was in September 1891. that the
first successful run was made with
the cyanide process, for the use of
which the Mercur mill had been re-
modelled. The owners were then as