The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-17

IL was an interesting story that Gill
s. Peyton and Hal w. Brown were able
to tell the Boston tourists who visited
Camp Floyd district Friday and Satur-
day of last week, the narrative smack
ing more Of the wonders of Arabian
knights stories than of humdrum eXpe-
IlenceS IN the prosY west, and those
VINO listened to the history of the
growth Of Mercur and afterwards visit
ed the mines and mills of this remark
able camp returned to the city deeply
impressed with the phenomenal devel-
opment of Monte Cristo repositories of
wealth in section which a few years
ago was almost trackless wilderness,
the home of the coyote but rarely visit
ed by man.
This story of the rise of AIercur, the
almost miraculous growth of what is
now one of the greatest gold camps in
the west, is full of accounts of trials
and hindrances encountered, and one
not familiar with the facts regarding
the development of the great Mercur
mine, the building and rebuilding of the
Mercur mill at Manning, and the SubSe-
Quent construction of the railroad from
Fairfield to 4L-ercur, over which the BoS-
ton crowd expressed boundless admira-
ton, could hardly believe that from
such small beginning such a mag
nihcent camp as Mercur could spring,
and all within the short period of eight
years; nor do but few realize the fact
that all of this is largely due to the
perSevering efforts, the ability and the
stamina of two of the men who helped
to make the Mercur trip a most pleas
ant one for the Boston people-Gill S.
Peyton and Hal w. Brown.
These two gentlemen, without any
previous mining experience, were fresh
from Nebraska, the other eastern MEM
bers of the Mercur company being Hon.
John Dern, John Heinrich and VIII S.
Brown, who looked after the affairs of
the organization at the Nebraska end
of the line.
Peyton and Brown met with but little
encouragement in this city in their
Mercur enterprise. In fact, they We're
laughed at as tenderfeet. No business
man was broad enough and big enough
to welcome the incoming Of new blood,
nerve and less faith in the outcome
of the work they We're engaged in would
have Jumped the job" before they had
barely commenced it.
Once or twice the project was almost
a failure. The mill. built for the re-
covery of the precious metal, by ANAL
gamation. would not treat the ore.
Then the outlook was black, and the
whole thing, the mine and the MILL
nearly went by the board. The future
of Mercur hung by a thread, and had
it not been for the fact that Mr.. Pey-
ton CHANGED to hear of the cyanide
process of reduction; that he had the
nerve to try a new system that was
scoffed at as impracticable, in all prob
ability there would have been no camp
of Mercur today. with its great divi-
dend-paying mines; its thrifty town of
5000 souls, its metropolitan convenient
ceS, such as WateTWorkS, railroad facili-
ties. telephone and Geographic COM
munication with the outside world and
the application of electricity for light
and power; and, consequently, there
would have ben no occasion for our
Boston guests to have crossed the con-
tinent for the purpose of seeing mines
and mills which have been the direct
outgrowth Of the success attendant
upon the Mercur enterprise.
1t is sometimes well to look back
ward over the past, and the lessons
learned by so doing often help in carv-
Ing out the future. Ten years ago no one
ever dreamed of the possibility of the
discovery of a great gold camp in the
Oquirrh range and within a few hours
ride Of Salt Lake City; nor was it be-
lieved that Utah would ever become
famous for its possession of promising
gold districts; and yet today the state
can point with pride to Gold mountain.
the La Sale mountain, Stateline and
Newton districts, the original discover !
ers of which were accounted at the time
as visionary prospectors, whose inten- /
tons were good, but who lacked judg- I
ment and sense.
The success OF the Mercur, however, |
has established a precedent in mining |
In Utah, and hereafter more charity, /
more assistance. financially and moral /
", viii be extended TO those who engage /
in mining enterprises in this region. as
experience has demonstrated the fact /
that it is not always the acknowledged |
experts who make successes in mining /
affairs, and that more often it is the |
full of enthusiasm and full |
Of pluck. who gives to the country a
nine which Becomes famous the world !
over as a. wealth-producer.
There are more men in Utah like Pey-
.on, like Brown, and the day will come
when other Boston and eastern parties
will come out here in their special cars
or the purpose of visiting camps and
inspecting mines, the very names of
which are not now known for the rea-
son that they are yet to be found: and
hey will be camps OF equal importance
o Mercur, Mammoth, Eureka, Bingham
IT Park City.
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