The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-28
Great Impetus Given to Industry in
Piute By Different Successes.
Annie Laurie on Gold Mountain One of the Richest
Gold Producers in the .State-18rysVaIe
Emerging From Its Spell

county could be written in detail,
ii would surDass in interest the
choicest works OF fiction. it would be
mingling of heroism and fortitude;
Of hope deferred to the point of broken
hearts: of men grown gray in waiting
for recognition from those able TO as
sist in the labor of compelling the Mt.
Badly range to give up its abundant
wealth, and of the laying away in
graveyards of those aged men who,
with small means and single-handed
had smitten the indurated rocks year
after year, only to discover, as the
frightening and deepening shadows
from over the Great Divide enveloped
their lives. that the struggle was hope
less.
Late in the autumn of 1854 rich
float" was found along Pine creek by
the pioneers of this little valley. The
news spread anG reached Manti, then
a small frontier village IN Sanpete
county, and the home of Captain Jacob
Hess. Captain Hess was made of that
stern, heroic material so characteristic
of those western pioneers. The captain
was a member of the famous Nor
mon battalion" and, along with his
companions. was mustered out in Cali
first gold that set the world on fire.
Early in January. 1865, Captain Hess
arrived in Marysvale and began tracing
float" A trail was made up Pine
now Bullion-canyon, and the Bully
Boy and Webster lodes were discOv-
cred. Along the south side of the can
yon veins of lead, copper. silver and Il
small relative quantity of gold occur
al a distance apart of only a few hun
dred feet, and extending about a half
mile up the canyon from the Webster.
The strike of the veins is southerly,
and the dip almost vertical. Similar
veins, although not so frequent, occur
on the north side of the canyon.
Ore Is Refractory.
The ore is generally low-grade, and
the metals so associated that extrac-
tion by the primitive methods of those
DAYS was impossible. Assayers and
metallurgists were rare in Utah during
the sixties. and the miners were COM
PEELED to guess at the value of their
ores, and il is not a weakness inherent
in the average miner and prospectOr to
underestimate the value of their ore
and the size of their veins lin sight -
and particularly those portions 'Out of
sight" Thus the boys" pounded the
inch and a quarter steel and exploded
black powder at 80 cents per pound
and waited for the rush of eastern
'ttenderfeet who never came, and
dreamed dreams of wealth and luxury
that would have made Aladdin and his
wonderful lamp look like 80 cents.
Disguised with the lack of appreci-
alton on the part of eastern investors
who never heard of Marysvale, the
miners Joined issues and hurled def
ance at outside capital They wheeled
rock from the adjacent hillside and
built foundation for a snelter. They
dug clay and tale from the prospect
holes, mixed the clay with sand mould
ed it into adobes, and on the fOunda-
ton of quartzite boulders they reared
a stack and completed the first and
only smelter ever built in the Mt Badly
range. Other miners were burning
charcoal. and still others were extract
ing fine lead carbonates from Beecher
hill and, presumably, carrying the
precious stuff on their backs down to
the smelter.
The plant was blown in and every
body was happy over the prospect of
packing the bullion down to MarysVale.
and thence to the Missouri river by OK
or mule teams, and thus convince the
world that veritable bonanza land
lay among the almost inaccessible re-
cesses of Mt. Badly. Those enthusi-
astic Mt. Badly argonauts succeeded in
making some very fine Stag.
Surrounded by trees and almost hid
den by dense underground. that old
smelter still exists. monument of
misguided pluck and perseverance. The
old stack-but little larger than one of
the old time chimneys-is fast going to
ruin along with its builders. Only a
few know its history, and that few.
whenever passing the aged relic. feel
like lifting their hats to 1t in memory
of those old time heroes who stood
their ground and defied the red men
who, during 65 and Sc were driving
the settlers from the Sewer and San
pete valleys.
Chicagoans Become Interested.
In the course Of three or four years
after the first discovery of ore some
Chicago capitalists became interested
in Bullion canyon. The Pinto Mining
company was organized and the ma
chinery for a mill was brought in.
The plant consisted of several heavy
20 sledge hammers to break up the ore
two stamps, weighing about 200 pounds
each, and the necessary fixtures, and
a small donkey engine for power The
mill was duly completed and the
donkey fired up to its greatest ca
pacity- The little engines steam
whistle screeched its delight over the
Inauguration of a prosperous future
for the camp The donkey was
coupled up to it's work amid hearty
There was plenty Of putting and tug
ging on the part of the little engine. II
could drop the stamps. but it couldn't
lift them one at a time unless a start
was given by the aid OF a crOwbar
The Pinto Mining company returned
TO Chicago and reported that the camp
was no good.
Another Attempt Made.
Marysvale. as a prosperous mining
camp. was almost forgotten unit
along about rs. when some mining meT
started for Salt Lake via Marysvale
One of the party, Joseph Smith, since
we'll known as one of the pioneers OF
Mercur was hunting deer along tht
east face of the mountain about five
miles southwest of Marysvale. Mr.
Smith had barely begun the ascent
when his attention was attracted L
a piece of galena lying in the deel
train. That ended the deer hunt
George T. Henry. still living here. as
sayed the ore, which proved to be un-
usually rich.
Carload after carload of ore running
into hundreds of dollars per ton wal
shipped to salt Lake, and caused {
slight furry.
In the course of a few months tn
ore gave out in that part of the mine
The vein occupies a blanket contac
between Quartzite and lime, almost fla
as it enters the mountain, and dippin;
slightly to the north. where a shaft wa
sunk and an enormous deposit of or,