Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-05-19
UTAH's FIRST MINE.

With the blowing in of the MaJes-
tic smelter near Miiford-a promised
event of the immediate future-and
the corresponding increase OF devel-
opment and extraction work in the
mines near by, Beaver county ought to
be indulging in something of boom
on it's own account before long. Let
1t come! AS one who is in a position
to testify to the merits of that section
from residence and observation, re-
peat, without the fear of successful
and the belief in any other form OF
contradiction, let 1t come! There is
nothing too good for Beaver, and all
that she hath in the way of posses
sions and prosperity, realized and
prospective, is but the merest 1.-THE OF
what she would have If what the cav
ems and assures little be-
low the surface contain could
only be exploited and brought
within the scrutiny and analy-
teal capacity of that versatile and
sometimes uncertain genius, the min
ing expert.
There recently passed away at
Minersville, at a green old age, an ex-
DlSuOp vi tnc ShuiSh WhO
with a few others uncovered the first
precious metals in Utah. His name
was Rollins and the deposit which he
unearthed for some time bore his
name, though subsequently it became
known as the Lincoln mine, the name
having been changed by the corpora
ton which acquired the property
about the time the first Republican
president was inaugurated. The ores
extracted by the g"cd bishop (all bish-
ops are good) and his associates would
not at that or even at this time rank
very high among the precious" pro-
ducts of the land, being chiefly lead
and mined for that reason. The blue
metal could not, in large quantities at
least, be transported from the east by
mule express on profitable terms, and
as 1t was needed for many uses be-
sides the principal one of converting
bad Indians into good ones and act
ing as the only extinguisher of wild
beasts appetites while incidentally
providing food from that source, the
necessity for production at home was
absolute and imperative. AS time ad-
vanced, 1t was clearly observable that
the lead was getting harder and even
the unskilled pioneers were not long
I'm doubt as to the cause.-the percent
age CT what was decidedly Chem a
precious etal-silver-which the
ores carried was increasing and soon
the crude methods of the unskilled
miners would have to give way to
more advanced means of extraction;
not that they could not have contin-
ued their work with their primitive
continuance, but perforating the skins
of Indians and their four-footed as
sociates with missiles worth a dollar
apiece or more was altogether too eX-
pensive a luxury for those early days.
This circumstance finally attracted at
tention elsewhere and the corporation
previously spoken of was the result.
For time it did an immense bust
ness. So rich was the bullion in silver
with a small admixture of gold,
which is an inevitable associate to
some extent of the white metaD that
it paid handsomely to ship it to Salt
Lake by wagon and team. Other
finds were made, considerable work
was done and town of no mean pro-
portions sprang into existence. The
town was just attaining to the neces-
sary proportion of badness to be con,
sidered a real mining camp when the