The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-27
STORY Of ELY
IN ARROW HEAD
"CopperopoiiS of Nevada" Is
Reviewed in Monthly Publ
cation of Salt Lake Route.
PERMANENT CAMP ASSURED
THE DEVELOPMENT OF MINING
PROPERTIES.

told in the October Arrowhead. a month
~ periodical published by the passenger
department of the Salt Lake route In
the article Ely is referred to as the
"Copperopolis of Nevada" The story is
well illustrated with half-tones of the
mining properties and the leading bust
ness houses of Ely.
In an interesting manner the growth
of Ely from its humble beginning in 1863
TO the rank of the worlds greatest cop
per camp Is traced in the story. The ge-
illogical history and the formation and
history of the mines is also entertaining
ly told Among the largest mining prop
critics IN and about Ely discussed in fun
in the review of the mines are the prop
critics of the Nevada Consolidated Copper
company, the GirOuX Consolidated Cop
per company, the Mechanically. the Ely
Witch, the Ely Central and the Steptoe
Valley Mining & Smelling company
A portion of the story of Ely told
In the Arrowhead follows:
The Discovery.
About forty years ago a lone pros
pector with a pack horse as his sole COM
panion, vending his way through the sage
brush OF White Pine county, Nevada, in
patient search for gold, stumbled upon
ledge of rock which bore indications Of
containing that which he sought. He
staked out a claim and named the dis
trict Robinson. The man was Thomas
Robinson, one of the pioneer pathfinders
of the desert, and his claim was located
IN Robinson canyon. at the mouth of
which is built the present city of Elv
That was in 1863.
For many years mining men paid little
attention 10 this section Of the mining
region OF Nevada principally on account
Of the fact that the ore was heavily i'm
pregnated with copper which did not ap-
peal to them. They We're after gold and
silver and the red metal was looked upon
with disfavor, as the methods for ex-
tracing the gold were too costly and
crude, hardly paying them for their trou-
bic. and not worth while handling on
commercial basis So for. many years
miners came. located claims. worked
them for a short time and finally gave
up. These claims were in turn re-
located by Others. who also abandoned
them. There were some men, however,
who had faith in the district and stuck
by It, expanding large sums of money
I'm the erection of two cyanide plants for
the purpose of treating the gold and sill
Yer ores of the camp. Today these plants
stand deserted, pathetic monuments of
attempts tc do the then impossible.
The Dawn of Ely.
Thus it went on for years. and it was
not until the spring of 1905 that the world
realized that buried deep in the noun
tains of White Pine county were to be
found millions of tons of copper ore Be
fore this, however, a small camp had
been made at the mouth of Robinson can
yon, in lSS6 and il was called Ely. 1t
probably had a population of between 300
and 400 people. who STAYED on. hoping
against hope that sooner or later the
camp would amount TO something. That
their dreams have come true is evidenced
by the present day city of Ely.
Today the copper magnates of the world
are deeply interested in Ely and its mines.
The large deposits of copper ore that were
passed up as being of little value on ac-
count of not being able to extract the ore.
were quickly taken over by men who
knew good thing when they saw it.
Competent mining engineers. of interna-
tional reputation. We're sent into the dis
trict to pass upon its deposits and came
back TO their principals astounded at
what they had seen, giving as their esti-
mates of the tonnage Of low grade cop
per ores in the district I'm sight. as APP
proXimatey l00O0a,000 tons. and the rush
for Ely was on.
Early History.
The history of Ely is very similar in
many respects to that of hundreds of 9TH
er mining camps throughout the country.
When the decentralization of silver took
place the result was that large number
of the mining camps Of Nevada went to
pieces. This. however was not the case
with Ely. 1 There was good reason for
this Them had never been a rush to
this district in the fun meaning Of the
term. and the reaction in silver mining.
following the crime of IS, did not af-
feet Ely. Placer mining was being car
ried on in a desultory way by few. and
ore in that section had not enticed a very
large number to cast their fortunes in
the district. Even during the days of
the greatest depression the camp at Ely
boosted a population of over 400 people.
Appears on the Map.
1t was in 1886 that the town Of Ely re-
ally appeared on the map. and at that
time a stage route was inaugurated and
the government honOred the camp with
a postoffiee, which was located in the
Riepe building. This building was the
first one TO De erected on the DrOperty
now embraced by the Ely Townsite COM
pany and is still being used for business
purposes.
BY an act Of legislature passed during
the session of 1857. the county seat was
removed from Hamilton TO Ely. and this
gave the town its first evidence of per-
maneney and assured its future.
Early Mining.
From 1892 until 1897 mining was car
ried on in a haphazard manner, the chief
reliance being placed on the gold values.
Occasionally punches of hieh-grade silver
ore were encountered, sufficiently rich 10
warrant the expense Of freighting to To-
ana and then taken to. Salt Lake City
10 be smelted, leaving a small margin of
profit. The charges for freighting in
those days We're enormous and the ore
had to be of very rich quality to stand
the expense. The Old-timers, whose faith
in the future of the camp was greater
etbOOks. made their expenses by send
ing out shipments of rich lead ore to the
outside smeiters With the proceeds from
these lead shipments they would return
~ their work on the mines with renewed
hope that some day they would strike
Il rich
First Attempt at Copper Smelling.
one of the first persons TO attempt to
snelt the copper ores OF this district was
a ID. CamptOn. vino was the owner of the
Ely townsite. Mr. CamptOn was handi-
capped from the very start on account of
the lack of proper fuel, wood being the
OILY thing available. Consequently his
efforts TO smelt the ore were unsuccess-
full
For many years IL was known that cop
per ore was TO be found in the district in
large quantities. but it was not until 1888
that its possibilities as copper camp
We're appreciated. when Joseph Bray took
over q group of claims at Copper Flat, up
the canyon, purchasing them from Thorn
as ROckholl and Newton Boyd. After
working the property for a number of
years a company was formed for develop
ment purposes. now known as the Ne
vada Consolidated Copper company. IN
der the management of NJ. L. Requa.
Geology of the Ely District.
The formation in the Ely district is lime
and porphyry. the ore bodies occurring in
a bed of intrusive porphyry which has
been forced up through the lime. TIE
ore is the portions of the porphyry miner