USA > Utah > Salt Lake County > Salt Lake > Utah gazatteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo and Salt Lake cities, for 1884 > Part 6
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
would prove equally successful, other conditions being the same. There is barely an industry of any moment or note in the world's commerce that has . not been tried in a limited way in Utah. Results have been unsatisfactory financially, but as demonstrating, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the abso- lute certainty that industrial developments are possible, the simple efforts made were invaluable. It requires means, together with energy, as well as educated skill, to succeed in manufactures; but means, too selfish or too weak-kneed, have been found unwilling to combine with intelligence, for which reason, in large measure, the efforts of the latter have been abortive.
The United States census returns for 1850 gave $291, 220 as the value of the product of manufactures, mining, and the mechanic arts in Utah at that time. On the same authority it had increased to $900, 153 in 1860, and to $2, 343,019 in 1870. Similar returns for 1875, published by order of the Utah Legislature, show it to have reached $3,831,817, as follows:
BUSINESS.
NO.
PRODUCT.
VALUE.
Flour mills,
90
311, 833 bbls. at $7.
$2, 182,831
Saw mills,
128 20, 772, 800 feet.
491,660
Lath and planing mills, .
15
125,780
Wagon shops, .
I
25,000
Stone quarries,
28
28,246
Lime kilns,
52
40,093
Brick yards,
41 11, 846,759 brick.
116,758
Woolen mills,
8
311,034
Potteries,
15
21,650
Tanneries,
18
42, 190
Breweries,
IO
51,640
Carpets,
7,050
Yarn and hosiery,
40,746
Paper,
12,012
Cements,
22,500
Hats and caps, .
8,350
Brooms. .
18,052
Soap, glue, etc.
9,457
Brushes.
6,600
Willow-ware,
20,875
Straw Braid,
4,265
Artificial flowers,
3,380
Charcoal,
8,674 tons.
132,837
Coke, .
2,070
..
62, 100
Coal,
3,900
9,750
Salt,
3,382
18,388
Ice,
4,600
17,700
Fire brick,
41,500
867
Total value,
.
$3,831,817
The product of silver-lead mining for 1875, which does not appear in above table, was $2,708,000, making a total of $6,539,817. Exclusive of manufactured products, the value of mechanical labor for 1875 was returned at $3,715,000. But as such a return is somewhat indefinite, no account is made of it here.
So far as dependent agricultural branches are concerned, the facts given do not apply with the same force as to branches dependent upon mining.
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
The manufacture of cheese, of honey, and of other products is growing rap- idly. There are but tour single industries that have been pressed forward to anything like satisfactory results: woollen products, shoes, lead pipe and white lead, and soaps. The first-named is most important, the others proba- bly follow in the order given, the capacity of the Territory for consuming these articles considered. Much is done in iron manufactures. Except, how- ever, in rare instances the pig iron is imported from the States-imported to a country that has the greatest iron resources in the world, with every facil- ity for their utilization. As before stated, nearly every industry has been tried, and some are doing well on a limited scale and are encouraged less than they deserve; but as compared with what the economic opportunities of the Territory would warrant, they are as nothing. Reference to the statis- tics on manufacture appearing elsewhere will give a clearer and better idea of what is really being done, and of the comparative importance as to the actual wealth productiveness of the several branches; but it gives no earthly con- ception of the untold wealth awaiting the investment of means, and a mar- ket that will justify the outlay to make of Utah the peer of any section of the globe in the importance of her manufactures.
POSSIBILITIES.
Utah has the greatest iron deposits in the known world. Whatever is necessary to the successful reduction of iron and its subsequent manufacture into articles of commercial value is found in abundance in the immediate vicinity. Iron manufacture in all its branches comprises, in round numbers, one-third the world's commerce: one-third of all the varied products which the world employs is composed of iron in one form or another; one-third the wealth of this Territory, one-third its consumption, is of iron. With the greatest iron deposits alone, supplying only the local wants, there would be a saving of how much?
Lead is almost equally as abundant. It is used for sheeting, pipes, cis- terns, tanks, white lead, and for a thousand things that enter into the daily requirements of civilized communities. The opportunity for the founda- tion of industries upon the resources of Utah is three-fold as large as the number of minerals, taking the material resources alone. Agriculturally the opportunities may greatly be enhanced. The growing of hops has become an industry that bids fair to assume large proportions. Utah is con- ceded to raise fruit, the character of which, taking the whole field into consideration, is unsurpassed; the same is true of vegetables, and the open- ing of canning and pickling establishments would simply be the inaugura- tion of industries calculated to increase the material wealth of the Territory largely. The same also is true of dairy products; while starch, wine and other manufactured products could be made with equal facility, of as fair a quality, and sell as readily as these articles produced elsewhere. Silk also can successfully be made; the climate, and other essential features having been shown by actual test, to be all that could be desired. Among the other things offering the most glowing inducements to manufacturers in addition to gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, antimony, are soda and salaratus; salt, sulphur, gypsum for plaster of Paris; mica; marbles and building rock gen- erally; pig and sheet lead, lead pipe, shot; lead, iron and chrome pigments; Venetian red; fire-proof paints; green, yellow and chrome, and red and white lead; charcoal, brick, glue, candles, earthenware, willowware, hats and caps, cigars, beer, paper, brooms, brushes; lime and cement, fire brick; drugs and chemicals, of every kind; petroleun and other oils; pottery, glass, slate -- for roofing, sink bottoms, billiard tables-marble for mantle pieces, bureau tops, pillars; and so on until all the principal industries of the world are exhausted, and still the material remains for the establishment of
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
new industries. It has been said of Utah: "The entire basin is a vast labora- tory of nature, where all the primitive processes have been carried out on a scale so vast as to make man's dominion, at first sight, seem forever impos- sible." In connection herewith two very important considerations must be referred to. While it is true nature has blessed Utah beyond measure with an abundance of all the resources and opportunities that comprise the actual wealth of the world, that alone is not sufficient. They must be available and so situated as to admit of their handling at a minimum figure. If nature has done all in her power to concentrate her wealth of minerals, she has been no less kind in making them readily available. Of the manifold resources of the Territory, none is so situated that it is not easy of access. The sound and unfailing agricultural basis of the Territory, equal to all the demands that can ever be made, is a guaranty to the miner and the manufacturer that the foundation or primal industry will ever be sufficient, will ever fur- nish an abundance of food, thus insuring constant labor and the operation of the varied industries at reasonable prices. Still another point, not immedi- ately associated with the subject under consideration, but nevertheless bearing upon it, is the reliable character of the people. Nearly every person owns a home in Utah, and however small the amount each person has invested, it is sufficient to cause that person to be staid, politic and judicious. Strikes are an unknown occurrence in Utah, and will be just so long as the condi- tions in regard to property ownership exist as they do to-day.
It is not that Utah is deficient in manufactures, but as compared with the opportunities existing, those she already enjoys are as nothing. A field for manufactures superior to that of Utah does not exist. Whether her power and importance in this regard be of slow growth, or rapid development cannot be predicted with certainty, but that she will yet be the peer of any commonwealth is as certain as that she is the center of a vast section des- tined to outstrip the east-as certain as that one day follows another. The subject is too broad, too comprehensive to be dealt with in a moment; but any one conversant with the world's manufactures, who will calmly view the economic resources of Utah, associated with the location of the Territory and the future of the great west, must admit the prediction is not over- drawn.
NOTES.
The first carding machine was brought to Utah by President B. Young in 1849. In 1852, 1853 and 1854 other machines were imported, one get- ting as far south as Cedar City, Iron County, in 1852. Subsequently they were manufactured in Utah.
The first woolen mills were built by President Young on Big Can- yon Creek, and were known as the Deseret Mills; subsequently Hon. A. O. Smoot, now of Provo, Hon. John Sharp, of this city and General R. T. Burton, also of this city, built the Wasatch Woolen Mills, a short distance below the Deseret Mills.
The Provo Woolen Mills were established in 1870; the same year also the mills at Brigham City and at Beaver were established.
Woolen mills were operated near Ogden by Randall, Pugsley & Co., in 1871.
In 1870 the estimated productive capacity of all the woolen mills in the Territory was $700,000.
In the year 1870, George D. Watts and John W. Young inaugurated the manufacture of silk.
Woolen goods, in August of 1870, made at the Deseret Mills, were exhibited at a fair held in Indianopolis, Indiana.
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54
UTAH GAZETTEER.
Machinery for the manufacture of cotton was imported from the States in 1870. Later on Mr. J. Birch took into Washington County 57,500 pounds of woolen machinery and started woolen mills at Washington City, which are now in operation.
The foundry at Logan made a successful run August 1, 1871.
The Brigham City Woolen Mills began operations February 27, 1871.
The Southern Utah Iron Manufacturing Company was organized with a capital stock of $100,000. Iron County was the scene of operations. November 6, 1873, an iron manufacturing company was organized in Ogden with a capital stock placed at $250,000. In both these cases iron was made, but from some cause the organizations proved valuless.
May 2, 1873, the Utah Fire Brick Company made an exhibition of its manufactured wares. The clay was obtained near Lehi, Utah County.
The Germania Lead Works began operation in 1883.
The first steam engine built in Utah is now at Richmond, Cache County, in the possession of the gentleman by whom it was made, Thomas Griffin. In October of 1856, he received a silver medal from the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society for it.
The Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society was organized and gave its first exhibition in 1856. In the period intervening between that date and the present time it has given fifteen exhibitions, the last in 1881. The absence of suitable buildings, and the personal risks incurred by the managers have put a stop to further efforts. Two years ago last Winter, in 1882, the Legislature appropriated $10,000 to aid the Society, Salt Lake City tendering one half of Washington Square on which to erect the fair and exhibition buildings. Governor Murray, however, saw fit to put his veto on the appropriation and the whole thing fell through. There have been no exhibitions since.
UTAH MINING.
THE history of mining in Utah, so far as relates to accuracy of statistics, is most unsatisfactory. At best, only a broad approximate can be made. For years previous to the existence of a mining excitement it was known that precious minerals abounded. The advent of the railroad, however, brought an unusually large floating population to Utah. Naturally enough there were miners among the number, who, upon inquiry, learned of the existence of minerals and at once began prospecting. The results were astonishing and inside of a year and a half Utah enjoyed the first and only "boom" ever known here, which lasted for a period of perhaps twelve months. Mining speculations ran wild, and though many unfortunate results grew out of the conditions, the effect was to establish for Utah a repu- tation for the possession of varied and extensive mineral deposits, not only superior in numerous respects to any other Territory or State in the west, but surpassing in particular instances anything of the kind known in the world. Subsequent and more thorough investigations showed that while Utah's valleys were pre-eminently fitted for the agriculturist, and her ranges seemingly designed for stock-raising, her mountains were no less a source of attraction to the miner and manufacturer, for it was impossible to stand in the open air at any point anywhere in the Territory from which the eye could not rest upon vast mineral deposits, great in variety, endless in extent. The formation of the Territory geologically and with a view to its mineral features is that of the Great Basin generally. The following regarding this geology is condensed from the reports of Clarence King on the subject:
"The greater part of the rock of the interior mountain area is a series of conformable stratified beds, reaching from the early Azoic to the late Jurassic. In the latter these beds were raised, and the Sierras, the Wasatch and the parallel ranges of the Great Basin were the consequence. In this upheaval important masses of granite broke through, accompanied by quartz, porphyries, felsite rocks, and notably sienitic granite with some granulite and gretsen occasionally. Then, the Pacific Ocean on the west, and the ocean that filled the Mississippi Basin on the east, laid down a system of cretaceous and tertiary strata. These outlying shore beds, subsequently to the miocene, were themselves raised and folded, forming the Pacific Coast Range and the chains east of the Wasatch; volcanic rocks accompanying this upheaval as granite did the former one. Still later a final series of disturbances occurred; but these last had but small connection with the region under consideration.
"There is a general parallelism of the mountain chains, and all the structural features of local geology, the ranges, strike of great areas of upturned strata, larger outbursts of gigantic rocks, etc., are nearly parallel with the meridian. So the precious metals arrange themselves in parallel longitudinal zones. There is a zone of quicksilver, tin, and chromic iron on the coast ranges; one of copper along the foot-hills of the Sierras; one of gold further up the Sierras, the gold veins and resultant placers
56
UTAH GAZETTEER.
extending far into Alaska; one of silver with comparatively little base metal, along the east base of the Sierras, stretching into Mexico; silver mines with complicated associations through middle Mexico, Arizona, middle Nevada, and central Idaho; argentiferous galena through New Mex- ico, Utah and western Montana; and still further east, a continuous chain of gold deposits in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The Jurassic disturbances in all probability is the dating point of a large class of lodes: a, those wholly enclosed in the granites, and b, those in metamorphic beds of the series extending from the Azoic to the Jurassic. To this period may be referred the gold veins of California, those of the Humboldt mines, and those of the White Pine, all of class b; and the Reese River veins, partly a, and partly b. The Colorado loads are somewhat unique, and in general belong to the ancient type. To the tertiary period may be definitely assigned the mineral veins traversing the early volcanic rock; as the Com- stock lode and veins of the Owyhee District, Idaho. By far the greater number of metalliferous lodes occur in the stratified metamorphic rocks or the ancient eruptive rocks of the Jurassic upheaval; yet very important, and, perhaps, more wonderfully productive, have been those silver lodes which lie wholly in the recent volcanic formations."
We quote at some length from an article by Professor J. E. Clayton, as giving perhaps the clearest general idea of the opportunities of Utah min- erally.
"The mining industries of the States and Territories west of the Mississippi River have, in the last thirty-four years, produced the vast sum of $2,230,447,887 in gold and silver. This enormous sum of money has been added to the permanent wealth of the country, and given it an impetus in every branch of national growth and material progress, without a parallel in history. It has made our splendid railroad and telegraph systems pos- sible in the last half of the present century. It has opened up a vast wilderness-with its boundless resources-to settlement and civilized uses, that otherwise would have remained a desolate waste for another hundred years.
"It is a well-known fact that Utah has never given any official aid, or made any united effort to bring her mining resources into prominence before the world, and that other States and Territories -- having no greater natural resources-have outstripped her in this branch of material progress.
"Notwithstanding all this, her mining interest has made a splendid showing since 1870. In the last thirteen years her mines have produced $2,150,000 in gold, $45,790,272 in silver, 258,000 tons of lead, realizing in the markets of the seaboard $23,220,000, and over 1,000 tons of metallic copper worth in New York about $300,000. These items make up a grand total of $71,502,772, since mining became an active industry in Utah thirteen years ago. It must be kept in mind that $47,982,272 of the total output was in gold and silver-actual money created from the crude ores of our mountains, while the lead and copper products were paid for in coin, or its equivalent, amounting to the large sum above stated.
"Lead and copper do not create money in the same sense that gold and silver do, but they bring money to the producer in the markets outside of Utah, in the same way as wheat, wool, beef, mutton, hides, coal, salt, and other merchantable products, and may be a profitable branch of industry as long as lead and copper will bring remunerative prices in the market. Their value-like the other products named -- depends upon the question of demand outside of Utah. With gold and silver the case is entirely different; those metals are real money, only needing the stamp of the mint to make them the legal coin of the realm. Their value does not depend upon the mere questions of demand or supply, or the fluctuations of trade, like other commodities; they have a fixed representative value. There is no such
ยท
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
thing as an over-production. They form the life blood of all commercial transactions among men. Every dollar in gold and silver that is dug out of our mountains makes it possible for the farmer, the merchant, the manu- ufacturer, the mechanic and the laborer to sell a dollar's worth of whatever he has on hand, independent of any outside market whatever. Every dol- lar dug out of our mines is a dollar absolutely gained to the permanent wealth of the country. If all of her silver and gold mines were actively worked, there would be a home market created that would buy all the sur- plus food, labor, and manufactures of her entire population. In other words, we could create the money and the market for utilizing her entire productive industry. When the world's markets demand lead, copper, antimony, iron, coal, salt, gypsum, marble, etc., Utah can respond to any reasonable demand made for those articles, for in those things her resources are boundless.
"But during times of over-supply, and general depression in those branches of trade, the main reliance of Utah for sustaining her local indus- tries and general business must rest upon her gold and silver mines, for they can create all the money actually needed to carry on almost every branch of business necessary to her steady and permanent growth.
"In our judgment, the time has arrived when this all-important branch of national industry in Utah should receive the attention of practical busi- ness men, as well as the highest order of statesmanship. The records of its magnificent achievements should be preserved in an official form in the archives of the Territory. It should be protected and fostered as the industry that makes all the other pursuits and labors of her people remunerative and prosperous. To do this properly, Utah should have its own bureau of min- ing statistics, her own museum of ores, minerals and geological collections, her own professors of geology, mining and mechanical engineers and metal- lurgical chemists, and her own training schools of the practical sciences for the instruction of her young men who are to direct and control-in the near future-the greatest source of wealth within her broad areas. We reiterate, that mining industry gives life to every other branch of business in the west. It makes farming profitable to our citizens, it creates a home market for all kinds of food supplies, it gives profitable employment to a vast army of sturdy laborers, it causes the construction of railroads and telegraph lines that connect us with the great centers of population and wealth of the east and west, it will make every civilized nation, to some extent, tributary to Utah, for her metallic productions are welcome in every market on the planet. There are mines enough in Utah to make an annual output of $20,000,000 in silver and gold. To do this she must have an investment of at least $40,000,000 in addition to what is already invested in her mining industries. Can she reasonably expect such an enormous influx of capital unless she makes an organized effort to show to the world the great extent and richness of her mines? Must she fold her hands and await the slow and unsupported efforts of individuals? Or shall she make a united and well directed effort to make the world comprehend the extent and value of her vast stores of the precious and useful metals, and claim her full share of the world's capital that is ready to invest in legitimate mining industries?"
The quotation above made sufficiently shows the capacity of the Terri- tory for the production of precious metals, the conditions being favorable. Of the base metals that abound in Utah, and of the minerals generally, the old saying that "a volume would afford insufficient room to give a fair idea of their variety and extent" is eminently true. Lead and copper and iron, however, with coal, constitute the main features. The supply of lead is absolutely limitless; and when, in the future, the improvements that are so rapidly making in mining shall have reached a point at which it is possible to handle profitably the low grade lead-bearing ores with which Utah
7
58
UTAH GAZETTEER.
abounds, then will the wealth from this source equal, if indeed it does not exceed, that produced from the precious metals. In the matter of copper Utah is no less fortunate as to quantity and to quality than in lead. New copper claims are being discovered up to this late date, and in instances the promises are the best. In Southern Utah, in that portion embraced in Washington County, the copper claims of old and recent discovery are exceedingly fine and shipments by teams for long distances still pay remuner- ative prices. The lead districts are confined to no particular area. The metal has, however, been found in greatest quantities in Salt Lake, Tooele, Juab, Summit and Millard Counties, in all of which also, silver has been dis- covered, and in Silver Reef and Leeds; while copper has been found in large and paying quantities in Juab and Salt Lake Counties, and in other counties than Washington. It is a safe declaration to make, however, that all these minerals, besides many others, can be found in varying quantities in any of the mountains in the Territory.
IRON.
It is in iron and coal however, that Utah is most abundantly blessed, and not only is she favored beyond any western State or Territory in these regards, but her iron resources are without comparison in the known world. Iron ore has been found in Cache Valley so rich in silver, that the argen- tiferous proportion of metal, according to a test made in St. Louis years ago, is sufficient to pay the actual working expenses. An area of twenty miles about Ogden, particularly to the north, abounds in excellent qualities of iron ore, the percentage of metal being unusually large, and invites work by its vast quantities.
Iron ore is found more or less through the Territory, but notably in large quantities in certain places. The most important iron deposits occur in Iron County, about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City. The iron belt here is over three miles wide and commences several miles north of Iron Springs, running in a southwesterly direction to Iron City, a distance of over sixteen miles. One of the most prominent points in this belt is Iron Mountain, 1,500 feet elevation above the surrounding plain. The central part of this belt, Desert Mound, is six miles long and three miles. wide. The country rock is granite, porphyry and limestone. This limestone is used as flux. The character of the ore is hematite and magnetite, demon- strating in different tests made that they are well qualified for the production of fine Bessemer steel. It is estimated there are five hundred million tons of good ore in sight in Iron County. An analysis of this ore gives the fol- lowing results: No. 1, Iron 64, Phosphorus 0.12, Sulphur 0. 13, Silica, 5.2 per cent .; No. 2, Iron 62.60, Phosphorus none, Sulphur o. 12, Silica 4.8 per cent .: No. 3, Iron 60.90, Phosphorus, none, Sulphur 0.08, Silica 5.8 per cent. An analysis of the limestone gives 80.35 per cent. carbonate of lime, and 10.92 per cent. of insoluble silicious material.
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