The Living West

1. Mining Deseret: an overview of the history of mining in Utah and the American West

The territories comprising Deseret contained mineral values that helped finance the Civil War, fuel the Roaring Twenties, and usher in the atomic age. Silver, gold, copper and lead brought Utah and the West from isolated rural towns to modern interconnected urban cities while uranium, beryllium, rare earths, oil shale and iridium may help write a new chapter of Western American History. 

The history of mining is the story of weathered wooden headframes silhouetted against an azure blue sky; prospectors and their burros; gold, gossans and gloryholes; stopes and stamp mills; but above all it is the story of man’s incurable optimism in the pursuit of minerals. From Jesse Knight’s Humbug mine that helped save the LDS church financially to Charles Steen’s discovery of the MiVida near Moab in the 1950s, mining in Utah is a colorful kaleidoscope of chronology, biography, geology and technology in the pursuit of mineral wealth. Through maps, images, sounds, texts, artifacts and videos we will turn the kaleidoscope and freeze it at many interesting glimpses into our rich mineral past. 

The pagentry of mining is also encapsulated within the life cycle of innovation as exemplified in 19th and 20th century Utah mining and documented in Will C Higgins’ Mining Review, 1899-1929. Higgins wrote a monthly column for several decades totaling 300 plus pages of observations and analysis of the most entrepreneurial activity of his day-prospecting and mining. Higgins’ insights and his foresight provide valuable lessons for the emerging tech markets of today.

From prospectors assayers and grubstakers to entrepreneurs venture capitalists and developers, all technological advances go through a cycle of discovery, daring, deals, dividends, decline and disruption. This presentation will review key prospecting and mining discoveries and innovations in Utah and the West through the lenses of these six phases. From Vipont to Silver Reef, Gold Hill to Moab as well as the central Utah districts of Alta, Park City, Bingham, Ophir, Mercur, all the towns of Tintic as well as Frisco, Joy and Diamond, Granite and more will all be discussed. Utah technological innovations ranging from the Eimco mucker to concrete lined shafts and ore dressing techniques will all be examined.

Mr.Hartill has spent half a century studying mining history. He is a lawyer and mining historian; co-author of Desert Fever and author of Preserving Our Mining Heritage. Russ graduated from California State University Fullerton with a degree in history after work at the Colorado School of Mines (Geophysical engineering) and Cal State Sacramento (rec and park admin) His JD is from the University of Idaho College of Law. He is uniquely qualified to take the reader on a tour of mining Deseret.