This picture
shows the August 1906 startup of the Utah Copper’s large-scale open-pit copper
mine operation at the bottom of “The Copper Hill”. The Boston Con had started
their operation near the top of “The Hill” five months earlier. Two steam
shovels can be seen. Note the narrow levels away from the shovels – they had
been dug by smaller equipment; the shovels themselves had excavated wider
levels and higher banks in their immediate vicinity.
The entry to the Utah
Copper’s underground test mine is near the canyon bottom below the steam shovel
operations. Ore from the test mine was sent to the 300-ton-per-day Copperton
test mill that was just below the mouth of Dry Fork.The results of the ore
grade and tonnage and of the milling tests from the test mine were positive;
they led to the development of the open-pit mine.
The roadway along
the canyon bottom connected the main part of Bingham with Upper Bingham
(Copperfield).
The Utah Copper open-pit
mine rapidly expanded from this relatively small operation. Additional levels
were developed from which waste rock was stripped and ore was mined. Other
levels were constructed in all directions for the transport and dumping of waste
rock; several bridges (or trestles) were built to provide access to the East
side of the canyon.
