OLD POSTCARDS OF UTAH COPPER AND BINGHAM CANYON

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   Postcards of the Utah Copper mine in Bingham Canyon depict its history and provide a written description from startup in 1906 to an enormous open pit in 1946 and 1950 to the even more stupendous pit of 2003. The town of Bingham Canyon is also shown in the six picture postcards and three picture postage stamps. The open-pit mine, as it grew wider and deeper, mined away ever more of the town year by year. By the 2003 photo the entire town had been mined away or covered over by waste dumps.

   This August, 1906 photo shows the beginning of the open-pit mine. Two steam shovels are starting to dig material from the bottom of the “Copper Hill”. The two levels and the working areas for the shovels were dug from the raw hillside and railroad tracks were layed by other equipment and men beforehand. The underground test mine provided samples of ore for metallurgical testing and to determine the tonnage and grade of the orebody prior to starting the open-pit mine. The Boston Con open-pit mine was near the top of “The Hill” above the Utah Copper mine; it had started steam shovel operations five months earlier. The two companies (and mines) merged in 1910 and, as the Utah Copper Co. went on to excavate the largest open-cut copper mine in the world. It is still operating and increasing in size today.

Startup of the Utah Copper Open-Cut Mine in 1906 - Two Steam Shovels With Steam Engines on the Bottom of "The Copper Hill"

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Thanks to all of you who sent comments for my site – they are appreciated. However, I haven’t had the time to properly maintain this site and so am allowing it to expire.

Thanks again – best wishes to all of you.

1926 Photo of Upper Bingham-Cover for “Living On the Edge of The Bingham Copper Mine”

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Living On the Edge of the Bingham Copper Mine
This 1926 photo of Upper Bingham shows almost thirty items of interest that depict the evolution of mining, transportation, and ore haulage in Bingham Canyon from the 1860s to 1926. Placer mining, underground lead-silver mining, and open-pit copper mining are evident. Horses and wagons, gravity tramways, an aerial tramway, and the railroad with steam engines are modes of transportation and ore haulage in the picture.  More details of these features will be presented in future posts.

1965 Postcard of Bingham Canyon Post Office

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Post Office Building at 435 Main Street in Bingham Canyon-In 1965 After 1962 Closure

This 1965 Postcard shows the building at 435 Main Street in Bingham Canyon that served as the U.S. Post Office from 1933 to 1962. A unique occurrence for U.S. Post Offices was special approval for the parking of non-Postal Service vehicles  on the Post Office property. Approval was granted because of the extremely limited parking space available in Bingham Canyon. Kennecott Copper purchased this building after the official Bingham Canyon Post Office was transferred to a new building four miles down the canyon in Copperton. Kennecott then used the otherwise vacant building for some of its own office or storage purposes and also allowed Bingham City to use it for a short while. The building was demolished in 1972 to make way for Kennecott’s mining operations.

1950 Postcard of Bingham Canyon Business District and Kennecott’s Utah Copper Mine

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1950 Town of Bingham Canyon and the Utah Copper Open-Pit Mine

This 1950 Picture Postcard shows part of the Business District of Bingham Canyon, the lower part of Carr Fork and the bottom of the Utah Copper open-pit mine. The B&G Yards, Kennecott mine offices, the Bingham City Hall, and the lower portal of the 1 1/4-mile vehicular tunnel to Copperfield are also noted — they weren’t shown in the 1946 photo. The bottom of the open-pit mine was at about the 6040 elevation. The first of three ore haulage tunnels, the 6040, was driven from the pit bottom to just above the central part of the town. A drop-cut, which is shown at a lower elevation than the center of the pit, was made so that the tunnel could be operational as soon as possible. The open-pit mine has dug away the part of the old town of Bingham above the 6190 Yard, including the roadway to Copperfield (Upper Bingham). The vehicular tunnel was constructed in 1937-38-39 to replace the roadway. The bottom of the pit in 2011 was 1650 feet deeper than in 1950.

1946 Postcard of the Town of Bingham Canyon and Kennecott’s Utah Copper Open-Pit Mine

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1946 Town of Bingham Canyon and the Bingham Copper Mine

This 1946 postcard shows the Business District of the Town of Bingham Canyon, Carr Fork with its seven railroad bridges, the community of Highland Boy, Kennecott’s Utah Copper open-pit mine and, overlooking it all, Sunshine Peak. The more prominent features are identified; most of them were very familiar to the residents of the canyon at that time. The Princess Theater, Bingham Merc, Copper King, and Gemmell Club were especially well known. The thousands of men who worked on “The Hill” were most familiar with all the features of the Open-Pit Mine which included the 6190 Yards, Carr fork Bridge, and the Machine Shops. Features of the open pit and the town were in close proximity and were often intermixed as can be seen in this photo. Many human-interest stories can be told of the area shown here. The back side of this postcard describes the photo in additional detail.