History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

742 AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES.
On the western side of the Oquirrh Range, on the
margin of Rush Lake, in Tooele county, the Rush
Valley district was organized in 1863, being segregated
from the West Mountain district, and two years
later about 400 claims had been taken up, 40 of them
being in what was afterward known as the Ophir district,
though both were more commonly termed the
Stockton mines, from the town built near their loca-
tion. 61 The ores were sulphurets and carbonates of
argentiferous lead, with occasionally a trace of gold,
selected specimens assaying over $1,200 per ton, and
the average being $50 to $60. In the Ophir district
rich chloride ores, assaying in spots $500 to $5,000,
were afterward discovered. 62
The first discovery of silver-bearing rock in the
Wasatch Range was made by General Connor in person,
at the head of Little Cottonwood canon. The
first ore encountered was galena, and afterward carbonate
of lead, both being found in chimneys. The
first shipment was made by the Walker Brothers in
July 1868; but it was not until the completion of the
Utah Central to Salt Lake City, early in 1870, that
the mines were systematically opened. Among them
were the Emma, of evil fame, and the Flagstaff, the
latter producing up to the close of 1882 more than
100,000 tons of ore, averaging $30 to the ton. 63 The
former was located in 1869, the vein for the first 100
feet being only eight to twelve inches wide, but increasing
with depth to thirty-five feet, and yielding
from $135 to $250 per ton in silver, the output for the
eighteen months ending with the close of 1872 being
over $2,000,000. 6i The unsavory transactions con-
61 For list and plan, with developments, etc., in 1872, see Murphy's Min.
Res. of Utah, facing p. 20.
62 For further mention of the Rush Valley and Ophir district, see Id., 20-1,
29-31; Hollister's Res. and Attract, of Utah, 31; Utah Gazetteer, 1884, 89-91.
In 1882 the town of Stockton was destroved by fire. S. F. Gall, Sept. 5, 1882.
03 In 1872 the production was about 80 tons a day. Paul's Utah Incid., MS.
64 The first year it paid in dividends §1.000,000. Godbe's Statement, MS.,
4-5. The Walker Bros purchased a fourth-interest for $30,000, and furnished
money and supplies for opening it.
Utah, MS., 4.
Walker's Merchants and Miners of