History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

PRODUCT OF THE MINES. 747
For 1869 the product of all the Utah mines in gold,
silver, and lead did not exceed $200,000. In 1871 it
had risen to $3,000,000, and in 1875 to $7,000,000.
For 1883 it was $7,017,682. Between 1870 and 1883
there were produced $2,150,000 in gold, $45,790,272
in silver, 258,000 tons of lead, worth at the Atlantic
seaboard $23,220,000, and 1,000 tons of copper which
sold in New York for about $300,000. The total output
for this period was $71,502,772, or an average of
more than $5,500,000 a year. 76 At the close of 1883
there were at least 95 districts in Utah where mining
of various descriptions was in progress, all of them
contributing more or less to the total yield, though
the great volume of production was confined to a few.
The entire annual expense of these districts may be
roughly estimated at $10,000,000, while the output
is far below that figure. It does not follow, of course,
that this industry has proved unprofitable, for the
amount of capital invested was trifling when compared
with other states on the Pacific slope, and
the difference between output and outlay may be
fairly considered as so much money expended on
Deseret News, Sept. 11, 1867; for description of Willard mines, S. L. C. Tribune,
Aug. 8, 1S80; of silver mines near Pahraganat Valley, U. S. Ind. Aff. Rept,
1865, 156-7. For historical sketches of mining in Utah, see Tullidge's
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