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Show ASSOCIATION Clipping Service (80l) 328-8678 GREENSHEET Hi&tor.Y 1I_.______________________________________ ~,~N_O~u~R~N~E~,G~H!B~O~R~H~O~O~D i1utah Ore Sampling Mill Seldom Noticed Hi&torical Landmark Now Surrounded by Road and Rail Development Pro&pect& Rebecca Etter Green Sheet Staff Writer Things are not always what they seem. Take for example, the dilapidated structure that looms eerily over the smokestack story. "The Sampling Mill accents the smelter site development with a historic flavor. It has a lot of charm," said Kirk. "There is tremendous historical significance in that structure, and if we have to lose the stacks, this is the next best thing to save." Murray's custom ore sampling mills were crucial to the success of the smelters. Murray City just east of the freeway at 5500 South 300 West. This ghostly remnant of an ore sampling mill bustled with energized workers and streamline machinery in 1909. It now functions as a warehouse for bits of scrap metal and automotive parts, and sits quietly in the city, as if waiting patiently for its final day. A brother to the city's ancient smokestacks, the mill looks as if it is a useless historic structure. It's not. In fact, the Utah are Sampling Mill is situated on a varitable gold mine. Just a few yards to the west, fiber optic lines are buried beneath the ground. Th the east near 300 West - Light Rail tracks pass in front of the mill's open windows. And the new North/South road corridor being engineered in the city will soon provide residents with immediate access from the mill to the heart of Murray's downtown . What's more, the building is up for sale. It has been for five years. Bob Conrad bought the are Sampling Mill 10 years ago when he needed storage space for an odd mixture of auto parts, and he said it has serve ' ~im well. Two S CTlL· .· ~ 00 ki ng guard dogs keep watch over his fortune, and wired fences protect the wandering I esident from traipsing too near the haphazard accumulation of metal. Conrad said he is trying to "get rid of the 01' mill" because he wishes to "get on with other things in life," but doesn't want to · see it torn down . He said some developers have showed interest in the concrete structure for its historical significance and prime location in Murray City, but are waiting to see what happens with the smelter site development before taking any action. Another Murrayite and lover of the past, Cultural Director Mary Ann Kirk, has also voiced support for saving the mill. She said it is another way to tell One of the first independent sampling mills in Utah, and the only one of its kind between Missouri and California, the Utah are Sampling Mill (UOS) was the successor to the Taylor and Brunton are Sampling Company that had operated since 1890. Beginning in Murray in 1909, the mill used its high vertical floors to elevate and drop ore to crush it into pieces. The ore, which came from allover the western United States, was then analyzed for content and sent to the smelter where it was The Utah Ore Sampling Mill in Murray is most easily visible from 1-15 south of 5300 South. purchased. Murray resident Bill Coult worked at the Utah are Sampling Mill as a young man for six years, until its closure in the 1950s. At age 70, Coult said he can still remember his daily S&mpling Mill I duties at the site, as a crusher operator and hopper worker. The place was filled with dust, he said, and laborers continually used fox tail brushes to sweep behind the equipment and air hoses to '_...i0ntinued page 5 -~low the whole thing down." A mosaic of windows decorating the exterior of the mill - nearly 3,000 in total - were also left. open, providing the dust with an easy escape. When Coult worked on the hopper, he said it was his duty to dump the ore from the train car through a belt to the crusher. As a crusher operator, he took that ore and crushed it down so it could travel. through a belt to be ground into a powder. "Those were such good people I worked with there," remembered Coult. "I was sad to see it end. They were nice people real good." After workers like Coult ground the ore into a thin powder, most of the ores were then sent to the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) for processing - near the large stacks that remain at today's smelter site. Murray's custom ore sampling mills were crucial to the success of the smelters, and unlike most mills, the UOS was not associated with a specific operating smelter. Independent mines and mills the. efore knew they could trust UOS to assay their ores without prejudice. The sampled Qres could then be sent to the smelter, and the owners knew the yield of various metals from the a/Jsayed ores. . The UOS operflted until the 1950s, when the smelting industry in Murray ('<lased, though hard times had begun for the company during' the Great Depression of the 1930s when many mines either closed or cut back their operations and the ASARCO smelter teJilporarily closed. As many of the mines reopened, they did so a~ consolidated ventures that included their own sampling and smelting operations. In additioil to the mill, a large "Thaw House," where car loads of froz~n ore were completely thawed before they were run through the sample plant, still remains. Neighboring resident Clyde Nolfe said he remembers walking through the site as a child anl\ seeing the gondola carts filled with thawing ore. "When my fa!her was a worker there, the mill was so rich with ore. It was S1 ipped in from all over the place," he said . "Really that's all tht is left. of the past here. I hope that some of Murray can stay around ." ___ " Ct _ _ _ J~ _ _ .....! • • tt _ _ _ _ ..,. |
