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Show YOURGREENSHEET I Thur<lday. April M I, 1999 5 IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD Hi&tory Utah .Ore Sampling Mill Seldom Noticed Hiatorical Landmark , Now Surrounded by' Road and Rail DevelopmentProapecta ' 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 th,e 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 mi11 looks as if it is a useless historic structure. It's not. In fact, the Utah Ore Sampling Mill is situated on a varitable gold mine. Just a few yards to the west, fiber optic 'One of the first- independent sampling mills in Utah, and the only one of its kind between Missouri and California, the Utah Ore Sampling Mill (UOS) was the successor to the Taylor and Brunton Ore 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 mah 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 Ore 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 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 , see" Sampling Mill," page 6 Sampling Mill continued from page 5 "blo~ the 'whole thing down." A mosaic of windows decorating the exterior of the mill - nearly 3,000 in total ~ were ahlO,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 opera,tor, he took that ore and crushed it down so it could travel through ,a belt to be ground into a powder. lines are burled beneath >"Those were such good people I worked with there," remembered Coult. "I was sad to see it end. They- were !liCe ieo:>ple • b_e. ground:._'Ib_the east <.~~' near 300 West . . Light ' . . real good." Rail tracks pass in front , After workers like Coult ground the ore into a thin powder, most of the ores were then sent to the American Smelting and of the mill's open windows. And the new Refining Company (ASARCO) for processing - near the large North/South 'road corristacks that remain at to day's smelter site. Murray's custom ore sampling mills were crucial tb the sucdor being engineered in the ' city will soon process of the smelters, and unlike most mills, the UOS was not associated with a specific operating smelter. Independent vide. residents with immediate access from mines and mills therefore knew they could trust UOS to assay the mill to the heart of their ores without prejudice. The sampled ores could then be, Murray's downtown. sent to the smelter, and the owners knew the yield of various ' What's 'more, the_' )'j metals from the af?sayed ores. ' ~:!~:e~i~o~~~: ;::~~t I~ try~: ~~~~~::!:~~n~~~~~1~~~, ~~:~ ~:t~:~gf~~d~~ Bob , Conrad_ bought the Ore Sampling Mill In 10 years ago when he , needed storage space -for i~ . ~1:iI 'a n odd ' mixture of auto parts, and he said it has .' served him well. '!\vo " ' • scraggly-looking guard ' dogs keep watch over J his fortune; anc:f wired I ~e:r~~sg P~:t:i~e~~e ,;:: 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 tom 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 takirig 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 ... , ., :, . , company during the Great Depression of the 1930s when many ' mines either closed or cut back their operations and the ASARCO smelter temporarily closed. As many of the mines reopened, they did so as consolidated ventures that included their own sampling and smelting operations. ' In addition to the mill, a large "Thaw House," where car loads of frozen ore were completely thawed before they were run through the ~ample plant, still remains. Neighboring resident Clyde Wolfe said he remembers walking through the site asa child and seeing the gondola carts filled With thawing ore. "When my father was a worker there, the mill was so rich with ore. It was shipped in from all over the place," he said._"Really that's all that is left of the past here. I hope that some of Murray can stay arotmd." . ' . , ,": ',. ' , '..' " , 'I , - , , : 0 '" Thursday, April 8 .' 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p. : . '\ ' Free and anonymous: • Self-assessment survey . • Consultation with health • Information and referral , ~ : A *To schedule other appointment times during the' week of April 5-9, call 26 • IHC INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTH CARE' NEll CAMPUS, BI IHC BEHAVIORAL HEALTH WASATCH CANYONS " INTAKE DEPARTMENT 5770 S 1500WEST, SALT LAKE C |
