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Show OMS No. 1024-0018 . NPS Form United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. §. Page 1 Utah Ore Sampling Company Mill, Murray, Salt Lake County, UT Narrative Statement of Significance These buildings qualify for the National Historic Register Nomination due to their significant role in Utah's Mining history, their connection to millionaire mining magnate Jesse Knight, their age and lack of modification to date. The plant at 5510 South 300 West was first built in 1890s owned by the Taylor & Brunton Ore Sampling of Aspen, Colorado, Company. Their office in Salt Lake was at 511 Dooly Building, which was designed by Chicago's ever famous Louis Sullivan and subsequently, and to Salt Lake's shame, torn down . In 1909, Ernest Ralph Wooley, a well-known Salt Lake banker, purchased the property from the Taylor & Brunton Ore Sampling Company. In 1911 , he turned it over to the Utah Ore Sampling Company with "Uncle" Jesse Knight, a famous Utah mining magnate, as its president. In 1913, Jesse W. Knight, Uncle Jesse's son, is listed as the president. The buildings which are subject in this nomination were built between 1913 and 1927, with the exception of a home built in 1909. It would have been under Jesse night and his son Jesse W. Knight's leadership that these buildings were planned and constructed. Jesse Knight, born in 1845, was the son of Newell Knight of the deep pioneer and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jesse Knight was a millionaire resident of Utah Valley due to his mining ventures. He began with his Humbug Mine in the Tintic Mining District in the mid-1890s and quickly gained in prominence. Knight began to expand his ventures and properties. Three sampling mills were owned and operated by Knight. They were located in Park City, Silver City and the Utah Ore Sampling Company mill in Murray.4 When Tintic mines began to slow output, the Park City and Silver City sampling mills were closed; this left the last remaining, most unique mill in Murray. During those hard times and the depression, the Murray mill only had one of its two sampling units in operation. In the 1930, ASARCO, the major smelter operation closest to and most supported by the Utah Ore Sampling facilities, fell on hard times and this began the same downswing for the Utah Ore Sampling since smelters opened their own sampling yards as they began to increase in business agaIn . The Utah Ore Sampling mill was one of the many (around 65 companies) with which "Uncle Jesse" was involved. He died in 1921 and his son remained president of Utah Ore Sampling Company until 1951 . The connection to these mighty mining individuals reassures that the Utah Ore Sampling Company and their Murray mill were key players in fulfilling Abraham Lincoln's prediction that "Utah will yet become the treasure house of the nation. ,, 5 4 5 Johnson , G. Wesley, and Schirer, David L. ; Between the Cottonwoods, Murray City in Transition , 1992. fd Romney & Horne of Utah Mining Association. utah's Mining Industry, (3 Ed.) (August 1967) p. 9. |
