Gold mining was practiced in several places in Utah. Gold veins were first discovered in the Bingham district by a party of prospectors who returned from Montana in the fall of 1864 to winter at Salt Lake City. They were not worked until the spring of 1895. Placers were discovered in the fall of 1866 by peter Clays and G.W. Crowdy. In 1898, hydraulic operations were performed in the Argonaut mine situated at the mouth of Carr Fork, while the placer mines of Bear Gulch at Dixon Bar were operated in rather a desultory way by the old gravel miner Bartholomew Gardella, as late as 1902.
The mines first developed in the Bingham Canyon were silver-lead properties, the most prominent being: the Winnemucca, Tiewaukie, Telegraph, Galena, Nast, Giant, Roman, Empire, Spanish, Stewart and Jordan. The first attempts at smelting the ores were not very successful, until 1871, when it was successfully accomplished by Colonel David Buell of Nevada. Work was begun in the Silver King in 1865, in the Defiance in 1870 and the Legal Tender in 1871. The main mines of the Ophir or Est Canyon district in 1871 were the Tampico, Mountain Lion, Mountain Tiger, Petaluma, Zella, Silver Chief, Defiance, Virginia, Monarch, Blue Wing, and Silveropolis. Five hundred locations were made up to April, 1871.
The Emma mine located in Little Cottonwood canyon was discovered by two prospectors, Woodman and Chisholm, in 1868. In 1872, the available stock of ore having been exhausted the mine was close, and was not reopened until 1883. The Tintic distric is one of the oldest mining camps in the state, ore having been discovered in December, 1869, by a party of prospectors returning from western part of the state, the Stockton and Little Cottonwood districts were discovered in 1868. The first discovery of the Tintic district was the Sunbeam in December, 1869, following which was the Black dragon in January, 1870 and the Mammoth in February, 1870. Since 1872, the Mammoth mine was the first producer of the district and produced gold, silver, copper, lead and bismuth.
The Mercur Mines were discovered by prospectors in 1871, in Lewiston Canyon, about seven miles northwest of Camp Floyd. These mines were not worked long and were abandoned until in the latter eighties when some work was done, but real development began in 1891. About this time it was discovered that the values could readily be extracted from the ore by means of cyanidation. Probably, the earliest gold mining activiy was done in the Park City district in some operations such as Miller, Emma, Flagstaff and several mines near Alta, at the head of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Other mines operated about this time were in districts near the head of the Big Cottonwood Canyon and Snake Creek. The silver bearing sandstones of Silver reef, Washington County, were discovered by John Barker in 1873. It is said that the presence of silver in the rocks was accidentally discovered by the heat from a camp fire melting the silver so that it showed on the surface. During he following year there was a rush. The State Line district in the southwestern part of the state, Iron County was located in 1886. The ore were free-milling gold and silver.
During 1898, the camp Floyd or Mercur district continued to be the chief producer. The gold production steadily increased to 1902, although no new camps were opened up. The Annie Laurie mine and Pinto County, were good producers of gold and silver. A number of gold bearing veins were discovered in Box Elder County, the northeastern part, or Park valley, in 1900-1901. In 1903, there seemed to be a falling off in the Mercur camp. The Eureka, Robinson, Mammoth, Silver City and Knightsville mines had come to the front again. In 1904, there was a marked increase in gold and silver production, which was mainly contributed by the Bingham district, the gold districts of the southern part of the state felt the stimulus of increased railroad facilities, connection being made with the Pacific coast. During 1905, a large part of the gold came from the smelting of copper.