Mingo Smelter

This is what made Sandy a smelter town. Opened in 1873 as the Mountain Chief and enlarged into the Mingo in 1876, it grew into the single largest producer of gold, silver, and lead in Utah — by 1881 turning out nineteen million pounds of crude metal a year, shipped east to Pennsylvania to be refined. Its ore came down from Little Cottonwood, Bingham, and Lark, and it gave work to as many as twelve hundred men. Water ran the whole plant: channeled through canals to Allsop's Pond, then piped in wooden mains to the furnaces here.

What the plaque says

The Mingo Smelter was the largest single producer in Utah of metals such as gold, silver, and lead. When it began in 1873, it was known as the Mountain Chief Smelter and was renamed the Mingo smelter in 1876 when it was expanded. By 1881 it produced 19,000,000 pounds of unrefined metal which was shipped to Pennsylvania. The rich ores came from Little Cottonwood Canyon, Bingham Canyon and Lark and provided work for 500 to 1,200 men. Power for the smelter was provided by water traveling through a network of canals to Allsop’s Pond on the south side of Locust Street. From there, it was channeled through wooden pipes to Mingo. In 1877 the plant consisted of Blake crusher, one pair of Cornish rolls, two reverberatory furnaces for ore, matte, and flue dust, three blast furnaces, two boilers, three blowers, and one 35 horsepower horizontal engine. The iron flux came from the Tintic District, the limestone was bought in Salt Lake City, and the fuel used was coke. Using all four of its furnaces, the Mingo Smelter could produce enough metal to fill sixteen railroad cars each week. It was destroyed by fire in 1887 and was rebuilt in 1888. The Mingo closed in April 1901 when the ores were depleted. This was one of the most successful of the old smelters that operated in Utah.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• International Peace Gardens — 9.4 mi
  A hidden garden where 28 countries are represented in miniature
• Gilgal Sculpture Garden — 11 mi
  A surreal and eccentric sculpture garden hidden in a residential neighborhood
• Liberty Park — 11 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882
• This Is The Place Heritage Park — 12 mi
  A living history village at the mouth of Emigration Canyon

More markers nearby

• ZCMI Co-Op Building, Sandy Co-op (2) — 0.4 mi
• Sandy City Bank — 0.4 mi
• Early Sandy Schools & Church Takes Root (2) — 0.5 mi
• Sandy-Alta Railroad — 0.7 mi