Stockton (3) Markers

Utah mining began here, and it began as a strategy. Colonel Patrick Connor had come to watch Mormon Utah from Fort Douglas, and he saw in the mountains a way to loosen the church's hold — flood it with Gentile miners chasing ore. He turned his idle soldiers loose to prospect, and in 1864 they laid out this town, naming it for Stockton back home. The first mining district in Utah was organized in the hills around it; the first smelter went up nearby. The ore never quite paid off, but the door Connor pried open never closed again.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bingham Canyon Mine — 12 mi
  The largest man-made excavation on Earth
• Great Salt Lake — 22 mi
  The largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere
• Saltair — 25 mi
  A haunting lakeside resort with a storied past
• International Peace Gardens — 30 mi
  A hidden garden where 28 countries are represented in miniature

More markers nearby

• Rock Monument (Ophir Mail Drop) — 5.1 mi
• Tooele's First Cemetery — 5.4 mi
• Lincoln Highway — 12 mi
• Bingham Canyon — 13 mi