Mascotte Tunnel/Bingham Central Railway

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on October 28, 2011.

(This is a work in progress; research continues.)

Overview

The Mascotte (sometimes Mascot) name seems to come from the name of one of the 16 claims that made up the original Dalton & Lark group in 1895. There was a minor reference to the "Mascot placer" claim located on the surface at Bingham. The main tunnel of the original Mascot claim, or one of its branch tunnels, may have been the starting point for the much longer tunnel that exited at Lark.

Timeline

February 12, 1900
"Among shippers this week are the Mascot (Dalton & Lark) with 9 cars..." (Deseret News, February 12, 1900, "Bingham Operations")

In May 1900, the Dalton & Lark laid off all of its miners and other workers, except the pump men. "Mascotte Forces Laid Off" "The Mascot company has laid off its forces at Dalton & Lark, except pump men, pending matters which will culminate in a few days." "The pumps are lifting several hundred gallons of water per minute from such depths as to entail ruinous expense. The remedy lies in tunneling, which is said to be feasible." (Deseret News, May, 5, 1900")

May 1903
"We have already begun taking ore from the Brooklyn mine of the Dalton & Lark group at the rate of 100 tons per day and from the entire Dalton & Lark group we are taking out about 175 tons per day for treatment at our smelter." "We are now handling between 20,000 and 25,000 gallons of water every minute through the Mascot tunnel on the Dalton & Lark properties and reducing the water in the mine at the rate of four inches per day." "This water is 800 feet lower than the lowest workings in any of the mines, and it is expected that we will be able to reach the ore body at this depth within ninety days." (Salt Lake Herald, May 4, 1903)

January 9, 1904
"As the Dalton & Lark is now perfectly drained by the Mascot tunnel, and the Brooklyn nearly so, driving of the tunnel may not be resumed until spring. It continues to discharge a great volume of water, with beneficial results to several neighboring properties." (Deseret News, January 9, 1904, "Bingham Reviewed")

March 30, 1904
Work was to resume on the Mascot tunnel, extending it to drain the Dalton & Lark main incline, "work was suspended last fall." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1904, "Around The State")

"The famous Mascot tunnel, designed to afford an outlet to all of the groups of the Bingham Con., and to provide drainage, now has been bored into the mountain a distance of nearly 8000 feet and is almost under the Dalton & Lark workings. It is the intention of sending it 7000 or 8000 feet further." "A stream of water as large as a creek is now flowing out of the tunnel and down into the valley where it is used for irrigation." "The tunnel has just been equipped with a new electric locomotive, which arrived from the General Electric company's works this week." (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1904, "Activity At The Dalton & Lark")

September 1907
One of the Boston newspapers, in the name of the Boston News Bureau, ran a story about F. Augustus Heinze and his entrance as an investor in Utah mines. (Deseret News, September 17, 1907)

His first venture was with the Bingham Consolidated company, "...which has heretofore not attained a very great amount of prominence, except in unfulfilled promises. When organized, that company immediately built a large smelter to treat its ore before it had the ore. Hence the smelter operations have been largely on custom ores and net profits to Bingham Consolidated stockholders have been disappointing."

"When Mr. Heinze became interested in Bingham Consolidated the most valuable asset was a large tunnel, known locally as the Mascotte tunnel, which was planned to open the Dalton & Lark mines of the Binbgham Consolidated at depth and provide drainage. The tunnel provided the drainage but failed to open the ore expected hence the operations of of this big tunnel to date have not been productive of net results. This tunnel has cost the Bingham Co. over $30,000. It is six feet high and six feet wide and has penetrated the mountains for a distance of 9000 feet, or 1-3/4 miles."

"At about the time Mr. Heinze became interested in the Bingham Consolidated, he also purchased control of Ohio Copper Co., which adjoins Utah Copper Co."

"Soon after acquiring the Ohio Co. Mr Heinze arranged with the Bingham Consolidated Co. to extend the Mascotte tunnel 3000 feet farther to the Ohio Copper Co., the Ohio Co. bearing this extra expense, thereby putting the Ohio ore bodies 800 feet below the previous lowest workings. He immediately set about to build a 3000-ton concentrator at the mouth of the Mascotte tunnel. This tunnel will also be extended to open the Commercial properties of the Bingham Consolidated 500 feet deeper than the present lowest workings."

On August 27, 1907, because of Rio Grande Western's reluctantance to make improvements that were needed to increase its capacity, Utah Copper intertests organized the Bingham Central Railway as an alternate method of transporting its ore from Mine to mill and smelter. This new railroad was to build a new rail line between Bingham and Salt Lake City. The new railroad would also serve the adjacent smelting and mining districts. (Utah corporation files, index 6542; Railway Gazette, Volume 43, number 10, September 6, 1907, p. 277; Railway Gazette, Volume 44, number 19, May 8, 1908, p. 655)

The national railway press at the time was too far removed to know the specifics, saying that the projected line was said to include the construction of a long tunnel. In fact, the long tunnel already existed, in the form of the Mascot tunnel (at times shown as the Mascotte tunnel), 9000 feet in length, which already existed as a drain tunnel under the Dalton & Lark and other mines on the east side of Bingham, with its opening just below the mouth of the Dalton & Lark mine.

In 1907, the drain tunnel was a single track line used to transport ore to loading bins on the Dalton & Lark spur, a rail line that already existed between Revere (later Dalton) station of Rio Grande Western, and the drain tunnel located at what would later become the town of Lark. The spur had been built by Bingham Consolidated, but was engineered by RGW and operated by them until they bought the spur in late 1903. All of the officers of the new Bingham Central company were also officers of Utah Copper, including A. C. Ellis, Jr., who was president of both the railroad and the copper company. The projected road would connect with the newly completed lines of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake, and the Western Pacific at Salt Lake City. Then, either the San Pedro or the WP would move the ore trains over their own lines along the south shore of Great Salt Lake to Utah Copper's new mill at Garfield.

October 2, 1907
The Bingham Central Railroad was "recently" incorporated to take over the Mascotte tunnel of the Ohio Copper Company. President was A. C. Ellis. (Engineering and Contract, Volume 28, July-December 1907, October 2, 1907, page 29, Google Books)

January 1910
The following excerpts come from the January 8, 1910 issue of The Mining World:

The Mascotte tunnel is owned and operated by the Bingham Central Railway Co., and primarily was built to afford transportation of the Ohio Copper Co.'s ore to its new mill, and without which, it is doubtful if the Ohio could operate at a satisfactory profit. The portal of this tunnel is on the Lark side of the range. In addition to being a transportation tunnel it drains the territory it taps, furnishing ample water for the full operation of the Ohio Copper Co.'s mill. Being so closely identified with the Ohio, the tunnel or railway controlling same, has scarcely been considered apart from the mining company, and its management is under the same local supervision as that of the Ohio-Colin McIntosh.

The tunnel is single tracked, and this fact has caused a belief that it could not take care of additional traffic, and even in some quarters, that it could not take care of all of the requirements of the Ohio. If requirements warrant, a parallel tunnel can he driven more quickly, and with less expense than to enlarge the present one to a double track.

The tunnel is about 14,300 ft. long, it being completed to a point about 300 ft. beyond the collar of the Ohio shaft.

The tunnel is equipped with a splendid electric haulage system, and the trains are operated on a schedule in the same manner as if it were a surface railroad, 18 round trips being made per day. At present a train consists of one 10-ton General Electric locomotive, with 15 five- ton cars. This gives a daily haulage capacity of 1310 tons per train. Four trains per day can be easily operated to the ore bins of the Ohio inside the mines at the tunnel level. As many more trains to other properties could be handled by starting them say two minutes apart after the Ohio trains, and these could be switched to their respective destinations at the points where the properties connect with the Mascotte tunnel. The company has already planned to double the carrying capacity by making trains of 30 cars, carrying 150 tons per trip, and for the equipment of these trains have ordered from the Westinghouse Co. a tandem electric locomotive, each "tandem" of a 20-ton capacity. This will, with two trains per day, enable the Ohio to deliver 5400 tons to its mill. It will also be seen what the haulage capacity per day, through a single track tunnel, can be brought up to. It is not overstating to say that, under the system of operation as planned, with four properties using the tunnel, not less than 40,000 tons per day of ore could be readily handled.

The ore bins at the tunnel level, in the Ohio, are 165 ft. long and have 64 gates. Their capacity is 4000 tons. The tunnel at the bins is double tracked. Everything is arranged for the rapid loading of cars, and while the loaded train is on its way to the mill, a train of empties having been previously set, is being loaded.

April 6, 1913
Bingham Consolidated connected their Yosemite shaft with Ohio Copper's Mascotte Tunnel. (Engineering and Mining Journal, April 19, 1913, p. 828)

(Bingham Consolidated became part of the Bingham Mines Company in 1907.) (As part of the Heinze reorganization?)

By 1913, Bingham Consolidated's Mascotte tunnel had been greatly improved and was the home of a high production, three-mile long, double-track, electrified mining railroad that had been christened the "Bingham Central Railroad". During this time, the Ohio Copper company alone was shipping over 65,000 tons of copper ore per month to their Lark concentrator mill, by way of the Mascotte Tunnel. (Wegg, p. 48)

September 1914
The following comes from the September 26, 1914 issue of Engineering and Mining Journal:

Ohio Copper Co. Bankruput -- A friendly petition in bankruptcy was filed in New York on Sept. 16 against the Ohio Copper Mining Co, by certain Utah creditors. Under a joint bond of $20,000, M. J. Hirsch and George C. Austin were named receivers in New York.

The Ohio Copper Mining Co. is a successor to the Ohio Copper Co. and it is stated that its liabilities amount to $170.000, aside from its mortgage bonds on which it defaulted interest payment Sept. 1. The aftairs of the company have lately been in the hands of a new management headed by Pres. W. O. Allison. For a number of years the management had been controlled by F. Augustus Heinze, who still controls the Bingham Central railway, which transports the Ohio ore. The Ohio company sued to recover for alleged excess transport charges and the Bingham Central retaliated by suing for money due for services. The Ohio accounts were attached and these steps, in conjunction with the business situation and the decline in the price of copper, prevented the management from carrying the company's operation to a satisfactory conclusion.

The mine in the Bingham district and the mill at Lark, Utah, have been closed. (Engineering and Mining Journal, September 26, 1914, Volume 98, Number 13) (Heinze died on November 4, 1914)

1917
Moodys Analyses of Investments, Steam Railroads, for 1917 reported the following for the Bingham Central Railway:

History: Incorporated under laws of Utah, May, 1908, for the purpose of constructing a railway between Bingham and Salt Lake City, Utah, and various mines in the vicinity, a distance of 30 miles. 3.5 miles of 2-foot railway is in operation, of which about 3 miles is tunnel, extending from Lark to mines.

Location: Lark, Utah, to mines. Equipment: Electric locomotives, 5; 150 steel ore cars, 50 of which are side-discharge, and 100 bottom-discharge, and 2,225 h.p. 150 k.w. 600 volt motor-generator sets.

Reorganization: Proposed reorganization plan of the Ohio Copper Co. provides that $850,000 stock of the new company is to be reserved in the treasury for possible purchase of this property which transports the company's ore from the mines to smelter.

Management: OFFICERS: Alfred Frank, Pres. and Gen Mgr., Salt Lake City, Utah; Frederick Eckstein, Treas., New York; P. T. Farnsworth, Secy., Salt Lake City. DIRECTORS: Alfred Frank, W. H. King, J. E. Bergh, J. W. Caswell, P. T. Farnsworth, Salt Lake City, Utah; Frederick Eckstein, New York. Annual meeting, third Wednesday in Sept. GENERAL OFFICE, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Bonded Debt: $975,000 Bingham Central Ry. 1st 6s. Dated April 1, 1908; due April 1, 1948. Interest paid A. and 0. 1, at company's office in New York City. Coupon and registered, $100 and $1,000. Metropolitan Trust Co., Trustee. Authorized, $3,000,000. $900,000 reserved for construction of railway to Salt Lake City; $500,000 reserved for additional trackage; $375,000 for tunnel section, and $250,000 for additional equipment. Sinking fund of $75,000 per annum became operative April 1, 1911. Callable at 105 and interest. First lien on entire property. Income tax is not deducted from interest. In default.

Capital Stock: Authorized, $3,000,000 6% cumulative preferred and $5,000,000 common. Outstanding, $975,000 pfd. and $1,624,987 common. Par, both issues, $100. Prefo:red has preference for assets and dividends. Stock transferred and registered at Salt Lake City, Utah. (Moodys Analyses of Investments, Steam Railroads, 1917, page 794)

1918
The Bingham Central Railway was shown in 1918 as being controlled by the estate of F. Augustus Heinze, after his death in November 1914. "The Mascotte tunnel, controlled by the Heinze Estate, through the Bingham Central railway, exacts a toll of 15 cts. per ton on all ore extracted along that avenue, yielding a very considerable revenue to the owners." (The Mines Handbook, Volume 13, Ohio Copper Mining Co., page 1366)

Papers in the Ohio Copper collection at Utah State Historical Society indicate that the Bingham Central Railway remained in existence as late as 1924. These papers also indicate that at some point, Utah Copper sold its interest in Bingham Central Railway to Ohio Copper, possibly as part of a group that may or may not have included Bingham Mines Company, as successor to Bingham Consolidated. Whatever the case, the tunnel remained in regular use as United States Mining Company's Lark tunnel until mid 1952 when Kennecott completed a new 3.9-mile tunnel at its own expense to replace the original Mascotte tunnel. The United States company shut down all of it mining and smelting operations in Utah in late 1971. More research is needed.

February 1934
Upon his death on February 19, 1934, Charles A. Kittle was reported as being the president of Ohio Copper Company, and vice president of Bingham Central Railway, indicating that the two companies were closely associated. (New York Times, February 20, 1934)

March 1939
Upon his death on March 17, 1939, Donald G. Goss was reported as being a director of both Ohio Copper Company and Bingham Central Railway. (New York Times, March 18, 1939)

April 15, 1951
The new Lark tunnel for United States Smelting, Refining and Mining was "bored through" on Sunday April 15, 1951. The work had started two and a half years before, with Kennecott paying the full cost of $6 million. The length was reported as 21,014 feet, or 3.9 miles. Construction was being completed by Utah Construction company. The tunnel was at the 5600-foot level, and a shaft would be completed to connect the new tunnel with the old Niagara tunnel at the 6688-foot level. Work began in November 1948, and was scheduled for completion in summer 1952. (Deseret News, April 16, 1951)

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