(This page printed from UtahRails.net, Copyright 2000-2012 Don Strack)

Aerial Tramways in Utah

Compiled by Don Strack

This page was last updated on July 11, 2011.

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

Additional Information

Overview

In the mid 1870s, a German engineer by the name of Adolf Bleichert designed what today is known as the "bicable" aerial tramway, meaning a stationary cable that supports a series of buckets that themselves are moved along by use of a hoist and moving cable, exactly the way a ski lift operates. He started the Adolf Bleichert & Company to design and install aerial tramway systems for mining companies worldwide. The U. S. license holder was the Trenton Iron Works of Trenton, New Jersey, who went on to install literally hundreds of systems, including several timber and lumber companies.

My own research in Utah's rail-served industries has found numerous bicable aerial tramways of the Bleichert design in Utah in the 1899 to 1910 era, including the system installed at Park City, Utah in 1902 at the Silver King Coalition Company's mine. The lower terminal of the Silver King Coalition became the symbol of Park City's ski industry. There were four aerial tramways in Bingham Canyon.

The cost per-ton was the deciding factor of aerial tramway versus having a railroad branchline built. The capacity of rail cars was a major factor, since at that time the typical rail car carried about 35-40 tons. In about 1905-1915, as soon as rail car and railroad capacity was increased due to steel construction for the cars and better steel for the rails, along with better infrastructure, the costs became more competitive, with aerial tramways remaining only where increasingly better earth-moving and modern civil engineering could not put in a railroad branchline. The cost-benefit studies included the mining companies having to maintain their own tramways versus the railroad maintaining their own rail lines.

The typical Bleichert aerial tramway used buckets that varied between seven and nine cubic feet, depending on the weight of ore or other product being carried, which in turn dictated the capacity, which was usually between 700 and 1000 pounds in each bucket. Early miners saw the potential of a free ride right away, and there are numerous photos and stories, just here in Utah, of men riding the buckets up and down the mountain. It would have been a very simple design change to swap a bucket for a chair.

As for the speed, a Bleichert aerial tramway used buckets that detached from the transport cable using one of Bleichert's many patents, and were suspended from the stationary cable by wheels. At each terminal, the buckets were detached and either loaded or dumped, with workers manually moving the buckets via a system of circular I-beams that looked identical to what we see at a ski lift today. The speed was slow enough that a man could walk next to the traveling cable and be able to manually attach the bucket to the moving cable, yet fast enough that tons-per-hour production was not adversely affected.

Utah Installations

(All were Bleichert design, except Yampa, which used the Leschen design.)

The Bingham-New Haven, organized on October 12, 1902, working the Zelnora claim in upper Carr Fork, was reported as having an aerial tramway connecting its mine at the top of Carr Fork, with loading bins on the Copper Belt railway. In 1912, an agreement was made with Utah Consolidated to allow underground access to Utah Con tunnels, which in turn allowed access to the Utah Con aerial tramway to the International smelter near Tooele. The underground connection was completed in December 1912, and a new smelting contract was signed with the International company in 1913. The action reduced transportation costs by 20 cents per ton. (The Copper Handbook, Volume 11, 1914, page 119)

Timeline

December 11, 1900
The towers of the Silver King aerial tramway were under construction. (Deseret News, December 11, 1900)

April 26, 1901
The wheels and rollers of the Silver King tramway have been installed, and the wires are being strung. (Deseret news, April 26, 1901)

1902
United States Mining Company - During 1902 these mines were connected with the Rio Grande Western railway, a distance of about three miles by a Bleichert wire rope tramway. This tramway was installed with an estimated capacity of sixty tons per hour. Owing to certain changes which have been found necessary since the erection, the tramway has not been able to handle the estimated capacity. Additional towers, strengthening certain parts and some minor changes in design, will, we believe make the tramway satisfactory in all respects. We expect to have these changes completed before June 1st of this year. (Salt Lake Mining Review, April 30, 1903)

December 30, 1903
"It will take about three weeks to complete the rebuilding of the tramway feeding station which recently burned at the Old Jordan mine in Bingham." (Deseret News, December 30, 1903)

February 9, 1904
"The machinery for the new headhouse of the United States Mining company's tramway at Bingham is being installed, the ropes being stretched, etc. The line will probably be in operation in a few days." (Deseret News, February 9, 1904, "Concentrates")

June 1907
The Continental aerial tramway was completed at Alta to serve the Columbus Consolidated mine, shipping 100 tons per day. (The Mining Reporter, June 6, 1907, "this week")

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