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Kennecott's
Bingham Canyon Mine Pictures
Taken by Utah Outdoor Activities 
Bingham
Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine Click
For Larger Picture
Bingham
Canyons history begins back in 1848 when it was first settled by two
brothers, Thomas and Sanford Bingham. The brothers thought it was a great
place to quietly raise cattle and cut timber. But the rich deposits of
metals, and the later coming of the railroads, dramatically changed the
future of the canyon. In 1863, Colonel Patrick Conner sent soldiers of the
Third California Infantry, stationed at Fort Douglas on Salt Lake City's
eastern foothills, to the Oquirrhs. His soldiers, many of them ex-miners,
are credited with discovering the mineral wealth of Bingham Canyon,
and Conner with organizing the are as a mining district.
Before
1869, fewer than 100 miners, mostly Irish, Welsh, Cornish, and
Anglo-Americans, lived in crude cabins and dugouts along the canyon walls.
By 1870, the population in the canyon had more than doubled, to 276. In
1871, Bingham Canyon's population was large enough to be organized as a
voting precinct of Salt Lake County.
News
of the mineral rich Bingham Canyon reached the world in 1873 and beckoned
immigrant miners. An underground mining boom was on! The town of Bingham
Canyon was incorporated in 1904. That was the same year the Bingham Merc,
the canyon's greatest community landmark, opened. The Merc became the
central point of the canyon and it flourished until it closed in 1956.
With
the introduction of large-scale, open-pit mining methods in 1906,
immigrants from all over the globe came to Bingham Canyon to seek their
fortunes and find the "American Dream". By 1912, Bingham's
population was 65 percent foreign-born. In 1914 the population had grown
to 10,000. At their peak, the towns of Bingham Canyon, Copperfield,
Highland Boy and numerous smaller mine camps had between 15,000 and 20,000
residents. In 1927, the Utah Copper Company started to build a planned
residential community called Copperton at the mouth of Bingham Canyon.
Today only two of the original towns exist, Copperton and Magna.
Kennecott
has touched many Utahan's lives. My father for example worked for
Kennecott for 17 years. In his 17 yrs of employment he experienced the
good and the bad times. He managed to survive and continue to provide for
his family through 3 different lay offs. Kennecott has been able to
provide a good living for many Salt Lake families. Thanks to the
opportunities my father had while employed with Kennecott, my father was
able to introduce me to mining, an interest that has never wavered. I
still remember my first visit to the Bingham Mine. I was awed by its
magnitude. Due to the continued operations of Kennecott's visitors center
I was able to share the same experience with my family. The
Bingham Canyons Mine Visitor Center
Standing
about 6700 feet above sea level, at the mine overlook within the Bingham
Canyon Mine, you can see, hear and feel the breathtaking and awesome
magnitude of the largest man-made excavation on earth. More than three
quarters of a mile deep and 2 1/2 miles wide, this mine, which is on the
National Register of Historic Sites, is just one of the two man-made
objects on earth that can be seen by astronauts from outer space. The
other is the Great Wall Of China. 
From
the overlook visitors can watch 255-to-360-ton capacity haulage trucks
deliver copper ore to the in-pit crusher, where the material is reduced to
the size of a soccer balls before being loaded onto a five-mile conveyor
that carries the ore to the Copperton Concentrator. 
Picture
Of The Crusher Click
For Larger Picture
More
than six billion tons of material have been mined to produce more than 16
million tons of copper metal since surface mining operations began in
1906. In addition, vast quantities of by-product gold, silver and
molybdenum have also been produced from this mine. 
Picture
Of Haulage Truck Being Loaded Click
For Larger Picture
By
visiting the modern visitors center you can view displays of artifacts and
learn the history of this world famous mine. You can also watch a 14
minute video presentation that takes you into other Kennecott Utah Copper
plant facilities to follow the production of copper from low grade ore in
the mine, to 99.99 percent pure copper in the refinery. 
Picture
Of Some Of The Old Mining Artifacts Click
For Larger Picture Directions
And Other Information
The
Visitor Center is open to the public seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to
8:00 p.m. April 1 to October 31, Weather permitting. Annually,
approximately $100,000 from admissions fees are collected and donated to
local charities and non-profit organizations. The charge is as follows:
Passenger Vehicles $4.00; Mini Tour Buses $20.00: Tour Buses $40.00. There
is no admission charge for school buses. Click
Here
To Get Map
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