From the Ground Up: A History of Mining in Utah

by Colleen Whitley (Editor)

Despite mining's multidimensional role in the history of Utah since Euro-american settlement, there has never been a book that surveyed and contextualized its impact. From the Ground Up fill that gap with a collection of essays by leading Utah historians and geologists. Essays here address the geology of the state, the economic history of mining in Utah, and the lore of mines and miners. Additionally, the book reviews a handul of particularly significant mineral industries---saline, coal, uranium, and beryllium---and surveys important hard-rock mining regions of the state.

Genres: History

508 pages, Hardcover

First published September 14, 2006

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished this book! Overall it was pretty good. Written by a plethora of people, so some sections weren't great...but overall I am glad to have read it and learned a lot about places I knew nothing about. I would have liked it more had it not been written by professional historians, which were sometimes more concerned with the histories of mining towns, rather than the mines themselves. Good sections on Bingham, General Conner, Uranium, Silver Reef, Cottonwoods. Chapters on Tintic and Unita Basin were very poorly done. But overall a good jumping off point to get more into mining history books.

It did give me a good idea of early mining, what and how much was mined, and what the size and ability of the operations were. I often go through old mine areas and wonder, "what was this place really about?". It is hard to envision a thriving town, now gone, and just how big and profitable it was. But this book gives you a good sense of a lot of these old sites and gave me a greater appreciation for what the early settlers were able to accomplish.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely detailed look at the mining industries in the state of Utah. I loved learning about gilsonite--a very dangerous hydrocarbon that is only commercially mined in the Uinta Basin. It fractures into needle-like pieces that cut skin and its dust is highly flammable. The book also gives a great history of the Park City area, the Bingham copper mine (Rio Tinto/Kennicott) and coal mining in the mountains around Price. If it is (or has been) mined in Utah, it is in this book. Really interesting historical material--including the story of High Mass in the St. George tabernacle. Who knew?