Kimberly, Utah
Encyclopedia
Kimberly is a ghost town
in the northwest corner of Piute County
, Utah
, United States
. Located high in Mill Canyon on the side of Gold Mountain in the Tushar Mountains
, Kimberly was formerly a gold mining
town. Originally settled in the 1890s, it lasted until 1910. Kimberly had a minor rebirth in the 1930s, but has been uninhabited since about 1938. The town is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Ivy Baker Priest
, a former United States Treasurer.
ted out a Mill Canyon townsite, which he named Snyder City. A few businesses sprang up in town, but the real growth began in 1899 when Pennsylvania
investor Peter Kimberly bought the Annie Laurie and other area mines. Kimberly incorporated his holdings as the Annie Laurie Consolidated Gold Mining Company, which established a gold cyanidation
mill here.
shape. Kimberly quickly became the leading gold camp in the state, with two hotels, two stores, three saloons, and two newspapers. In 1900 the county formed the Gold Mountain School District, and a log schoolhouse was built. Enrollment peaked at 89 in 1903. Kimberly's school year was just the opposite of the North American norm: children attended school from April through November to avoid the deep snows of winter.
The boom period of 1901–1908 is considered to be the town's heyday; the Annie Laurie Company absorbed several other mines and paid out nearly $500,000 in dividend
s during this time. By 1902 the Annie Laurie employed 300 miners, and Kimberly's population reached 500. The steep canyon road was constantly filled with wagons carrying ore
, bullion, and supplies to and from the railroad station at the town of Sevier
. The heavy traffic kept the road passable through the winter. It was during this period that Ivy Baker Priest
was born in 1905, in a house at the north end of Lower Kimberly. She later became United States Treasurer under President Dwight D. Eisenhower
.
Like most mining camps, Kimberly was known as a wild and vice-ridden place. Its brothel
s were famous, and drunkenness was commonplace. The town had problems with violence, even murder. The two-cell jail was said to be the strongest within 100 miles (160.9 km).
, paying workers in scrip
redeemable only at the company store. Miners began resigning in disgust. The company borrowed heavily to build a new processing mill, and was caught in a vulnerable position by the Panic of 1907
. The Annie Laurie Consolidated Gold Mining Company declared bankruptcy
in 1910, closing the mines and the town. Combined company assets, for which Peter Kimberly had refused an offer of $5,000,000 in 1902, sold at auction
for $31,000. The 1910 United States Census recorded Kimberly's population as 8.
For years only a few men remained at Kimberly, doing minor maintenance. Then in 1931 a new vein
of ore was opened up and a smaller mill built. The company hired some 50 men to work the mine, and Kimberly was revived. The new body of gold and silver ore was mined out by 1938; Kimberly was re-abandoned. Most of the salvageable buildings were moved away by 1942. Both Piute County and the Gold Hill Mining Company claimed ownership of the old jailhouse; after staying at Kimberly for many years it was moved to Pioneer Village
, at Lagoon Amusement Park
in northern Utah.
Kimberly's high elevation makes it inaccessible for much of the year, but many remnants of the town are still visible. The upper part of the canyon is filled with tailings
. Ruins of many log and frame buildings line the lower canyon, the skeleton of the Annie Laurie mill is still standing, and a few mine buildings are largely intact.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
in the northwest corner of Piute County
Piute County, Utah
Piute County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. The population in 2000 was 1,435, and by 2005 had been estimated to decrease to 1,365. It was named for the Paiute tribe of Native Americans. The county seat is Junction and the largest city is Circleville.-Geography:According to the U.S...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Located high in Mill Canyon on the side of Gold Mountain in the Tushar Mountains
Tushar Mountains
The Tushar Mountains are the third highest mountain range in Utah after the Uinta Mountains and the La Sal Range. Located in the Fishlake National Forest, Delano Peak, 12,174 ft NAVD 88, is the highest point in both Beaver and Piute counties and has a prominence of 4,689 ft...
, Kimberly was formerly a gold mining
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
town. Originally settled in the 1890s, it lasted until 1910. Kimberly had a minor rebirth in the 1930s, but has been uninhabited since about 1938. The town is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Ivy Baker Priest
Ivy Baker Priest
Ivy Baker Priest was an American political figure. Born in Kimberly, Utah, she was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....
, a former United States Treasurer.
Foundation
Prospectors began to strike gold in the Gold Mountain area as early as 1888. Newton Hill located the famous Annie Laurie mines here in 1891, and Willard Snyder developed the Bald Mountain Mine. Snyder platPlat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
ted out a Mill Canyon townsite, which he named Snyder City. A few businesses sprang up in town, but the real growth began in 1899 when Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
investor Peter Kimberly bought the Annie Laurie and other area mines. Kimberly incorporated his holdings as the Annie Laurie Consolidated Gold Mining Company, which established a gold cyanidation
Gold cyanidation
Gold cyanidation is a metallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore by converting the gold to a water soluble coordination complex. It is the most commonly used process for gold extraction...
mill here.
Growth
The town, renamed Kimberly, began to boom. Mill Canyon's terrain naturally divided Kimberly into two sections: Upper Kimberly, the residential area higher up the canyon, and Lower Kimberly, the business district that had been Snyder City. Lower Kimberly's main street bent around the head of the canyon in a horseshoeHorseshoe
A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...
shape. Kimberly quickly became the leading gold camp in the state, with two hotels, two stores, three saloons, and two newspapers. In 1900 the county formed the Gold Mountain School District, and a log schoolhouse was built. Enrollment peaked at 89 in 1903. Kimberly's school year was just the opposite of the North American norm: children attended school from April through November to avoid the deep snows of winter.
The boom period of 1901–1908 is considered to be the town's heyday; the Annie Laurie Company absorbed several other mines and paid out nearly $500,000 in dividend
Dividend
Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
s during this time. By 1902 the Annie Laurie employed 300 miners, and Kimberly's population reached 500. The steep canyon road was constantly filled with wagons carrying ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
, bullion, and supplies to and from the railroad station at the town of Sevier
Sevier, Utah
Sevier is an unincorporated community in southwestern Sevier County, Utah, United States. It lies in the valley of the Sevier River along U.S. Route 89 southwest of the city of Richfield, the county seat of Sevier County. Its elevation is 5,584 feet . Although Sevier is unincorporated, it...
. The heavy traffic kept the road passable through the winter. It was during this period that Ivy Baker Priest
Ivy Baker Priest
Ivy Baker Priest was an American political figure. Born in Kimberly, Utah, she was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....
was born in 1905, in a house at the north end of Lower Kimberly. She later became United States Treasurer under President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
.
Like most mining camps, Kimberly was known as a wild and vice-ridden place. Its brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s were famous, and drunkenness was commonplace. The town had problems with violence, even murder. The two-cell jail was said to be the strongest within 100 miles (160.9 km).
Decline
Kimberly reached a turning point with the death of Peter Kimberly, in 1905. The Annie Laurie Company was sold to a British company that lacked experience running a mining operation. The new owners tried to cut labor costs using the truck systemTruck system
A truck system is an arrangement in which employees are paid in commodities or some currency substitute , rather than with standard money. This limits employees' ability to choose how to spend their earnings—generally to the benefit of the employer...
, paying workers in scrip
Scrip
Scrip is an American term for any substitute for currency which is not legal tender and is often a form of credit. Scrips were created as company payment of employees and also as a means of payment in times where regular money is unavailable, such as remote coal towns, military bases, ships on long...
redeemable only at the company store. Miners began resigning in disgust. The company borrowed heavily to build a new processing mill, and was caught in a vulnerable position by the Panic of 1907
Panic of 1907
The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on...
. The Annie Laurie Consolidated Gold Mining Company declared bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in 1910, closing the mines and the town. Combined company assets, for which Peter Kimberly had refused an offer of $5,000,000 in 1902, sold at auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
for $31,000. The 1910 United States Census recorded Kimberly's population as 8.
For years only a few men remained at Kimberly, doing minor maintenance. Then in 1931 a new vein
Vein (geology)
In geology, a vein is a distinct sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation...
of ore was opened up and a smaller mill built. The company hired some 50 men to work the mine, and Kimberly was revived. The new body of gold and silver ore was mined out by 1938; Kimberly was re-abandoned. Most of the salvageable buildings were moved away by 1942. Both Piute County and the Gold Hill Mining Company claimed ownership of the old jailhouse; after staying at Kimberly for many years it was moved to Pioneer Village
Pioneer Village (Utah)
Pioneer Village is located inside of the Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah. Meant to be a “living museum", Pioneer Village is intended to make the history of Utah come alive. It was founded in 1938 near Salt Lake City by Horace and Ethel Sorensen...
, at Lagoon Amusement Park
Lagoon Amusement Park
Lagoon is an amusement park in Farmington, Utah, United States located about seventeen miles north of Salt Lake City. It is privately owned...
in northern Utah.
Kimberly's high elevation makes it inaccessible for much of the year, but many remnants of the town are still visible. The upper part of the canyon is filled with tailings
Tailings
Tailings, also called mine dumps, slimes, tails, leach residue, or slickens, are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore...
. Ruins of many log and frame buildings line the lower canyon, the skeleton of the Annie Laurie mill is still standing, and a few mine buildings are largely intact.