Frisco Mine, Beaver County, Utah

Settlement of Utah began as early as the summer of 1847, with a population of 155 men, women, and children. Within three years, the population, mostly Mormon families, had risen to 11,000. This led to the formation of the Utah Territory. Statehood would not be granted until 1896, however. Prior to the 1850s, settlement in the area included those interested in pursuing farming activities.

Beaver County, in southwestern Utah, soon became the first in the Utah Territory to focus its economy on mining. Beaver County was formed in 1856 from lands in the former Iron and Millard Counties. Iron County was established in 1852, while Millard had formed in 1851 from Juab County. Among the earliest towns in Beaver County were the county seat at Beaver and the towns of Minersville and Milford. The 1860 census indicates that there were immigrants from Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, and Canada, and emigrants from 21 different states in the area; occupations noted in the census included farmers, farm laborers, carpenters, blacksmiths, teamsters, shoemakers, servants, and school teachers, and virtually all of the landowners were recorded as men.

As noted in A. H. Ricketts' 1931 publication, American Mining Law With Forms and Precedents, by July of 1866, Congress had passed several acts declaring public lands open to mineral exploration. At the same time, a number of mining districts had formed in the surrounding mountains, including claims in both the Mineral and San Francisco Mountains, indicating that some of these residents sought to supplement their incomes. Following the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, prospecting and exploitation activities increased throughout Utah. In 1872, Congress revised this legislation under the Act of Congress of 1872 (Title XXII Revised Statutes of the U.S. Section 2319–2346), also known as the General Law of Mining, to promote the development of the mining resources of the United States.

Approximately 50 miles northwest of the town of Beaver and 17 miles west of Milford, miners had by the 1870s discovered silver, copper, lead, zinc, and gold in the San Francisco Mountains. The San Francisco Mining District formed in August of 1871, and by February of 1879, the Horn Silver Mining Company organized, encompassing the claims for the Silver Horn, Blackbird, King David, Cactus, Carbonate, Rattler, Comet, Yellow Jacket, and Imperial mines. By 1920, more than 74 claims had been filed within the San Francisco Mining District.

One of the earliest and most lucrative of these discoveries was made near a stage stop at Squaw Springs by James Ryan and Samuel Hawkes. These men located a high-grade silver vein, which they sold to Matt Cullen, Dennis Ryan, and A. G. Campbell. Investors, including Jay Cooke, J. P. Morgan, and several financiers from Salt Lake City, purchased the Horn Silver Mine in 1879 for $5 million. The Horn Silver stake has been likened to the ore body found at the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada. In 1879, the United States Annual Mining Review and Stock Ledger recorded the Horn Silver Mine as “the richest silver mine in the world now being worked.” The Frisco Mining and Smelting Company employed 18 men on 8- to 12-hour shifts to work the Horn Silver Mine, paying them wages of $3.00 to $4.00 per day. Minerals and ores recovered from the Horn Silver Mine included lead, copper, silver, gold, zinc, antimony, and arsenic.

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