South Utah Mines and Smelters - Mining Stock Certificate

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Mines at Newhouse, Utah. San Francisco Mining District. Beaver County, Utah.

Newhouse is a ghost town located on the eastern edge of the Wah Wah Valley in Beaver County, Utah, United States. A silver mining town based on the Cactus Mine on the western slopes of the San Francisco Mountains, Newhouse was smaller and quieter than Frisco, 5 miles (8.0 km) to the southeast.

The Cactus Mine was first identified as a silver mine in 1870, one of the earliest in the San Francisco Mining District. A succession of companies over the next thirty years failed to profit from the mine. A small smelter was built here in 1892, but was never successful. Everything changed in 1900, when Samuel Newhouse bought the property. A wealthy Salt Lake City entrepreneur, Newhouse had successfully financed the development of copper mining at the Bingham Canyon Mine two years before. Finally, enough capital was available to make the Cactus Mine workable. The mining camp that formed on his land was initially known as Tent Town, for the temporary nature of its dwellings.

Under Newhouse's management, the silver mining business began to boom. By 1905, the town, now named Newhouse, had many permanent structures, including a restaurant, library, livery stable, hospital, stores, hotel, opera house, and dance hall. Samuel Newhouse was an experienced developer and promoter, and he kept tight control over his company town. He built over seventy stucco company houses for miners to rent. The company piped water 5 miles (8.0 km) from the Wah Wah Springs and installed an electrical generation system. A town park was irrigated with excess water left over from mining and culinary use. As owner, Newhouse named the town's businesses, such as the Cactus Trading Company, the Cactus Club, the Cactus Dancehall, and the Cactus Cafe, after the mine. Public drunkenness was strictly forbidden, and the only saloon permitted was built a mile from town, off of Newhouse's property. Newhouse offered a $50 prize to the first parents to have a baby in Newhouse, and he gave all the town's children Christmas presents.

Newhouse's success was short-lived. By 1910, the Cactus Mine was worked out, and other area mines never amounted to much. During the high metal market prices of World War I, the Utah Leasing Company built a 700 ton flotation mill to rework the Cactus mill tailings, one of the first of its kind. Between 1915 and 1918, the company extracted copper and zinc, shipped the concentrate to Salt Lake valley smelters, and made $120,000 profit. The operation revived the town until the post-war mineral market collapse caused the plant's closure in 1919. Most of the miners took their families elsewhere. Many buildings, including the well-built dance hall, were moved 30 miles (48 km) away to Milford. The cafe kept operating, serving those few miners who stayed on, until it burned down in 1921.

In 1922, filmmakers came to Newhouse to make the silent film The Covered Wagon.

Dozens of ruined buildings, foundations, and rubble remain at the town site.

Following Excerpt from Mining Handbook:

Office: 165 Broadway, New York. Mine office: Newhouse. Beaver county. Utah. Officers: Hugo Hoffstaedter. pres.; H. G. Robinson, sec.-treas., with E. P. Earle and Samuel Newhouse. directors; W. L. Heidenrcich, gen. mgr. Inc. Feb. 28. 1910. in Maine, as successor of Newhouse Mines & Smelters. Cap., $5,000.000: shares $5 par; issued $4,300.000. Debentures: $919.000 of 6%. 20-year income bonds, convertible into stock at par. remaining from a Sl.500.000 bond issue put out by the Newhouse Mines & Smelters. Interest on bonds is said to be payable annually, but only if and when earned, and then out of net profits of the year's operations.

The old company defaulted in interest on its bonds, and the property was bought for $500,000 under foreclosure, old shareholders being given stock, share for share, plus a pavment of $1 per share for new stock. The reorganization brought about $600,000 into the treasury, of which all but about $200.000 was required to liquidate the floating debt of the old company. The annual report for year ended June 30. 1918. showed an operating loss of $16.112. increasing a former deficit to $188,572, and gave current assets as $83,060 and current liabilities as $7,650. No report has since been issued. Listed on Boston Stock Exchange and on New York Curb. Equitable Trust Co.. New York, transfer agent: Windsor Trust Co., registrar.

Annual meeting, third Monday in October Property the Cactus mine, 13 claims, with miscellaneous holdings, including the Midvale placer. 168 acres, water rights at Wah Wah springs, mill, town sites and grazing lands, total holdings of 7.882 acres. The Cactus mine shows monzonite-porphyry country rock, near a limestone .contact, and ore is essentially an irregular mass of brecciated monzonite, carrying copper impregnations, including some oxidized ores in the upper workings, but at depth mainly chalcopyrite. associated with pyrite. There is about 168,000 tons of developed low-grade ore scattered about the mine that averages 1.30% copper. Much of this ore will assay only 1.03%, while some of the smaller blocks consist of 1.75% ore. Such material can be profitably handled in the company's mill with flotation units, but as there seems to be no chance of finding additional orebodies it will not pay to reopen the mine and remodel the mill.

Development: by two working shafts of 600' and 900' depth, with levels at 100' intervals, and connected on the 600' level with a 6,300' main haulage tunnel. The mine has upwards of 4 miles of workings. Equipment: includes 200-h. p. steam plant, with a 150-h. p. hoist good for 600', and a 40-drill air compressor, both operated electrically. There also is an auxiliary electric hoist on the second level. The mine and mill are connected with the Salt Lake Route. Mill: the 1,000-ton mill contains three 10x24" crushers, 4 sets of rolls. 1 Huntington mill, 22 Harz jigs, 58 tables, 8 slimers, 16 Callow tanks, settling tanks and classifiers.

The old tailings were treated by Utah Leasing Co. on a royalty basis. Ik 1914 a $175,000 flotation plant was built for this purpose. The tailings were exhausted in 1919. and the company plans treating their ore reserves in this mill. The untreated tailings contained less than 10 Ib. copper per ton. Production: from 1906 to mid-1914, amounted to 22,412.082 Ib. copper: 146,148 O7. silver and 6,443 oz. gold. Mine will not be reopened, but the company is free from debt and has about $70,000 in the treasury, in addition to the mine and mill equipment at Newhouse. It is on the lookout for mining properties worthy of development.

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