George A. Thompson (1961)
From UTAH TREASURE ASSOCIATION Newsletter
Volume 3 Number 12
June 18, 2004
The Newfoundland Mountains are located in Box Elder County in the northwestern corner of Utah. These mountains, surrounded on all sides by the Great Salt Lake Desert, are not a part of any other chain. A most desolate and foreboding place.
Most early emigrants bypassed the area, partly due to lack of water, timber and feed for livestock, but chiefly because the mountains were not on any well known or traveled trail at the time. The now famous Hastings Cutoff" did pass to the south of the mountains, but very few used this route, the ill-fated Donner party being the last exception.
The desert area was first organized as the Box Elder mining district in 1866, later the mountain areas as the Newfoundland District. Although there is considerable evidence of early day mining on the range, there is little written record of the activity.
There is at least one original shaft, which appears to be several hundred feet deep. Considering the hand methods used at the time, these diggings represent a great deal of time and labor.
What most of the old diggings were worked for is unknown. A number of people, well versed in mining and mineralogy, have examined the sites and found no mineral of great value, certainly nothing which would warrant the extent of the workings.
There are a number of fascinating reminders of early activity, one of the most interesting of which is a large group of grey sandstone rocks located at the northwest end of the range. Names are written on them that date back to 1853.
Near the northwest end of the range, an old stone house or fort, a large two-room building is situated high on a windy ridge. The house stands like a guardian overlooking the desert below. Up a side canyon from the house are several old mine tunnels.
In a high and open basin a mile southeast of where the stone house is located, remains perhaps the least known of the old-time mining camps, Boston Terrace. Most of the buildings are gone. Only some foundations and other remains are evidence of the camp. Just what the camp consisted of is hard to say, but some information was found from some old-timers and a search of old records.
Reportedly, in the 1860s, ore of considerable value was found, and a number of Swedish miners formed a group and packed in supplies enough to build a camp.
According to available information, the Swede camp operated far several years, the miners staying at the property, going into Ogden only once a year. They had a bookkeeper at Ogden who kept their accounts, selling the ore they shipped and banking the receipts. At the end of a particularly productive year, when they had sent a large amount of valuable ore to town for sale, the miners went into Ogden to settle their accounts, buy supplies for another year, and celebrate the end of their year's work. Upon the arrival at Ogden, they discovered the bookkeeper had gone South with their money, reportedly about $65,000. A small fortune in those days!! Whether the miners had no capitol to return to the diggings, or whether they were just too disgusted is uncertain; at any rate they did not return, leaving their camp just as it lay.
Editor's Note: Club member, John Urses found this article in a 1967 Old West magazine. It is about 3 pages long with photos, I have revised and edited it to fit on one page. It is common knowledge that there were other attempts to mine this area over the years. In the 1950s, George A. Thompson, the noted Utah historian, took part in a mining operation there himself. This is the most information that I have come across on the town or the mining operations.
Good Luck! Dave Kyle
