1 / 5
Description
[Photographs]
The silver mines near Salt Lake City, 1870s–1880s
4 photographic plates, albumen prints, 21 x 25.5 cm, mounted on stiff cardboard, 30.5 x 38 cm, with title and captions in pen, taken by Charles Roscoe Savage (1832–1909), one of the pioneers of photography in the American West, based in Salt Lake City.
Good condition (a few foxing spots and stains)
Three rare prints depicting the silver mine and smelter at Frisco (Utah) and the silver smelter at Franklin (Utah), owned by the Horn Silver Mines Company, late 1870s–early 1880s.
The mining town of Frisco was one of the most important mining camps in Utah in the late 19th century. Silver was discovered there in 1875 by two prospectors who, by chance, examined a strangely shaped rock and found it to be rich in pure silver. They applied for a mining concession, then immediately sold it on for $25,000. These men no doubt thought they had struck it rich, but they were unaware that they had just sold a mining concession that would eventually yield over $50 million worth of silver.
In 1879, there were two smelting works, one of which was notable for having charcoal furnaces built directly on the smelting works site.
Insert:
Miners at the Bonanza silver mines in Virginia City (Nevada), photograph by John S. Noe, 16 x 21 cm, mounted on heavy card
Map showing the location of the principal mining companies in the Blue Gravel channel situated in the Sierra and Nevada regions, by P. Huerne, San Francisco, 1880, 77 x 114 cm (accdts)
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like