EARLY MINING AND INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES
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time. Today about ten homes, including some summer residences, now constitute the old town. Surrounding mining districts in the Gold Hill area, although not all were in Tooele County, were the Spring Creek, Johnson, and Fish Springs districts. The coming of the railroad gave the mines a boost, and the Gold Hill mines became famous in western mining circles. The Rube Mine, a one-man operation, shipped about $10,000 in gold each year. When Leffler Palmer finally leased the mine out, however, it failed to produce gold after 1933.53
Willow Springs District Gold mining developed in the eastern foothills of the Deep Creek Mountains as a result of the b o o m at Gold Hill, which was just a few miles northwest of Willow Springs. Callao in Juab County became the center point for much of the activity that took place there and in other s u r r o u n d i n g m i n i n g camps. 54 The Willow Springs Mining District was formed on 21 May 1891. The boundaries basically were north to Overland Canyon, south to Red Canyon, west to the summit of the mountains, and east to Boyd Station. 55 G.W. Tripp was the district's deputy recorder in 1892 when the Burr Trail Mine in Pole Canyon a n d the Ricklean Mine in Dry Canyon were recorded. Other mines in the district were the Knutsford, the Ulster Farmer Lode (near Riley Canyon), the Lura Lode on the eastern slopes on the Deep Creek Range, and the Daisy Mine, south of the old Overland road and 1.5 miles n o r t h of the North Pass wagon road. The Hosp placer claim was located upon a bed of petroleum and other hydrocarbons. The Bull Elephant Mine was recorded in Dry Canyon in 1896, and l o h n St. Jeor and Alex Spiers were listed as locators. Other mines in the district were the Lucky Strike, White Horse, Eclipse, Monarch, and Silver Issue.56
Erickson Mining
District
Originally called the C o t t o n w o o d Mining District of Tooele County, the Erickson (also spelled Erekson) Mining District was established on 30 January 1894 at the ranch of brothers Ted and Norman Erickson in the pass connecting the Sheeprock and Simpson mountains near the Tooele-Iuab county border. 57
