Regulator Johnson, the Man Behind the Legend

Regulator Johnson, the Man Behind the Legend

By CHARLES L. KELLER

Big Cottonwood Canyon is a major drainage on the west slopes of the Wasatch Mountains, the mouth of the canyon being about twelve miles southeast from downtown Salt Lake City. About six miles up that canyon is Mineral Fork, a tributary flowing in from the south. High in the southwest corner of the bowl at the head of Mineral Fork, at an elevation of over ten thousand feet above sea level, is found the remains of a mine known as the Regulator Johnson. That name became well known as a result of it appearing on the United States Geological Survey Dromedary Peak topographical map. It gained greater popularity when the Snowbird Ski Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, about a mile south of the mine, used the name for one of its expert ski runs. Many hikers have gone up Mineral Fork and climbed the endless switchbacks on the road to the mine and many skiers from all over the world know of, or have skied the Regulator Johnson run. The name has become somewhat legendary, as has the man behind it, in spite of the fact that no one seems to know much about him, if indeed he ever did exist.

The mining town of Alta.

Actually, he did. His name was John S. Johnson, one of many Scandinavians who The mining town of Alta. immigrated into Utah in the second half of the nineteenth century. He was a member of a smaller group that drifted into the territory’s mining camps, in this case Alta, at the head of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Most of them were destined to spend their lives at hard labor, never achieving much beyond their daily existence. All dreamed of the riches and fame that would accompany a major strike, but only a few were destined to rise above the masses to achieve a modicum of success, to own mines and form their own mining companies. John S. Johnson was one of those who, in spite of repeated hardships and tragedies, managed to fare a little better than his fellow immigrants.

Johnson immigrated to the United States from his native Norway in 1863 at the age of nineteen and was living at Alta in 1870, the first important mining season in that mining district. 1 Whether he had mining experience before coming to Alta is not known, but his name appeared on at least four claims that first year. 2 The problem with identifying his claims at this late date is that during his first three years in the mining camp he signed his name as John Johnson, a very common name that he shared with a number of other miners. He may have recognized this problem himself because in 1873 he began to sign his name as John S. Johnson or J. S. Johnson, a practice he continued for the rest of his life.

During the first few years, his activities can be traced by the men who shared his claims, one of them being John Olson, a Swede who teamed with Johnson for over thirty years. 3 Of the four claims that first year, Johnson soon sold his share in three of them. The fourth was the Regulator, located high on the north slope above Grizzly Gulch and paralleling the Grizzly claim, which had been established only four months earlier, and was already making a name for itself. Johnson and Olson kept this claim and began working it. In May of 1871 they filed a claim on Johnson No.2, a doglegged plot located on the east side of and overlapping the Regulator. The No.2 was appended to differentiate it from an earlier Johnson claim recorded by a different man with the same last name. 4 While Johnson continued prospecting, filing claims and working in other mines, he became well known as the owner and operator of the Regulator and Johnson mines. It was, perhaps, inevitable that he would become known as “Regulator” Johnson among his fellow Alta residents, a name that outlived him and still is known today. While the Regulator mine was not one of Alta’s major ore producers, it was consistent in shipping small lots for nearly thirty years.

Meanwhile, Johnson appeared in the news for other reasons: in June 1879, while working in the Evergreen mine, he was removing a faulty powder charge when it exploded, breaking his leg and mutilating his hands and one side of his face, his left eye reported being blown from its socket. He was brought into the city for hospital care and was left with scars and disfigurement that he carried for the rest of his life. He was thirty-five years old at the time.Years later, two Big Cottonwood Canyon residents remembered “his face had been disfigured, and parts of his hands had been blown off by an explosion. He always wore kid gloves, dressed in black, and wore a gold watch chain.” It was further reported he was left with a defect in one eye and had lost two fingers on each hand. His “left limb,” presumably his leg, was out of shape. 5

It is not known how long Johnson was in the hospital or what he did after he was released. What is known is that about this same time, most likely before his accident, he acquired a bride, Louisa M., a young woman fifteen years his junior, and moved into a house on Second South Street between Sixth and Seventh East in Salt Lake City.They bought the house in March of 1881, with the deed being in Louisa’s name only. 6 During his recuperation he may have worked for a time as a saddler; the 1879-80 Utah Gazetteer lists a Johnson with that occupation at the same Second South street location. 7 In June 1883, nearly four years to the day after his Evergreen mine accident, a fire destroyed the barn next to his home but left the house intact. 8

The effects of a snow slide on Alta in 1885.

Meanwhile two brothers, O.J. and Cornelius, arrived in Utah and while living at Alta were involved in deadly avalanches. In March 1884 repeated snowstorms had increased the snow depth at Alta to record levels and as small avalanches began to come down, residents became increasingly nervous. On Friday evening, March 7, some of them decided to seek shelter and safety in the Bay City tunnel below the Emma mine. Eleven people left the village and climbed to the tunnel where they joined the Emma fireman in the boiler room, presumably to warm themselves or to have a warm drink before retiring underground. While they were there a massive avalanche came down, carrying away the Emma mine buildings and snuffing out the lives of the twelve people inside. In spite of the raging storm, rescue efforts were begun immediately. The first body recovered was that of O. J. Johnson, Regulator Johnson’s younger brother, who had been living in Alta while working in the mines there. It took a full week before all victims had been recovered and a rescue party was able to take them to the city. Johnson’s body was taken to his brother’s home, 646 East Second South Street, where his funeral was held on Saturday, March 15, under the auspices of the I.O.O.F. Burial was in a newly purchased family plot at the Mount Olivet cemetery. 9

Almost a year later, on Friday, February 13, 1885, Alta was visited by another killer avalanche. While the one in March 1884 spared the village, this one did not. It claimed thirteen victims and left the survivors in a state of terror, fearing more slides were to follow. Again the victim’s bodies were taken to the city, and two days later another rescue effort took place to evacuate women and children. Among this small group were the wife and children of Cornelius J. Johnson, another of John S. Johnson’s brothers. Cornelius could not have been in Alta very long, for in 1882 he and his family were en route to Utah from their native Norway. 10 While the entire family survived this ordeal, there is no evidence that he returned to Alta after this event. Perhaps two horrifying avalanches in as many years encouraged Cornelius and his family to abandon that locale. They moved to Eureka where they lived for many years before returning to Salt Lake City in 1900.

Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

In 1885, after an absence of six years following the explosion in the Evergreen Mine, Regulator Johnson returned to mining in the Wasatch Mountains. In April of 1885 he and his wife placed a mortgage on their home, presumably to finance his return. By the end of that year, he had decided where he would focus his mining efforts and purchased a share in the Silver King No. 2 claim located in the upper extremities of Mineral Fork in the Big Cottonwood Mining District.This was a significant departure from his earlier activities; until this time all the mines he had owned or claimed were in Little Cottonwood Mining District, in the vicinity of Alta. With this move Johnson would go on to become the dominant force in Mineral Fork mining, almost to the exclusion of all other miners. But he was not entering untouched territory for mining had commenced in the canyon as early as 1872.

There is a prominent fissure that runs northeast and southwest from Mill D South Fork on the east to Mill B South Fork on the west, crossing the head of Mineral Fork in the process. It was this fissure and its promise of riches that stimulated the miners of 1872 and all those who followed. In all cases they improved upon the work left by their predecessors, then left their work behind because of difficulties of access and transportation. The last attempt was made in January of 1884 when Luke Frances Flood filed claims for Queen of the Hill and Silver King No. 2 in Mineral Fork and Mill B South Fork, thereby introducing the Silver King name to the fissure.

The Galena Block at 176 South State in Salt Lake City where Regulator Johnson lived for a time in a rented furnished room.

Two years later, in January of 1886, Johnson bought a one-third interest in the Silver King No.2 claim, starting an extensive period of activity in Mineral Fork and Mill B South Fork. In July of that same year he bought the rest of the Silver King No.2, and the entire Queen of the Hill claim from Luke Flood. 11 Johnson immediately filed a claim he called the Silver King No.2 Extension in the head of Mineral Fork, adjoining the Silver King No.2 on its northeast end. 12 It encompassed the portal of an earlier tunnel begun in 1872 and further worked by the Imperial Mining, Milling and Smelting Company in 1880. After working these claims for two years he filed another, Louisa, extending northeast from his Silver King No.2 Extension. 13 By this time the tunnel on the Silver King No.2 Extension was approaching or had reached the end line of its claim and could now be used to exploit the new claim. In 1890 he filed for five mill sites on the east, south and southwest sides of Lake Blanche in Mill B South Fork, one for each of the claims he had been working. 14 Then in 1891, he put three claims on the fissure out on lease and entered a particularly trying period, both for him and the historian trying to research his life more than a century later.

It is difficult to determine exactly what took place during the lease and the decade that followed. Part of the problem is that names used to describe the Silver King No.2 and the Silver King No.2 Extension claims in legal documents had many variations and their records became intermixed and confused. Some transactions were never recorded and can only be surmised. Also, some property transfers were made involving only a part of a claim, yet another party’s litigation involved the entire claim. What is apparent is that several years after the date of the first lease the claims became involved in a litigation through which a portion of the Silver King Extension and Louisa claims fell into the hands of two fellow miners: Erick Levin and August S. Larson. 15 They, in turn, used the properties as collateral for a series of promissory notes they executed in favor of the Utah National Bank, then gave a two-year lease and bond to miners Otto Hudson, Harry Hadley and Charles Horsfall, who proceeded to work the mines in the name of the Silver King Extension Gold Mining & Milling Company. 16

Meanwhile, the Utah National Bank filed suit against Johnson to recover $1,582.50 for a loan secured by a portion of the Silver King No.2 Eastern Extension and Louise claims, with the verdict going in favor of the bank. In spite of all these difficulties, Johnson joined Levin and Larson in 1899 to form the Big Cottonwood Mining & Milling Company and transferred what remained of their various partial holdings of Mineral Fork properties into that entity. 17 However, Levin and Larson still had the mortgage with the Utah National Bank and when they defaulted in their payments, the bank foreclosed. A lengthy court battle ended in 1901 with the properties falling into the hands of the bank. All this turmoil took a bitter toll on Johnson’s personal financial condition. In November 1895, after he was unable to meet the demands of his home mortgage, his Salt Lake City residence was sold in a foreclosure sale. 18 However, he and his wife were not evicted, but continued to live in the house for at least another two years. Then, as if all the misfortune that befell. John S. Johnson over the past years were not enough, in March of 1897 his wife, Louisa M. Johnson, died. She was but thirty-seven years of age. 19 Again, the home at 646 East Second South was the scene of a funeral. Louisa was buried at Mount Olivet cemetery, joining her brother-in-law, O. J. Johnson, in the family plot.

View looking east across the bowl at the head of Mineral Fork. The Silver King fissure created the deep notch in the cliffs. The picture was taken where the fissure crosses the ridge on the west side of the bowl.

At this point in time, with Louisa gone, there was no reason for Johnson to remain in his home. He moved out and practically disappeared for several years. He certainly went to Alta to spend time in his Regulator and Johnson mines. It was reported the Regulator had shipped three tons of ore during 1898. In 1899 he briefly appeared in the Mineral Fork scene to join Levin and Larson in the incorporation of the Big Cottonwood Mining & Milling Company, and to transfer what was left of his holdings into it. In 1900 he was living at Alta, as shown by the census records. 20 That year he incorporated The Regulator Mining Company to hold and operate his Alta district mines. He was joined in this venture by William H. Child, a Salt Lake City mining broker, and George W. Bartch, Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court. In spite of his reticence, he did know some influential people; this was but one of a number of cases where they joined him in his ventures. The mines and claims transferred into the new company included the Regulator and Johnson No.2, which had been operating for thirty years; the Harrison and Fraction claims that he had located in 1891 while the Mineral Fork mines were being worked by lessees; the Monitor, located in 1897 only one month before his wife’s death; and the Harrison No.2, located in 1899. 21

The first few years of the twentieth century witnessed a period of resurgence of the mining industry at Alta. The new operations were characterized by companies taking up many existing claims and operating them as a single entity. One of them,The Continental Mines and Smelting Company, a New York State corporation formed in July 1903, bought a number of mining companies and claims in Grizzly Gulch above Alta and started large scale development. One of the corporation’s purchases was that of the Regulator Mining Company.The deed transferring the properties specified a nominal one dollar, so it is not known how much Johnson actually received, but it must have been enough to allow him to make a significant change in his lifestyle. 22 This was manifested by two actions: he got married again and he purchased a ten-acre plot of land on State Street south of Salt Lake City.

The marriage was another of the disasters that seemed to plague John S. Johnson. He met the woman shortly after the sale of his Regulator Mining Company. It may be unkind to imply that his newly acquired wealth attracted this woman, but the events that followed strongly suggest that was the case. After knowing her only five months, the two ran off to San Francisco and were married on March 26, 1904.They returned to Salt Lake City a few days later, staying in his furnished room in the Galena Block at 176 South State Street until he rented a house at 22 Covey Court. Marital bliss lasted less than two weeks, he said, before she called him vile names and threatened his life. He further claimed that in July she threatened to kill him with a butcher knife and razor. Then in August she drove him from the house and he moved into a room at the Galena Block. He immediately placed a notice in the newspaper disclaiming responsibility for any debts contracted by his wife, Regina Johnson, and commenced divorce proceedings. The court granted the divorce on October 30, 1904, and ruled the defendant was not entitled to alimony, but required Johnson to pay the court costs. 23

The land purchase was a more successful venture than his marriage. He bought the ten-acre lot between State and Main Streets in April 1904, shortly after he and his bride returned from San Francisco. The purchase price of four thousand dollars may well have triggered the initial marital discord. He first used the land to raise grain, but several years later, at the end of 1909, he had the lot platted into 104 building lots. Two streets running east and west between State and Main streets were included in the plat to gain access to all those lots. He named the streets Louise and Cordelia, thereby introducing both names to the county’s street roster. It is not known who Cordelia might have been, but Louise was certainly a tribute to his first wife, Louisa, who used both names with equal ease. Today both street names survive, although Cordelia is still restricted to its one-block length. But Louise has grown to include several discontinuous segments, the longest being on the east side of the city in the Canyon Rim area, a mute tribute to an unknown woman.

John S. Johnson’s claims in Mineral Fork, Mill B South Fork and Mill D South Fork in 1911.The heavy line is the crest of the ridge between the three forks, with Mineral Fork in upper center. Mill B South Fork in lower left, and Mill D South Fork on the right. The Silver King fissure follows the center line of the four dark claims, Silver King Nos. 1 to 4.

In March of 1910, he dedicated the plat asJohnson’s State Street Addition. 24 He kept two lots at the corner of Cordelia and State Streets for himself, where he built a small house which became his home for the rest of his life.While he continued his mining activities, he also listed his profession as real estate

in the annual Salt Lake City directories. Once before, back in 1890, he was involved with real estate.At that time he had started a business, J. S. Johnson & Co., which dealt in mining and real estate. He had accumulated a number of properties in the city which were the basis of his real estate activities. However, that venture ended when the properties, all heavily mortgaged, were lost during his financial hardships of the 1890s.

Following his divorce, he returned to Alta to work two claims he had recorded in 1902 and 1903, shortly before he sold his Grizzly Gulch mines to the Continental Mines Company. They were the Christina Johnson and Last Chance, located on the north side of the divide between Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons in the extreme southeast corner of Silver Fork. The claims held enough promise that he had them surveyed for patent, then went back into Grizzly Gulch and relocated the old abandoned Victoria Tunnel, renaming it the Christina Johnson Tunnel and extended it under the divide to exploit his claims. 25 By the time the patents were issued, in 1912, he was back in Mineral Fork, when he incorporated the Alta Prince Mining Company to hold the two properties. While these mines may have been worked for a while, there is no record of their having produced any significant amount of ore or being involved in acquisitions by larger mining companies. 26

In January 1905, a curious event affecting Mineral Fork mining activity took place. Nothing much had happened since the litigious events of the previous decade. All claims of that period were nothing more than claims, so it was necessary to have annual work done in order to maintain ownership. Since that had not happened, all were available for relocation. In January 1905, four claims: Silver King No.1 through No.4, were filed with the Salt Lake County Recorder. 27 They ran along the Silver King fissure from northeast to southwest and were, in fact, coincident with the Louisa, Silver King No.2 Extension, Silver King No.2 and Queen of the Hill claims of the 1890s.

An interesting precursor to this event was an action taken by John S. Johnson in September of 1896. While his Mineral Fork claims were being worked by lessees, or otherwise involved in litigation, he went to work in the old Queen Of The Hill mine at the southwest end of the fissure in Mill B South Fork. It had not been worked for several years so in September 1896 he relocated the claim, this time calling it the Silver King No.4, and filed it in his wife’s name. 28 While it is not known what Louisa M. Johnson did in the city, it is known that she was not active on the mining scene.This is the first and only claim found in her name. It is not likely she ever saw the workings on this claim, for they were located in the most inaccessible and rugged part of Mill B South Fork.The name he chose for this claim is interesting, for at this time there was no Silver King No.3, so there was no apparent reason to call it No.4. Perhaps Johnson was looking into the future, anticipating a change of names for all claims on the fissure. And in January 1905, that happened.

Remains of a stone cabin at the Silver King No. 3 site in Mill B South Fork.

The other interesting point about these four claims is they were made in the name of James Chipman. Although he had mining interests in the past, this man was not a prospector; he was a banker, originally from American Fork. When Utah became a state he came to Salt Lake City where he served as the first State Treasurer. In 1898 he was selected to assume the presidency of the Utah National Bank, taking the place of Joseph M. Stoutt, who was asked to resign after some alleged irregularities. The Utah National Bank had been involved in many of the Mineral Fork mine mortgages and, after all the smoke cleared, was left holding most of the claims. The only disposition made of any of that property was in November of 1901 when the bank gave John S. Johnson a quit claim deed for 333 1/3 feet of the Silver King No.2 Extension claim. 29 At that time James Chipman was still president of the bank, so the two men obviously knew each other. Chipman may have filed these claims as a proxy for Johnson, but almost two years passed before he did anything with them. In December 1906, he gave Johnson a quit claim deed for one-half interest in Silver King Nos.1, 3 and 4, and 600 feet of Silver King No.2. 30 The deed quoted a nominal one dollar for this transaction, so it is not known if any amount of money actually changed hands. Chipman certainly wasn’t going up into Mineral Fork to work the claims, but it appears he had a desire to hold an interest in them. Perhaps Johnson was concerned about that because several years later he obtained an option to purchase the remaining interest in the claims for one thousand dollars and agreed to perform the requisite annual labor required by law to hold them. 31

This last action seemed to spur Johnson into a frenzy of activity in Mineral Fork. In a period of less than two weeks in the late spring of 1911, he filed fourteen claims that completely covered the upper bowl of Mineral Fork and the southeastern part of Mill B South Fork. 32 He then had the four Silver King claims surveyed for patent. Finally, in 1916, Chipman deeded his share of the Silver King properties over to Johnson, again for a nominal one dollar. 33

Johnson immediately enlisted several Salt Lake City businessmen to join him in forming the Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining and Milling Company and transferred all his Mineral Fork holdings into it. 34 That included the four now patented Silver King claims and the fourteen other claims he made five years earlier. With that action it appears he was content to rest in his home on State Street and left the mining to men younger than his seventy- two years. Nothing further appears in the records until 1924 when he put his Mineral Fork properties out on lease and bond, giving the lessee a two-year privilege of buying all the properties for $12,500. 35 But the following year, on July 11, 1925, John S. Johnson, age eighty-one, passed away at the Salt Lake County Hospital. He was buried in his family plot at the Mount Olivet cemetery next to his wife, Louisa, and near his two brothers, O. J. who died in the Alta avalanche in 1884 and Cornelius, who died in 1911. 36

John S. Johnson left this life without any children of his own. His closest living relatives were his sister-in-law, Serena Johnson, widow of his brother Cornelius, and her six children. The oldest of them, Mary Johnson, was appointed executor of Johnson’s estate. When she provided the court with an inventory of his estate, it was learned he died almost a pauper. While he held a large number of shares in both the Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining & Milling Company and the Alta Prince Mining Company, they were determined to have no market value. His meager household contents were given a value of only fifty dollars. His “small dwelling house,” which was on two building lots, and the remaining unimproved lots in the Johnson’s State Street Addition were given a total value of $5,700, but the property was mortgaged to nearly half that amount. In view of the number of heirs and the impracticability of dividing the property among them, the executor requested an order authorizing her to sell the property to best advantage at private sale, a request that was approved by the probate court. 37

Cabin remains at the Silver King No. 4 site in Mill B South Fork. The Salt Lake Valley is seen in the background.

In the years that followed, Mary Johnson handled all transactions involving the remainingreal estate in the Johnson’s State Street Addition. The final distribution was not made until May 1945, twenty years after Johnson’s death, at which time one-sixth of the remaining property, including the “worthless” mining stock, went to each of the heirs. Unfortunately, one of the brothers died shortly before the distribution; his estate gave one-fifth of his one-sixth to each of his siblings. The only other property he owned was a 1929 six cylinder Buick Coupe, one-fifth of which also went to each of his heirs. It is not known what they did with one-fifth of a sixteen year old automobile. 38

In 1936, 1938, and again in 1943 Mary Johnson and two of her brothers, acting as directors and trustees of the defunct Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining & Milling Company, negotiated contracts with the Wasatch Gold Mines Company for the Mineral Fork mining properties. Mary Johnson signed them as President and Trustee. 39 The mining stocks that had been declared worthless were not completely worthless after all.

John S. Johnson’s house at 2906 South State Street was rented to various people over the years following his death. In 1933 or 1934 Mary Johnson moved into it and remained there until her death in 1956. During that time three of her siblings lived in the house for varying lengths of time and died while in residence there. 40 After being vacant for two years the house was converted to commercial use and eventually razed to make way for other construction. Then nothing remained as a reminder of Regulator Johnson, save his tombstone at Mount Olivet cemetery, the name on a United States Geological Survey map and an expert ski run at the Snowbird resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Notes

Charles L. Keller is a writer-historian living in Salt Lake City. He is currently working on a history of mines and mining personalities in the Wasatch Mountains. His earlier Wasatch Mountain history, The Lady in the Ore Bucket, was published in 2001 by The University of Utah Press.

1 The United States Census for 1870, Little Cottonwood Canyon census district, places Johnson in Alta on September 16, 1870.The United States Census of Salt Lake City for 1910 and recorded on April 21 indicates he immigrated from Norway in 1863 and was a naturalized citizen.

2 Darlington claim, Little Cottonwood Mining District (hereafter LCMD) Book A, p.81, June 30, 1870; Montezuma claim, LCMD Book A, p.83, July 2, 1870; Rock Island claim, LCMD Book A, p.89, July 20, 1870; Regulator claim, LCMD Book A, p.100, August 9, 1870. Mining recorder books are held in the Salt Lake County Recorder archives.

3 John Olson was involved with John S. Johnson on at least six claims from 1870 to 1872. In 1879 he moved to the Big Cottonwood Mining District where he lived at or near Argenta. He later became known as a recluse prospector and died alone in his cabin on November 2, 1915. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Mt. Olivet cemetery.

4 Johnson No.2 claim, LCMD Book A, p.252, May 30, 1871.

5 The Evergreen mine accident was reported in Salt Lake Tribune, June 15, 1879, and Salt Lake Herald, June 15, 1879. The recollection is in Josie H. Reenders and Lois M. Recore, “Growing Up in Big Cottonwood Canyon,” Beehive History 19 (1993). Further information comes from testimony in John S. Johnson vs Regina Johnson, #6561 (3d District Court, 1904). Utah State Archives.

6 Deeds Q:587-8, ZCMI of 13th Ward to Louisa M. Johnson, March 19, 1881, Salt Lake County Recorder.The recorded sales price was $2,020 for a lot of about one-third acre. As for Louisa M. Johnson, little is known about her or when she married John S. Johnson. Unfortunately, the Salt Lake County marriage records only go back to 1887.

7 The cited person’s initials were different, but initials were often in error, and with only three Johnsons listed it would have been a strange coincidence to have another Johnson at the same address, a Johnson who never appeared in previous or subsequent directories.

8 Salt Lake Herald, June 27, 1883.

9 The avalanche was reported in Deseret News, Salt Lake Herald and Salt Lake Tribune on March 11, 1884. Further stories of the avalanche, rescue and funeral were in Salt Lake Tribune each day from March 12 to 16, 1884.According to Mt. Olivet cemetery records, J. Johnson purchased burial plot, #58 in Section E.

10 On July 7, 1882, while Cornelius and Serena Johnson were traveling across the country to Utah Territory, they paused in Iowa where their first son, Joseph J., was born. See Joseph J. Johnson obituary in Salt Lake Tribune, November 15, 1955.

11 Mining Deed M:53-4, January 27, 1886, Hans Clawson to John S Johnson, 433-1/3 ft in Silver King No.2 claim, and Mining Deed M:117-9, July 12, 1886, Luke F Flood to John S Johnson, 866-2/3 ft in Silver King No.2 claim and 1125 ft in Queen of the Hills claim. Hans Clawson was a partner with Luke Flood in the Silver King No.2 claim.

12 Silver King No.2 Extension, BCMD Book D, p.550, July 26, 1886. Subsequently this claim was variously called Silver King No.2 Easterly Extension, Silver King Easterly Extension and Silver King Extension, causing no end of confusion in recorded documentation.

13 Louisa, BCMD Book E, p.66, September 3, 1888.This was the first of a number of occasions when Johnson would assign names honoring his wife or other women in his sphere of friends and family.

14 Silver King Easterly Extension Mill Site, BCMD Book E, p.100; Henrietta Mill Site, BCMD Book E, p.101; Silver King Mill Site, BCMD Book E, p.102; Silver Cloud Mill Site, BCMD Book E, p.103; and Louisa Mill Site, BCMD Book E, p.102, all dated May 24, 1889.The Henrietta and Silver Cloud mining claims were located in Mineral Fork in 1886, but were never exploited. Nothing ever came of the multiple mill sites.

15 The details of this litigation were filed with the Salt Lake County Recorder and entered into the abstract records, but were never recorded. The litigation itself does not appear in the Third District Court records. If it took place in a lower court, those records do not survive.

16 Mining Claims Book D, p.310-12, September 1, 1896, and Book D, p.306, September 5, 1896. (Mining Claims Books were kept by the County Recorder to record mining contracts and agreements; they should not be confused with the books of the mining district recorder.) For incorporation of the company, see Silver King Extension Gold Mining & Milling Co., Salt Lake County Corporation File #1549, December 12, 1896.

17 Big Cottonwood Mining & Milling Co., Salt Lake County Corporation file #2076,August 22, 1899; and Mining Deed S:74, September 16, 1899.

18 Salt Lake County Recorder: Deeds 4K:538-9, November 15, 1895.

19 Salt Lake Tribune, March, 23, 1897.

20 In 1870 he had shared his Alta home with fellow Norwegians Andrew and Anna Halvorson, but now he lived alone. Ore shipments in 1898 were reported in Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1899. For his Alta residences see United States Census, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah Territory, September 18, 1870; and United States Census, Little Cottonwood,Town of Alta, Utah, June 20, 1900.

21 The Regulator Mining Company, Salt Lake County Corporation file #3127, July 27, 1900. The claims were recorded as follows: Harrison & Fraction, both in LCMD Book D, p.369, August 6, 1891; Monitor, LCMD Book E, p.87, February 21, 1897; Harrison No.2, LCMD Book G, p.27, March 14, 1899.

22 The Continental Mines and Smelting Corporation, Utah State Division of Corporations and Commercial Code, file #4485, July 21, 1903. Utah State Archives. Mining Deed U:72-3, September 23, 1903, Regulator Mining Co., et al, to Continental Mines and Smelting Corp.

23 John S. Johnson vs Regina Johnson, #6561 (3d District Court., 1904). Utah State Archives.

24 Deeds 6S:363-6, April 27, 1904, Lot 12, Ten Acre Plat A. Deeds 65:365-6, December 20, 1909, Agreement to plat Lot 12, Block 33, Ten Acre Plat A into 104 building lots. Johnson’s State Street Addition, Subdivision Plat F-46, March 28, 1910, Salt Lake County Recorder.

25 Christina Johnson claim, BCMD Book J, p.30, July 21, 1902. It is not known who Christina Johnson might have been, but this is another example of Johnson naming things after women acquaintances. Last Chance, BCMD Book I, p.519, July 7, 1903. Mineral Surveys #5419, Last Thance, and #5424, Christina Johnson, both surveyed October 7-8, 1905, BLM office, Salt Lake City. In the Mineral Survey and patent Last Chance is called Last Thance. Christina Johnson Tunnel, LCMD Book M, p.37, July 23, 1906.

26 Alta Prince Mining Company, Salt Lake County Corporation file #7627, May 19, 1915.

27 Silver King No.1, BCMD Book O, p.28; Silver King No.2, and Silver King No.3, both in BCMD Book O, p.27; Silver King No.4, BCMD Book O, p.26.All were dated January 5, 1905.

28 Silver King No.4, BCMD Book F, p.446, September 14, 1896.

29 Mining Deed T:25, November, 27, 1901, Utah National Bank to John S. Johnson.

30 Mining Claims W:259-60, December 6, 1906, James Chipman to John S. Johnson.

31 Mining Deed E:584-5,Agreement between James Chipman and John S. Johnson,August 20, 1910.

32 The fourteen claims were: Christine Johnson, Silver King North Extension, Cordelia Numbers 1 to 3, Sunnyside, and Caladonia, all filed on June 28, 1911. Also Silver King North Extension No.2, Waterfall Numbers 1 to 3, Elora and Elora Numbers 2 and 3, filed on July 8, 1911, BCMD Book R, pp.77-92.

33 Mineral Survey #6110, Silver King Nos.1 & 2, August 5-8, 1913. Mineral Survey 6307, Silver King Nos.3 & 4, August 25-28, 1914, both in BLM office, Salt Lake City. Mining Deeds X:318-9, April 14, 1916, James Chipman & wife Selina to John S. Johnson, Silver King Nos.1 & 2. Mining Deeds W:570, April 14, 1916, James Chipman to John S. Johnson, Silver King Nos.3 & 4.

34 Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining and Milling Company, Salt Lake County Corporation file #12174, September 28, 1916. He was joined in this venture by realtor W. S. Rigby, lawyer H. C. Edwards and mining engineer M. M. Johnson, all well known and prominent in the Salt Lake business and mining community.

35 Deeds 3W:45-6, August 15, 1924, Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining & Milling Co. to Moses Paggi, Lessee, lease and option, Salt Lake County Recorder

36 Deseret News, July 13, 1925; Salt Lake Tribune, July 13, and 15, 1925. According to the Death Certificate, the cause of death was senility. The doctor who signed the certificate attended him from May 29 to July 11, implying he was in the hospital that length of time, and listed his age as “about 83.” The newspapers accepted and repeated that age, but the 1900 U.S. Census listed his birth date as April 1844, which would have made him eighty-one years old when he died.

37 Third District Court, Probate Division, Case #13444. Utah State Archives Series 1621.At the time of his death Johnson held 565,000 shares, over half of the stock issued for the Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining & Milling Company, and 760,000 shares, over three-fourths of the stock issued for the Alta Prince Mining Company. Mary Johnson, the executrix, was familiar with real estate transactions since she worked for the County Recorder as an abstractor. She used the name of Marian Johnson for all transactions relating to the John S. Johnson estate.

38 Deeds 423:307, May 9, 1945, Distribution, Estate of John S. Johnson, deceased. Deeds 435:478, August 22, 1945, Distribution, Estate of Carl Johnson, deceased, Salt Lake County Recorder.

39 Deeds 157:246-47, January 21, 1936, Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining & Milling Co. to Wasatch Gold Mining Co., Lease & option; Deeds 816:55, April 6, 1938, Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining & Milling Co. to Wasatch Gold Mining Co., Contract Deeds 816:62, October 25, 1943, Big Cottonwood Silver King Mining & Milling Co. to Wasatch Gold Mining Co., Contract.

40 See Salt Lake City Directories for the years 1934 through 1960. Carl Johnson was in the house briefly before his death on October 23, 1940. Ethel Johnson Bates lived there briefly before her death on April 13, 1947, and Joseph E. Johnson lived there from 1938 until his death on December 12, 1955.