The history of the town began in August 1848 when two young Mormon pioneers, Sanford and Thomas Bingham, settled in this narrow wilderness canyon to herd cattle. Within a few years the area became a supplier of timber for local saw mills. Much of the timber used in the construction of the Salt Lake Tabernacle came from this canyon.
In 1850 the Bingham brothers took samples of assayed ore to Brigham Young who advised them not to engage in mining at that time. Following the discovery of silver and gold containing ore in the fall of 1863, the west mountain mining district, embracing the entire Oquirrh range, was organized.
In 1868 fewer than one hundred people lived in Bingham Canyon; by 1880 the town had grown to a population of 1,022. About 1893 Col. Enos A. Wall located ground containing millions of pounds of copper. The Utah Copper Company began large scale mining operations in 1904. The town was incorporated as a city on February 29, 1904. Involved in its history were people of many nations, Greeks, Italians, Mexicans, Japanese, Chinese, British and Australians.
The prosperous Bingham Mine led the nation in the production of copper but the prosperity which built the town also hastened its death. The land where the town was located is now a part of the Kennecott Copper Open Pit Mine. The 1970 census indicated that the population of Bingham Canyon, once a roaring mining town of 15,000, had dwindled to thirty-one people on November 22, 1971, a special proposition to disincorporate the town was passed. After 123 years, Bingham Canyon was dead.
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