The Mining Boom
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 37° 35.984 W 113° 26.985
12S E 283737 N 4164227
This Historical Marker is mounted on a steel post near the entrance to Old Iron Town State Park Historic Site on Iron Town Road southwest of Utah Highway 56, west of Cedar City, Utah.
Waymark Code: WMGNMX
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 03/24/2013
Views: 5
The Mining Boom
Iron mining was not profitable in Iron County until the Columbia Steel Corporation built a blast furnace at Ironton, near Provo, Utah.
With the demand for iron rising, Union Pacific, in 1923, agreed to construct a spur line passing through Lund, Iron Springs, and into Cedar City. Iron ore would no longer be processed locally. It would be shipped to northern Utah by rail, sending more than 500 tons per day.
The mining process involved the use of open pit blasting. By 1960 foreign competition and domestic tax issues resulted in a reduction of the overall tonnage. These detrimental factors only worsened, and by the mid-1980s all iron mining operations stopped. This area still holds one of the nation's richest iron ore deposits.
As you leave, notice remains of several open pit mines dotting the hillside.