Frisco, Utah
N 38° 27.583 W 113° 15.538
12S E 302901 N 4259240
Frisco was founded August 21, 1871 and was abandoned in the early 1920's. The mines produced $80,000,000 in ore, primarily silver and lead, and at one time the city boost a population of 6,000.
Waymark Code: WMFWC
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 06/28/2006
Views: 61
Frisco was founded on August 21, 1871 and named for its location at the base of the San Fransico Mountains in Utah. With the success of the Horn Silver Mine, the Frisco Mining and Smelting Company expanded its workings in July 1877 by constructing a smelter that included five beehive charcoal kilns. Frisco soon developed as the post office and commercial center for the district, as well as the terminus of the Utah Southern Railroad extension from Milford, some fifteen miles to the east.
Other mines located in the district included the Blackbird, Cactus, Carbonate, Comet, Imperial, King David, Rattler, and Yellow Jacket, but the Silver Horn was bar far the largest.
By 1879 the United States Annual Mining Review and Stock Ledger was calling the Silver Horn Mine “the richest silver mine in the world now being worked." Frisco was bustling and on June 23, 1880, the Utah Southern Railroad Extension steamed into town, allowing the mines the opportunity for less expensive shipping.
On the morning of Feb. 12, 1885, the mine's main shaft — never adequately timbered and burdened by snow and rain — collapsed. The tremors broke windows in Milford, 15 miles away. Because deep tunnels also collapsed, the richest part of the mine was inaccessible. After a year, the mine reopened on a smaller basis, but the town was doomed.
By the turn of the century only fourteen businesses were still alive in Frisco and its population had decline to 500. By 1912, only twelve businesses existed in the dwindling town of 150. By the 1920s, Frisco was a ghost town.
In 1982, Frisco's kilns were placed on National Register of Historic Places.
In 2002, a mining company began to rework the mines of Frisco, so only the charcoal kilns and cemetery are accessible today.
Reason for Abandonment: Economic
Date Abandoned: 01/01/1925
Related Web Page: Not listed
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