Eureka, Utah: Third-Richest District in the Nation

The Tintic Mining District organized on December thirteenth, eighteen sixty-nine, taking its name from a Native American chief who had once roamed these hills. Eureka grew up as its supply town, and for several decades it was one of the most productive mining addresses in the American West. The Big Four mines, Centennial Eureka, Eureka Hill, Bullion Beck and Champion, and Gemini, drove a population of more than three thousand and kept a hundred and twelve businesses open by nineteen twelve.

Gold, silver, lead, copper, and zinc came out of these shafts in quantities that rank the Tintic District as the third-highest mineral producer in United States history, with output valued today at over four billion dollars. By the nineteen fifties, major mining had wound down and the population scattered. The old headframes and waste dumps remain on the hills above town.