Ghost Town: Bauer, Tooele County, Utah

[Bob Grant]

Site: Bauer, Utah
County, State: Tooele County, Utah
Years of Occupation: 1870's thru 1970-1
Status of Site: Closed
Classification: Class 1 - Barren Town
Type: Mining
Remnants: Dismantle, Burned, Foundations
GPS Coordinate: latitude 40.472 and longitude -112.362
Visited last: July 03, 2014
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bauer-Utah/201255470060329

BAUER UTAH

Just out side of Tooele before you get to Stockton is now part of the city dump but you can view it from the top of the hill on Utah Route 36 some kids got killed there.....
Bauer is located less one block away from the Tooele County Solid Waste Disposal Facility. Years ago the towns Resin Plant caught fire and the resin filled into a small patch of land and burned for years (This happened supposedly 1950-60) smoking out the residents. The owner of the modern town sued the Tooele county police force for putting up targets in the building windows and shooting them out. In 1998 The Great Western Tournament Series held a large Paintball tournament there.
Bauer’s fate was sealed when its last viable operations were destroyed by fire. Rulon Aufdemorte’s final task was to dismantle and ship off any salvageable properties. When the last truckload finally pulled away, Aufdemorte gathered his belongings and drove to Salt Lake City, leaving Bauer’s crumbling ruins to the wind and ghosts.
Oh, and it’s a Superfund site.

 

[Bob Grant]

Bauer used to be one of the largest smelter sites in the western US. Processing hundreds of tons of ore from all over Utah, Idaho and as far a way as Montana. In the mid 70s, the smelter shut down.

The Combined Metals Reduction Company mill at Bauer, Utah was at the site of the portal of the Honerine drain tunnel. The location was originally known as Terminus when the Utah Western Railway completed its three-foot, narrow-gauge route to the site in September 1877 (see Salt Lake Herald, September 10, 1877).

In 1900 the Honerine Mining and Milling Company was organized to own and work several mining claims in the Stockton (or Rush Valley) mining district, and the name of the end of track was changed from Terminus to Buhl. The Honerine company dug a tunnel that connected several mines at the 1200-foot level, with its portal very near the railroad terminal.

In early 1901, construction started on the mainline of the Oregon Short Line's Leamington Cutoff, a new line between Salt Lake City and central Utah, which would pass the site of the original narrow gauge end of track and terminal, cut a route through the Stockton gravel bar, and continue on to a connection with the existing mainline at a town called Leamington, about 15 miles north of Delta. In 1903, the entire rail line between Salt Lake City and the Utah-Nevada line was sold to the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad.

In 1910, the Honerine company was reorganized as the Bullion Coalition, and in 1924, this company was taken over by Combined Metals Reduction Company.

The following comes from United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; case 557 F.2d 179; June 6, 1977; In the Matter of Combined Metals Reduction Company, Debtor (ten Cases)...

Combined Metals Reduction Company (CMRCO) was organized October 5, 1923, as a Utah company with authorized capital stock of 4,000,000 shares. During most of its existence, CMRCO was principally engaged in the development of flotation processing for complex lead-zinc ores of the Pioche Mining District in the vicinity of Pioche, Nevada. By 1958 the company had acquired extensive mining properties in Nevada and Utah with a mill at Bauer, Utah
http://utahrails.net/mining/combined-metals.php

 

[DAA]

Very well done even without pictures.

- DAA

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Great stuff Bob. Really appreciate you submitting that!

 

[lordhelmet]

Nice, another place I need to visit.