Frisco was a mining camp located in Beaver County, Utah that was active between 1879 to 1929. It was the terminus of the Utah Southern Railroad extension from Milford, Utah. It was located in the San Francisco Mining District, which was organized on August 12, 1871, and primarily produced silver and lead. The mines near Frisco also produced copper, gold, zinc, arsenic, and antimony. The population of Frisco peaked in the mid-1880s at around 800 people; however, its growth quickly slowed due to the price of water, charcoal, and inconsistent ore quality. In 1882, the Horn Silver Mining Company ceased its smelting operations; several years later, on February 13, 1885, the Horn Silver Mine caved in. In 1884, the Frisco Mining and Smelting Company also stopped its smelting, instead shipping the products of its mines to Salt Lake City (Notarianni, 1982). As a result of these changes, the population of Frisco declined steadily in the early twentieth century. By 1930, Frisco was mostly uninhabited, and it is considered one of Utah's ghost towns. Notarianni, P. F. (1982). The Frisco Charcoal Kilns. Utah Historical Quarterly, 50(1), 40–46.
Arrangement maintained.
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Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Purchased from Michael Vinson in 2013.
Processed by Special Collections staff.
The Frisco, Utah stereograph collection consists of 1 box containing 9 stereograph views of Frisco, Utah circa 1881. The stereographs have handwritten captions on the stereograph backs. A note on the first image reads: "Presented By C. D. Bigelow to O.L. Farnham Feb 17 1881." According to the dealer, Bigelow was the manager of the Frisco Mining and Smelting Company; the dealer also suggested that Bigelow wrote the captions and perhaps took the photographs. Subjects depicted include: Frisco Smelting Company smelters and office; the Horn Silver Mine's smelter; a residence in Frisco; the dry concentrating works under construction; Rattler Mine shafts; mining operations; Cave Mine boarding house in the Bradshaw District; "Dogtown, Frisco." Men, women, children, and animals are all present in the photographs.