Overview and Background

History of Mining in Utah

This “Guy’s Dropper” model Carbide Lamp was found near the former silver mines at Alta, Utah. It was donated to the Historical Society in 1978 by Gaylon Hansen. Although carbide lamps were replaced by electric lights in 1923, the simple design of using the calcium carbide flammable gas by-product, acetylene, was discovered as early as 1862. Guy’s Dropper carbide lamps were named after their inventor, Frank Guy. They were first manufactured in 1913 in Springfield, Illinois and were especially popular during World War I.

Silver was first discovered in Alta in 1864, and by 1871 efforts to incorporate Alta as a city were underway. In 1875, a railroad connecting the Emma and Flagstaff mines to the Salt Lake Valley was completed. But by 1873, the value of silver began to drop and Alta’s mining community dispersed along with it. A “boom-and-bust” mining town, Alta’s population went from 3,000 in 1872 to 300 in 1880. Although there was another population boom around 1904-1917 during the operations of the Jacobsen Brothers, by 1930 Alta had begun to shift its image from a prospering silver mining district to one of the West’s most popular ski resorts

Lesson Plan and Activity

Artifact Primary Source Analysis

In small groups or as a class answer the following questions!

TYPE OF ARTIFACT
Describe the material from which it was made: bone, pottery, metal, wood, stone, leather, glass, paper, cardboard, cotton, plastic, other material.

SPECIAL QUALITIES OF THE ARTIFACT
Describe how it looks and feels: shape, color, texture, size, weight, movable parts, anything printed, stamped or written on it.

USES OF THE ARTIFACT - WHAT DOES THE ARTIFACT TELL US?
What might it have been used for?
Who might have used it?
Where might it have been used?
What does it tell us about technology of the time in which it was made and used?
What does it tell us about the life and times of the people who made it and used it?
Can you name a similar item today?
When might it have been used?

(Analysis Questions Designed and developed by the Education Staff, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408)

From Utah State Historical Society: "According to donor, Gordon Chisholm Bennett, picture is believed to be taken at Alta, Utah, the site of the Emma Mine which soon became a famous producer of silver. In the center leaning against the burro are James Woodman (left) and Robert Bruce Chisholm, co-discoverers of the mine. The mine was called Emma after Mary Emma Chisholm, daughter of Robert Bruce."

Carbide Lamp - From Alta, Utah Silver Mine