HistoricallySignificantUtah

This is TNUP’s last episode of 2021. We’re so excited for 2022. For 2022 instead of just researching the amazing places in Utah, we’ll be visiting some of them. We’ll record a bit, take some pictures, and then come back to the show to tell you about our adventure.

We open the show this week by talking about football bowl cancellations due to COVID concerns. As of our recording, the Hawai’i Bowl, Military Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Fenway Bowl, and the Arizona Bowl. As of this writing, the Rose Bowl will be played. Go Utes! Along with that a small shout-out to Tom Barberi, who passed away on Christmas Eve. He was a staple in the Utah media and will be missed.

Bre and Chris talk about their successful delivery of Sub for Santa gifts and a successful mouse trapping. So far there are no signs of a second mouse. Fingers crossed we don’t end up with a mouse infestation similar to Jeremy’s rats!

Salt Lake City Tours – Copper Mine of Utah Tour

This week we talk about the Kennecott Utah Copper Mine or the Bingham Canyon Mine, the largest man-made excavation and deepest open pit mine in the world. Currently the mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group (a British-Australian multinational corporation). In the episode, we talk about the ore discovery in 1848 by Sanford and Thomas Bingham (whom the canyon and mine were originally named after) and the many iterations of owners the mine has had since its opening in 1863. While the mine brought much work and prosperity to Utah, it’s become a blight to the west bench that managed to literally bury entire cities.

The mine does not just produce approximately 300,000 short tons of copper annually but also, 400,000 troy ounces of gold, 4,000,000 troy ounces of silver and about 10,000 short tons of molybdenum. While I think everyone has heard of copper, silver, and gold, none of us had heard of molybdenum, a metal that is ductile and highly resistant to corrosion. It also has one of the highest melting points of all pure elements. We also found out the molybdenum is a micronutrient that is essential for life but can be poisonous when you are overexposed. (Don’t say we never taught you anything)

We also talk about the huge equipment needed to undertake this type of mining. One shovelful from a bucket holds more than 100 tons of material and it takes about three scoops to fill the 320-ton haul trucks used in the mine. The electrical shovels are six-stories high, and the average haul truck is 24 feet high with six tires more than 12 ½ feet tall. Each of the tires lasts about nine months and when the truck is fully loaded, it weighs more than 1,100,000 pounds.

In addition to burying entire towns, we talk about Daybreak being built on top of old tailing ponds. In 1990, homes that that been built on former flood plains were discovered to be contaminated with high levels of lead and arsenic. In its history, smelters caused sulfur dioxide gas emissions that significantly damaged neighboring crops and have had at least 25 chemical spills since 1989.

When Rio Tinto purchased the mine in 1989, they modernized the mine, mill, and the smelter. They also replace the railroad with conveyor belts and pipelines for transporting both ore and waste. We discuss the landslides and that the pit can be seen with the naked eye from outer space!!!

The Bigham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine is on the list of National Historic Landmarks. We talked about the visitors’ center being open on the episode, but it is still closed due to COVID restrictions. You can take a virtual tour on their website.

Chris puts us all on the spot about our favorite episode of year but I’m the only one caught unaware and unprepared, as is the yoozh. He also tells us about his company’s impromptu Christmas party where is boss is like Oprah, “You get a prize! And you get a prize! And you get a prize!!!”

We hope you have a great new year, and we’ll see ya on the flip side!

The New Utah Podcast · 292 – Utah Copper

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It’s the last week of September and that means it’s time for Historically Significant Utah Week! Bre and Chris provide a review of Sicilia Mia, and at least according to Chris, it is well deserving of the City Weekly Best Of Awards that it has won. Between the atmosphere and food, it’s really worth the price of admission. Speaking of City Weekly Best Of, don’t forget to vote while you still can for the 2021 awards.

With Hawaii around the corner, its a relatively short show. Jeremy does let us know about Operation Here Kitty Kitty, and it sounds like it is a success thus far. Only time will tell if he can permanently scare off the rats, by feeding the neighborhood strays. Don’t worry, we make sure he plans to keep feeding them through winter.

But the main thing we talk about is the Bonneville Salt Flats. Formed out of the remnants of Lake Bonneville, a lake pretty young in terms of the Earth, the salt flats, and the shoreline in general offer a wealth of history and scientific testing abundance. The lake was at it’s peak maybe some 25,000 years ago is all, and really formed most of what we now think of as the Salt Lake Valley. Reaching as far north as Idaho, and south as Sevier county, it was a massive lake. The Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake and Sevier Lake are what are left of the old lake.

It left us with a pretty massive gem of a landscape though. Due to the way the ancient lake receded, mostly by evaporation, we have been left in some areas with massive beds of really flat salt. These are known as the salt flats, for obvious reason. Here we have a crust from inches to many many feet deep of just plain old salt. It’s crystalized and hard, and the winter snow keeps it smooth.

Many folks explored the area, and the poor Donor party fell victim to the hospitability of the flats, eventually arriving so late to the Sierra Nevada range, that they ate each other. It didn’t take long though for people to figure out, that the flatness and length of these areas, lent their hand to going really fast. So in 1914 the first land speed record was broken roughly where the Bonneville Speedway now resides. A quick look around online and you can see just how many records were broken at the salt flats.

Of course there is more. Many films have been shot at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Independence Day, Con Air, and the Amazing Race are all things that have scenes from the flats. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi are two of the most famous. Whether your in Davey Jones locker or on a foreign planet trying to stop the First Order from killing the rebels, the salt flats are amazing.

You can visit them any time. Our recommendation is to drive to the rest stop on I80, just east of Wendover. You can walk out on the salt, and the rest stop even has a place to wash your shoes off after. Please don’t drive on them, they are very fragile in most places, and your vehicle will do long term permanent damage to them. They are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and you can find lots of information on them here.

The New Utah Podcast · 279 – Bonneville Salt Flats

The New Utah Podcast

The Utah you really want to know about.

Episode 292 – Utah Copper

Episode 279 – Bonneville Salt Flats