This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

First of two parts

On Sept. 24, 1875, two prospectors left work at their galena mine in the San Francisco Mountain Mining District of Utah's Beaver County and stopped by a huge boulder outcrop that offered them shady respite. Casually chipping it with a pickax, they accidentally discovered a high-grade lead sulfate mineral called anglesite. This set in motion events that formed Horn Silver Mine — once considered among America's strongest ore producers — and a Wild West saga that could have been a movie.

Within three days, the two men — Samuel Hawkes and James Ryan — sank a "30-foot drilling with a hand windlass" and staked their claim. Five months into it and fearing failure, they sold the claim for $25,000, and thought they made a killing. They kicked themselves later.

Under new ownership, "a vein of 280 feet in length had been proved, and about 25,000 tons of ore had been extracted and turned into bullion," historians Leonard J. Arrington and Wayne K. Hinton wrote in "The Horn Silver Bonanza." "The ore body was strikingly similar to that of the famous Comstock Lode of Virginia City, Nev. Its limestone wall had a bow-shaped outline. The hanging-walls ran straight like the string of a bow."

By late 1877, the Horn was a clarion call for workers. Its adjacent mining town of Frisco bustled with nearly a thousand people and two smelters, including five beehive-shaped charcoal kilns built by Utah's Liberal party member, William S. Godbe.

The mine, located in an arid and remote mountain range, was some 20 miles west of Milford and more than 170 miles from the railhead in York in Juab County. Its owners needed "financial muscle" to close the gap. Unexpectedly, their quandary caught the attention of American banker Jay Cooke, declared the "leading financier of the Civil War."

A wealthy man who disavowed mining speculation, Cooke nearly lost his shirt during the Panic of 1873 and saw his Northern Pacific Railway shares sold for pennies on the dollar. But he had the enviable wherewithal — that innate prowess — to organize, promote and persuade others into action without spending a dime of his own.

Traveling to Utah, Cooke convinced the mine owners to take a quarter interest in the construction of a railroad from York to Frisco. He secured subscriptions for another fourth of the stocks from the offices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, and returned East to acquire the remaining half of the capital from Union Pacific Railroad Co. President Sidney Dillon and Wall Street financier Jay Gould.

Presumably, Utah workers furnished the labor and ties while Union Pacific officials and Gould supplied the rail and rolling stock.

Despite a complicated series of railway setbacks and mining challenges, in 1879 the owners incorporated under Utah law "with a capital stock of $10 million in 400,000 shares" with a face value of $25 per share. Cooke, granted rights to market 200,001 shares, never lost his Midas touch. Selling them for nearly $4 million, he too was back on track.

That summer, the Utah Southern Railroad Extension to Frisco laid the last leg of rail. The company's monthly profit was $40,000. United States Annual Mining Review and Stock Ledger rated the Horn as "unquestionably the richest silver mine in the world now being worked."

Frisco's population soared to 6,000. The town became a center of commerce — and lawlessness. Gambling dens, countless saloons, "soiled doves" and daily shootings that filled hospital beds or Boot Hill threatened to take over until Sheriff Pearson from Nevada stepped in, killed six outlaws outright and restored order.

In 1882, some 50 tons of ore were shipped daily to Franklyn Smelter near Murray. By 1885, the Horn produced more than $13 million and paid $4 million in dividends to shareholders. Its ore, averaging 70 to 200 ounces of silver per ton "entirely free of lead," created wondrous wealth.

Then tremors shook the ground.

Next: The Horn Silver Mine Crash

Eileen Hallet Stone, author of "Hidden History of Utah" and "Historic Tales of Utah," a new compilation of her "Living History" columns in The Salt Lake Tribune, may be reached at ehswriter@aol.com.