Mammoth is an unincorporated community and semi-

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in northeastern

Juab County Juab County ( ) is a county in western Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 11,786. Its county seat and largest city is Nephi. Juab County is part of the Provo– Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statisti ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, United States.

Description

The town lies in Mammoth Canyon on the west flank of the

East Tintic Mountains The East Tintic Mountains are a mountain range in central Juab, Utah, and Tooele counties in Utah, United States on the east margin of the Great Basin just west of the Wasatch Front about south-southeast of Salt Lake City. The community of Eur ...

, approximately west of Mammoth Peak, at an elevation of .USGS 7.5 min. Quadrangle maps: Eureka and Tintic Junction It is about south of

Eureka Eureka often refers to: * Eureka (word), a famous exclamation attributed to Archimedes * Eureka effect, the sudden, unexpected realization of the solution to a problem Eureka or Ureka may also refer to: History * Eureka Rebellion, an 1854 g ...

and east of the Tintic Junction. Mammoth was founded ''circa'' 1870 during the

boom and bust Business cycles are intervals of general expansion followed by recession in economic performance. The changes in economic activity that characterize business cycles have important implications for the welfare of the general population, governmen ...

mining cycle of the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

. The name for the town comes from the Mammoth Mine located near the area.

History

The Mammoth Mine was discovered around the same time as the settlement of Eureka in February 1870. Miners rushed in and began a

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...

. The area was remote and the environment harsh; no water was to be found nearby. The mines piped in water for industrial use, but residents had to buy drinking water for ten cents a gallon. Mines in the area around Mammoth produced

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. The Mammoth Mine was in production for around seventy-five years. Considered part of the Tintic Mining District, with other communities and mines in the area, the area around Mammoth played a vital role in the mining economy of the

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th st ...

and later the State of Utah. Activity in Mammoth peaked around 1900–1910, with a population of 2500–3000. The town had a school, four large hotels, and other businesses typical of a town its size. Mammoth was officially incorporated in 1910, but began to decline soon after. By 1930 the population was down to 750, the town having disincorporated on 29 November 1929. Today, some residents still consider Mammoth home. There is some smaller scale mining that goes on in the area today for

metals A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. These properties are all associated with having electrons available at the Fermi level, as against no ...

. The area is also popular with ghost town enthusiasts, campers,

off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle (ORV), also known as an off-highway vehicle (OHV), overland vehicle or adventure vehicle, is a type of transportation specifically engineered to navigate unpaved roads and surfaces. These include trails, forest roads, and ...

riders, and hikers.

Notable people

* Tristram Coffin (1909–1990),

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and star of the syndicated ''

26 Men ''26 Men'' is a syndicated American Western television series about the Arizona Rangers, a law-enforcement group limited to 26 active members. By March 1958, the program was carried on 158 stations in the United States. The program was also bro ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, was born in Mammoth. * Marion Mack (8 April 1902 - 1 May 1989), silent era actress best known for her work in the film classic '' The General'', was born in Mammoth.

References

External links

Ghost Towns.com

{{authority control Ghost towns in Utah Mining communities in Utah Populated places established in 1870 Ghost towns in Juab County, Utah Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah National Register of Historic Places in Juab County, Utah 1870 establishments in Utah Territory

Description

History

Notable people

See also

References

External links