Dream Mine

With the recent adaptation of the book Under the Banner of Heaven into a show, the wife has been watching it intently. I haven't been watching it much myself, but I couldn't help but notice they included a few mentions of the Dream Mine in the show. 

A picture of the ore processing facility of the mine called the "White Sentinel" built in the 1930s. All pics sourced from the Wiki page.

Now, the show itself isn't too bad (or all that great), and it certainly is over sensationalized with needless tension and drama in parts that there doesn't really need to be, but because it's based on a true story, it does make that part of the show somewhat interesting from a historical perspective. But, this post is going to focus on the Dream Mine itself, which in reality, I don't believe had anything to do with the Lafferty case. 

Mid September of 1894 is when the mine was constructed by a John Koyle from Spanish Fork, Utah at the age of 30 in the town of Salem, Utah. He reportedly stated that he had a vision that same year in which the Angel Moroni brought him to a Nephite mine on a nearby mountain and instructed him to reopen the mine and dig new tunnels, and said that it would provide financial aid during an economic collapse, as well as contain treasures buried by the Nephites, including the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, and the golden plates.

The mine struggled for many years, and the most money it made seemed to be on the stocks it sold, rather than anything it produced. In 1913, Apostle and geologist James E. Talmage examined some ore from the Dream Mine and reported to church headquarters that it was worthless. It was also an issue to church authorities who worried that Mr. Koyle's visionary accounts may have been made to encourage fraudulent investing. The LDS authorities issued the following statement at the time:

"The First Presidency warns the Saints against investing in worthless stock, even if promoters allege that they are guided by dreams and revelations…. Almost everyone has heard stories of how such and such has found a rich mine by following directions given in a dream, and many fondly hope for similar luck, but in most instances, it will be found on investigation, that such stories have little or no foundation in fact."

A 1913 Deseret News article from the church authorities concerning the mine.

Because of this and because of debts owed to the local church Co-Operative, the mine was shut down in 1914. However, in 1920, the mine was reopened with continuing efforts to locate ore, and over the course of the following decade saw the tunnels deepened to 2,200 feet below ground and facilities expanded to include the iconic ore processing facility pictured at the top. Not much was still found in the mine, and the only thing of note to be processed in all that time it was active was a small load of platinum which was worth about $103.03 at the time of 1936 (about $2,166 today). 

John Koyle was eventually excommunicated from the church in 1948 because of stating he was forced by the church to deny his revelations and he later died in 1949, with the mine subsequently falling into a state of disrepair. 

In 1962, the Relief Mine Company was founded by a couple of brothers to succeed the Koyle Mining Company, and continue assessment work and (hopefully) operations for the mine. They were quickly thwarted by a capstone that prevented progress in digging the mine, as well as a geological survey at that time found no trace of metallic minerals. Despite this, the mine company's board reported as recently as 2018 that there were 7,500 active stockholders, despite the stocks being sold at a higher rate than they were really worth. Today, there hasn't been any real work done there in some time, falling again into a state of disrepair and it is closed off to the public.