Kennecott Utah Copper

Took a trip out to the Kennecott Copper mine last weekend. Oddly enough this was my first visit, despite growing up in Utah and living only a 30-minute drive away. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but found it fairly impressive and surprisingly educational.

Kennecott is the largest copper mine in the world and has produced more copper than any mine in history (18.1 million tons to be exact). It is also one of the only man-made wonders that can be seen by the space shuttle astronauts as they pass over the United States.



I never really thought about all the vast uses of copper. It's used in a myriad of electronics such as phones, computers and televisions. It's also used in automobile and airplane construction, as well as in the construction of our homes in our pipes, electric wiring and fixtures. None of this was actually news to me, but I never really appreciated how much we depend upon copper in our day to day lives.

Copper is even used as birth control in modern-day IUD's and is currently used by 160 million women world wide. That's not actually on the tour, I learned that somewhere else...but just goes to show that copper really is everywhere!



Inside the visitors center are many artifacts and relics from the mine's history. This is a miners paycheck from 1917.


Carbide gas lamps were used to provide underground light in the mines.


General Electric manufactured locomotives that were used in the copper mines from 1928 until the last one was phased out in 1980.


This was probably my favorite part of the visitors center....the Victory Flag Society Correspondence Collection from 1943-1946. The Victory Flag Society provided World War II service persons with news from home and of friends stationed around the world.

This collection of letters from service people was stored in a copper time capsule and buried beneath a war memorial that stood at the entrance to the Old Bingham High School in Copperton, Utah. When the school was closed, the memorial was moved and Kennecott Copper took possesion of the letters. They were very captivating to read, as I noticed that a some of these correspondence letters turned into romantic love letters as these men and women wrote back and forth.


I also loved seeing these old World War II propaganda booklets for women. So classic.

Kennecott definitely has that "field trip" kind of feel about it, but I really enjoyed learning about our states greatest resource and also some of it's history. If you've never been, it's definitely worth checking out.