Alexander W Colbath Alexander W Alex Colbath was born 4 July 1878 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. 1 He was the third of five children of Lemuel Ulysses Colbath and Caroline Simons. 2 In 1880, the family was living in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. 3 Alex was involved in the social scene in Salt Lake City by 1893, when he attended a formal birthday party. 4 He gave a reading at his high school literary exercises, and attended Halloween parties, taffy pulls, dances and card parties. 5 In 1896, Alex was appointed alternate candidate for the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. When the first candidate did not pass the examination (he failed the algebra portion), Alex was notified to appear and take the examination. He traveled to Annapolis on the Union Pacific railroad. 6 It is not known whether he passed or not, but he spent his summer vacation that year in southern Utah. 7 He continued to be actively involved in the social scene in Salt Lake City in 1897, attending school dances, a picnic at Lake Mary, and taking a two-week stay at Camp Roy. 8 In 1898, he answered the call for cavalry recruits for the Spanish American War 9 and enlisted 9 May 1898 at Fort Douglas, Utah. He was a private in Captain Caine s First Troop of Utah Voluntary Cavalry. 10 He served as a mounted orderly for General Greene for a week 11 and saved a senior line sergeant when his charger became unmanageable in San Francisco. 12 He attained the rank of lance corporal. 13 He was discharged 23 December 1898 at Presidio of San Francisco. 14 He was living in Park City in 1899, coming to Salt Lake City almost monthly 15, attending dances and parties and spending time at Silver Lake and Brighton resort. 16 On the 1880 census, he was boarding with the clerk for the silver and lead mine, who ran a boarding house in Park City, Summit, Utah. 17 He attended a party at King mine in Park City 18 and won a silver ash tray for making the greatest number of progressions at a Euchre party. 19 He was installed as Inner Guard and later as Tiler for the Park City Lodge No 734 BPO Elks in 1902. 20 1 Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964. 2 Familysearch.org 3 United States Census, 1880. 4 Salt Lake Herald, 8 January 1893, p. 6. 5 For example: Salt Lake Herald, 21 April 1894, p. 6; 3 November 1895, p. 6; 17 May 1896, p. 6; 29 December 1896, p. 6. 6 Salt Lake Herald, 10 April 1896, p. 8; 24 May 1896, p. 3; Salt Lake Tribune, 10 April 1896, p. 8; 22 May 1896, p. 1. 7 Salt Lake Herald, 17 August 1896, p. 5. 8 Salt Lake Herald, 8 August 1897, p. 6; 20 November 1897, p. 5; Salt Lake Tribune, 15 August 1897, p. 10. 9 Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964. 10 Utah Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966; Salt Lake Herald, 8 May 1898, p. 8. 11 Salt Lake Herald, 13 June 1898, p. 1. 12 Salt Lake Herald, 25 June 1898, p. 1. 13 Salt Lake Herald, 5 August 1898, p. 1. 14 Utah Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966. 15 Salt Lake Herald, 25 March 1899, p. 8; 21 April 1899, p. 4; 30 May 1899, p. 4; 4 June 1899, p. 13; 16 August 1899, p. 4; 23 December 1899, p. 4; 12 May 1900, p. 4; 8 July 1900, p. 13; Salt Lake Tribune, 17 December 1899, p. 18. 16 Salt Lake Tribune, 19 March 1899, p. 10; 13 July 1899, p. 8. 17 United States Census, 1900. 18 Intermountain Catholic, 9 November 1901, p. 3. 19 Intermountain Catholic, 12 October 1901, p. 8. 20 Goodwin s Weekly [Salt Lake City], 9 August 1902, p. 10.
In 1903, he was accused of jumping the entire property of the St Louis-Vassar Mining company at Park City for Ed McGurrin. McGurrin claimed that it was his property, jumped the previous year by parties who disposed of it to the St Louis-Vassar company. 21 Alex and L A Jeffs took the Hempstead cottage for the season and two months later purchased the claims of the Alta mines. 22 A dispute arose between a Chinese cook and a miner over a glass of water. The miner demanded a drink of water and the Chinaman refused or failed to bring it. This led to a hot quarrel and the oriental went after miner with a large butcher knife. Superintendent Colbath happened to be present and stopped the disturbance, afterwards starting down town, believing the trouble was over. Scarcely had he disappeared when the infuriated cook again took up the knife and started for his enemy. The Chinaman was shot through the head and died on the way to Sandy. 23 In 1904, Alex visited relatives and friends prior to entering the state normal school in Bingham, Utah. 24 He graduated at a commencement held in the Granite Stake Tabernacle. 25 He then worked as a mining engineer and superintendent of the Alta-Quincy mine. 26 His first month, there was seven feet of snow at the camp. 27 In August that year, he married Vida Taylor Richards. 28 They had one daughter who died as an infant. 29 In 1905, Alex was the head of the Salt Lake-Bullfrog Company; a part of the Quincy Mining Company in Alta, Utah. He also acquired other mines in the area. 30 He went prospecting in Nevada as a representative of the Goldfield Exploration company of Salt Lake City 31 and in Tucson, Arizona. 32 He was elected vice president of the Gipsy Blair company in 1906, which owned a group of mines near Alta. 33 He also filed application for water flow to be diverted from Granite Creek in the Great Salt Lake basin, consisting of a channel 2,750 feet long and water to irrigate 6000 acres of land along the river. 34 Alex and M J O Neill gave a quit claim deed to the Western Mining company. O Neill died, and Alex petitioned the court for administrator of his estate. 35 He is challenged by others and accused of having unjust and exorbitant claims against the estate and will not administer it to the best interests of all concerned. The estate is worth $4000. 36 Alex and Vida are living at 659 East Third South Street in Salt Lake City in 1907. 37 21 Deseret Evening News, 16 June 1903, p. 6. 22 Deseret Evening News, 20 June 1903, p. 15; 8 August 1903, p. 6. 23 Salt Lake Herald, 20 December 1903, p. 1. 24 Salt Lake Herald, 18 September 1904, p. 18. 25 Salt Lake Tribune, 22 May 1904, p. 2. 26 Salt Lake Tribune, 6 May 1904, p. 12. 27 Salt Lake Herald, 6 May 1904, p. 6; Salt Lake Tribune, 12 May 1904, p. 6. 28 Utah County Marriages, 1887-1940; Utah Marriages, 1887-1935. 29 Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1956. 30 Salt Lake Tribune, 8 March 1905, p. 6; 14 March 1905, p. 12. 31 Salt Lake Tribune, 1 January 1905, p. 70; 9 February 1905, p. 6; Deseret Evening News, 2 January 1905, p. 6. 32 Arizona Daily Star, 2 November 1905; 7 November 1905, p. 3. 33 Salt Lake Tribune, 1 August 1906, p. 6. 34 Salt Lake Tribune, 9 September 1906, p. 24. 35 Deseret Evening News, 6 January 1906, p. 6 36 Deseret Evening News, 5 February 1906, p. 5. 37 Salt Lake Herald, 18 April 1907, p. 4.
Alex joins 88 other men on board the Beaver County special train made up of three Pullman sleepers and a diner car. They visit the mines in Beaver, Utah. 38 Alex traveled to southern California with William J Craig and purchased a group of claims near Marvel. 39 He also travels to Colorado and Wyoming 40 and secures ten claims in the Pioche camp and starts the Pioche-Milwaukee Mining company. 41 He was an officer and shareholder of the Grand Victor of Nevada Mining company and manager of the new Tenabo camp in the Bullion district of Lander County, Nevada. 42 In 1909, Alex moved from Salt Lake City to the Pioche area, were he was owner and superintendent of the Black Vault Mining company. 43 On the 1910 census, Alex is listed as a quartz miner, living with wife in Pioche, Lincoln, Nevada. 44 In 1911 there was a bit of a scandal as Ernest R Wooley purchased the Nevada-Utah company from Alex Colbath and Dan O Brien for $15 and then turned and raised the deed to $15,000. Alex received $300 for the property since he was an employee of the purchasing body, the Rocky Mountain Investment company. 45 In 1916, Alex raised $160,000 to buy most of the Silver Reef mine properties to take advantage of the World War I rise in silver prices. His Silver Reef Consolidated Mining Company had an office in in the Newhouse building in Salt Lake City and fitted up the old Wells-Fargo Bank in Silver Reef for their office at the mines. The property of the company was cleaned up, retimbered and fitted for resumption of work. Thirty men, all residents of Washington county, were employed and a branch power line was built from the Dixie Power company s line to the mines. Three electric hoists were installed and all operations were conducted by means of electricity, including the ventilation of the shafts by electrically driven air compressors. 46 He leased part of the property to a New York company in 1920, which planned to build a mill, but cancelled their plans when silver prices dropped again. 47 On the 1920 census, Alex is divorced, a mine operator, and rooming on South Main Street in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. 48 In 1922, Alex married Mary Elizabeth Mayme Olsen in Salt Lake City. They lived in the old Wells Fargo Office in Silver Reef. 49 He continued as superintendent of the Silver Reef Consolidated Mines Company. 50 In 1928, the American Smelting and Refining Company purchased 51% of his stock and did a great deal of development work. When the price of silver dropped to 26 cents, work came to a standstill. 51 In 1930, Alex was an iron mine operator, living with his wife and stepson in Cedar City, Iron, Utah. 52 He served on the mining, utilities and manufacturing committee of the Cedar City chamber of 38 Salt Lake Tribune, 14 April 1907, p. 18. 39 Deseret Evening News, 22 June 1906, p. 7; 21 July 1906, p. 6; 27 July 1906, p. 6; 24 August 1906, p. 6. 40 Salt Lake Herald, 17 August 1907, p. 6. 41 Salt Lake Tribune, 26 September 1907, p. 6. 42 Salt Lake Herald, 30 May 1907, p. 6; 30 July 1907, p. 6; Deseret Evening News, 1 June 1907, p. 6. 43 Nevada State Journal, 8 October 1909, p. 6; 23 October 1909, p. 9; Salt Lake Herald-Republican, 3 September 1909, p. 12; Salt Lake Tribune, 31 October 1909, p. 16; 28 December 1911, p. 8. 44 United States Census, 1910. 45 Nevada State Journal, 19 December 1911, p. 1; Goodwin s Weekly [Salt Lake City], 25 November 1911, p. 6. 46 Iron County Record, 29 October 1920, p. 1. 47 Historic American Buildings Survey, 1968, pp. 3-4. 48 United States Census, 1920. 49 Medford Mail Tribune [Oregon], 11 September 1927, p. 10. 50 Mohave County Miner and our Mineral Wealth, 18 February 1921, p. 2. 51 Historic American Buildings Survey, 1968, pp. 3-4. 52 United States Census, 1930.
commerce in 1935. 53 On the 1940 census, he was listed as a mine operator, living with his wife in Cedar City, Iron, Utah. 54 In 1950, Alex sold his Silver Reef properties to Western Gold and Uranium, Inc. They worked the claims for uranium and in 1957 built a mill for processing the silver-uranium ore. It was still in operation in 1968. 55 Alex died 30 October 1952 in Dixie Pioneer Memorial Hospital, St George, Washington, Utah, of bronchial asthma. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Salt Lake City. 56 He was a well-known mining expert throughout the West. 57 He owned stock in multiple mining companies 58 and was a member of the of the Alta Club, the American Mining Congress, and the Commercial Club in Salt Lake City. 59 Vida remarried twice and died in 1969 in San Mateo, California. 60 Mayme died 1962 in Cedar City, Iron, Utah, and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City. 61 Lone building still standing in Silver Reef, the old Wells Fargo station, now occupied by Alex Colbath (Medford Mail Tribune [Oregon], 11 September 1927, p. 10). 53 Salt Lake Tribune, 13 January 1935, p. 3. 54 United States Census, 1940. 55 Historic American Buildings Survey, 1968, pp. 3-4. 56 Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964. 57 Salt Lake Tribune, 28 July 1907, p. 8. 58 Salt Lake Tribune, 30 August 1905, p. 7; 1 September 1909, p. 9; 22 November 1905, p. 7; Salt Lake Herald, 11 April 1908, p. 11; Salt Lake Herald-Republican, 29 May 1910, p. 24; Goodwin s Weekly [Salt Lake City], 28 July 1917, p. 17. 59 Salt Lake Tribune, 23 August 1908, p. 10; Deseret Evening News, 1 May 1908, p. 5; 28 May 1903, p. 1. 60 California Death Index, 1940-1997. 61 Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964.
Alex and Mayme Colbath with the ages ruffle fluter found by Mayme in the ruins of the Chinese laundry in Silver Reef (Image from dezertmagazine.com) (Image from Findagrave.com)