With the mining operation on such a large scale means monstrous equipment to obtain the minerals.

Every aspect of the mining process is larger than life. Just outside the visitor's center sits a tire from one of the hauler trucks. Standing at 12 feet 6 inches tall, six tires are used by each truck. Individually, they weigh 10,183 pounds and must be replaced yearly, costing $25,000 apiece.

But mining operations haven't always been so big in the canyon, it took many years for the size of the operation to grow to the scale it is at today.

While the canyon was named for Utah pioneers Erastus Bingham and his sons, Sanford and Thomas, they were not the first to discover valuable minerals in the canyon but utilized the land as a grazing site for their animals and as a source of timber. The Binghams left in 1850 to settle Weber County, and the valuable ore was briefly forgotten. It wasn't until the 1860s that the ores were rediscovered and mining operations began, attracting people from across the world trying their hand at striking it rich.

But minerals couldn't be found in large quantities, and mining individual prospects proved expensive and futile.

It wasn't until 1893 that Daniel Jackling, a metallurgical engineer, and Robert Gemmell, a mining engineer, realized that if the mining were done on a larger scale it would be profitable. Their idea was to create a large, industrial scale open-pit mining operation. Ten years later, in 1903, it was put into action by the Utah Copper Company.

Since 1906 more than 6 billion tons of material have been removed from the canyon. It isn't all copper either. Annually the mine produces 320,000 tons of refined copper. In addition to mining copper, significant amounts of molybdenum (a metal used to strengthen steel), gold and silver are also extracted and refined. Daily, 450,000 tons of material are removed from the mine, two-thirds of which is waste-rock.

To reach the mine, visitors actually drive across a road into the canyon made of waste rock— surrounded by small mountains also made of rock removed from the mine. Occasionally, if lucky, visitors can catch a glimpse of goats which roam the over-burden and feast on the weeds that grow between the rock.

Getting to the mine isn't difficult; directions can be found at www.kennecott.com.

Entrance fees to the mine are $5 for a passenger car, $25 for mini tour buses, and $50 for tour buses. It is open April 1 through Oct. 31 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., depending on the weather. For more information about the visitors center call 801-252-3234.

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E-mail: nhale@desnews.com