Herbert Cushing & Mercur Utah

Going through photos from Dad/Lamar's side of the family, this picture was uncovered and scanned in. Written in Grandma Lucille's script are the words Herbert J. Cushing, Mercur, Utah.

So WHO is Herbert and WHERE is Mercur?

Herbert J Cushing was the half-brother of Olive Laura Hunt, who was Grandma Lucille's mother. That would make him Dad/Lamar's GrandUncle, the WestraSixSibling's Great-GrandUncle, and the Great-Great-GrandUncle of the next generation, Westra Grandchildren.

The arrow drawn on the photograph points out which gentleman is Herbert. He was born in 1876, served in the Spanish-American War (1898) and passed away in 1912.

Olive Laura Hunt is in the picture too, next to her brother ... the woman sitting on the left side of the group. She is Dad/Lamar's Grandmother, which makes her the WestraSix's Great-Grandmother. Olive was born in 1882, so she is six years younger than her brother. She passed away in 1959, before Dad/LaMar and Mom/Margie got married.

We don't know who the other people in the picture are ... 

Now on to Mercur ...  Ironically enough, in March 2021, shortly after Chris uncovered this photograph, Conner and Amber (Chris's oldest) were going camping with friends. Where? Mercur, Utah! 

Mercur was located in what is now Tooele County and it had many ups and downs throughout its history. Today, no trace of any town/building remains in the area. An abandoned cemetery is all that remains of a once booming mining town.

In the beginning, it was a typical mining town with saloons and gambling, and later, a school and a church. Most of the buildings were of simple wood construction. Gold mining reached its peak in 1873. Population estimates were that 2000 people were living there then. In 1880, the ore dried up and it became a ghost town. A Bavarian prospector came in hoping to find different metals, and he did. Cinnabar, an ore of mercury ... and that's where the name Mercur came from. In 1890, a new process using cyanide was developed,  accessing gold that hadn't been able to be extracted before. The boom was back on!

On January 4, 1896, Utah was being admitted into the Union as a state. The residents of Mercur were planning to incorporate their town to coincide with that event. But a few days before, most of the town was destroyed by fire. The town was rebuilt. Then in 1902, there was another fire. In just over two hours, every business building in the city had been destroyed. They rebuilt again. By 1910, estimates place the population at 8,000-12,000. But in 1913, the gold mining operation became unprofitable, and by 1917, the town was deserted, again. Once again, new methods of extraction and refining got things going again in the 1930s, although this revival stayed small, just shacks and barracks, no real town. Later on all remaining buildings were torn down, and Mecur was no more.

Herbert passed away when he was just 36 years old. Mecur is mentioned as a place of employment in his obituary. The obituary on FamilySearch can be enlarged to be more readable, but I'll also include it below. Printed Sunday, October 27, 1912

Herbert John Cushing, son of Henry Charles and Laura Cushing, died Friday of diabetes. The deceased was born in Salt Lake August 29, 1876. During his young manhood he worked several years as a printer and later as a plumber. For nine months he was a member of the Utah National Guard, being a corporal in Company D. He enlisted in Battery C, Utah Volunteer Light artillery June 27, 1898. While in the service of the battery at Angel Island, California, he attained the rank of sergeant and was mustered out of service December 21, 1898, at which time he received an honorable discharge which certifies to an excellent character. Both before and after his service as a volunteer, he was employed in the mills at Mercur, Manning, Sunshine and Kimberly. At the last named place he worked his way up to mill foreman. At this time, as his efforts were being crowned with success, he was seized with diabetes. He was forced to give up his work October 20, 1905 and return to the home of his mother. He was unmarried. A mother, one brother Harry W Cushing and one sister Mrs. Claude Erskine, remain to mourn his loss. The remains may be viewed at his mother's home, 837 Sherman Ave, today between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Funeral services will be held this afternoon at 2 o'clock in the Emerson Ward chapel, to which all friends are invited. Interment in City cemetery.