Lark, Utah facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lark
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 Lark
Location in Utah
Lark
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Utah |
| County | Salt Lake |
| Founded | 1866 |
| Abandoned | 1978 |
| Named for | A prospector named Lark |
| Elevation | 5,541 ft (1,689 m) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1437617 |
Lark was once a small mining town in Salt Lake County, Utah. Today, it is known as a ghost town, meaning it no longer has people living there. It was located near the Oquirrh Mountains, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Herriman. People lived in Lark because of the copper mines nearby.
Contents
The Story of Lark: A Mining Town
How Lark Began
In 1863, people discovered gold in a place called Bingham Canyon. This discovery brought many prospectors, who are people who search for valuable minerals. Two of these prospectors were named Dalton and Lark.
Small settlements, or groups of homes, grew up around their mining claims. A mining claim is an area where someone has the right to mine. The settlement named Dalton later joined with Lark. The town of Lark was officially started on January 3, 1866.
Life in Lark
By 1918, enough members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lived in Lark for it to become a ward. A ward is a local church group. However, by 1923, the ward became a smaller group called a branch. In 1930, there were 234 church members living in Lark.
By 1929, Lark was a company town. This means that one company, the United States Smelting and Refining Company, owned most of the homes and businesses. The company helped the town grow through the 1940s and 1950s.
Lark's Peak and Decline
At its busiest time, more than 800 people lived in Lark. But then, other mines nearby that dug for silver, zinc, and lead started to close. The last of these mines closed around 1971. This caused the town to slowly become smaller.
In 1972, a large mining company called Kennecott Copper bought the land where Lark was located. On December 14, 1977, Kennecott announced that the families living in Lark would have to move. There were 51 families who had built homes on land they leased from the company.
Kennecott wanted the land to dump large amounts of overburden. Overburden is the waste rock and soil that must be removed to get to the valuable minerals in a mine. This waste came from the nearby Bingham Canyon Mine.
Moving Out of Lark
At the time, 591 people lived in Lark. Kennecott Copper helped these families move. They even helped some people move their entire homes. The company also prepared a new area for them in a nearby town called Copperton. By 1978, the town of Lark was completely taken apart.
A Famous Resident
Lark had one very famous person who lived there as a child: Vina Fay Wray. She was an actress who played Ann Darrow in the famous 1933 movie King Kong. Before her family moved to Los Angeles, Fay Wray lived in Lark and also in two different places in Salt Lake City.
