The Babe Ruth Mine was previously a part of the Bristol-Jackrabbit claims. These claims were part of the old Bristol City ghost town. The mines were active as recently as 1982 being worked for native gold deposits within the less desirable silver and galena. The miners were originally worked for the silver and lead but as transportation options changed it actually became cheaper to treat the silver ore in the Utah Bauer plant. This was the death knell for the mines as the mills closed and the cost soon became prohibitive the ores to Utah. The mines were known for their silver but they also produced a good amount of gold. Anywhere from .5 to .8 ounces per ton on average. Here's a description of the old town found from a 1969 document.
Mining claims were first located in the Bristol Wells area in 1870; the district was organized a year later; and the town of National City was built around the National mine. In 1872 a furnace was erected to treat silver-lead ores hauled from the Bristol Mine, 4 miles east of National City. New and richer deposits found in 1878 caused an increase in activity. A 12-stamp mill was installed. More people were attracted to the area, and the name of the town was changed to Bristol City.
A 5-stamp mill with smelter was built in 1880. The business district with post office and newspaper, the Bristol Times, served about 700 people in the outlying area. Ovens of shale and sandstone converted the pine logs into charcoal for the smelter. Water was obtained from wells at Bristol and was hauled a distance of from 3 to 5 miles to the mines. Bristol became the trading point for hundreds of nearby mines.
About 1890, when a new smelter began treating copper ores, Bristol Wells had a population of about 400. When the second burst of mining activity ended about 1893, Bristol Wells became inactive. About 1900 a small leaching plant was installed to recover copper from the Bristol Mine's ores. The mill operated only two years. After construction of the Salt Lake Railroad through Lincoln County, local milling was not resumed.
In 1911 operations at Bristol and at Jackrabbit, 2 miles northeast, were combined and after 1914 an aerial tramway linked the 2 points. Bristol's ores were then sent on the tram, loaded on railroad cars, and sent to Salt Lake City smelters via Pioche.
The mines were intermittently active until about 1918, when some were consolidated and then sold a number of times. In 1922, the camp was renamed Tempest after the Tempest mine, and in 1929 it was renamed again, this time after the Bristol Silver mines. The post office was discontinued in 1950.
The mines have been worked intermittently from 1960-1992, with a notable increase in operations in the early 1980s. Gold was able to be separated from silver relatively easy as the gold was native and broke apart easily.[1]
