Last Updated on March 6, 2022 3:59 pm by Steven

Dahles And Mining

By Darrell K. Loosle- 9-1-21

This document focuses on the children and some of the grandchildren of John and Janetta Dahle, Johannes and Martha Dahle, Johannes and Johanna Dahle, and Hilliard (Helge) and Gertrude Dahle. It will focus on each of those who worked in mining.  The Dahle’s left Norway and immigrated to Utah and Idaho.  Descendants are interested why so many Dahle’s worked in mining.

What is “Dahles and Mining About?”

My name is Darrell K. Loosle. George Dahle Loosle and Gladys Moyses Loosle are my parents. George Andrew Loosle and Anna Janette Dahle Loosle are my grandparents.  John Dahle and Janetta Ingmann Dahle are my great grandparents.

When I was young my father used to talk a lot about mining.  He was a farmer but stated a number of times he would like to have been able to get involved in mining.  He talked about places he thought might be a good location to prospect for different types of ore.  One of my uncles also had the same interests.  In fact, my Uncle Norman D. Loosle and one of his brothers- in- law invested in mining uranium in Southeastern, Utah.

Why did my father and uncle become interesting in mining?

John and Janetta Dahle had 12 boys and two girls.   The older four brothers moved to Montana to work in mining. As the other brothers grew up, they became aware that the U.A.C.  (now Utah State University) had a new program to train miners to became an assayer.  This was an important position in mining.  They evaluate the ore and analyze what type of mineral it has and also determine its value. Some of them became assayers and others worked in other positions in mining.

Johannes and Johanna had six sons and seven daughters. Three of the sons were born in Clarkston, Utah, and three sons were born in Rigby, Idaho.  After Johannes passed away, it appears that all of the family, including Johanna moved to Utah.  Their son, Moses, provided leadership in organizing and operating three mills.  Most of his brothers worked with him, and they sold grain locally, to other states and internationally.  When the war ended there was no market for the grain.  Also, a pending depression appeared to be coming.  They were forced to close the business.  What would they do? What are the options?   They became aware of a mine in Idaho that could be purchased. The mine was purchased and four brothers moved to Idaho to operate the newly purchased mine. The mine was the Horn Silver mine, about 20 miles west of Arco, Idaho.

Idaho has a rich history in mining.  There are three areas in Idaho to note.

1. The Boise basin which includes Idaho city, Silver city, Placerville and many others.  This area had the largest gold rush since the California gold rush of 1849.  At one time Idaho city had a population of about 7,000 and was the largest city in the northwest including Portland.
2. The mines in the Silver valley in Shoshone county in northern Idaho. The silver mine became one of the richest silver mining areas in the world.
3. Southeastern Idaho to include Custer and MacKay.  Leesburg, and Nicolia both had populations of about 3,000 and were located west of Salmon.  In addition, there were many mines through this whole area.

Back to the Dahle families.

There were 22 boys including the children of John and Janetta, Johannes and Martha, and Johannes and Johanna.  They worked together in a dairy and in farming owned by John Dahle, in Clarkston, Utah.  They knew each other well and saw each other grow into men.  They watched as many of them went into mining.  Mining was an area where they could work together.  Four of John and Janetta’s children worked together in Anaconda, Montana.  Four brothers on Johannes and Johanna a son, a brother-in-law, and a grandson, worked together in mining.  In my opinion there was a strong feeling about family.  Mining in the west was hard. They faced the challenges and spent many years in mining.

Children Of John And Jonetta Dahle

Seven Of Twelve Brothers Worked In Mining

John and Janetta Dahle were blessed with 14 children, 12 boys and 2 girls.  One of the boys died at birth.

What was life like in the 1860’s in the Cache Valley, Utah area?   John and Janetta moved to Bountiful, Utah for a short period of time.  They then moved to Logan, Utah which was a very small town.  As it grew it became the primary shopping center in Northern, Utah.  John and Janetta lived in Logan for the rest of their lives, but they homesteaded land and farmed and operated a dairy three miles north of Clarkston, Utah

John and Janetta took advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 and received about 120 acres about three miles north of Clarkston. There they prepared the land, built the necessary facilities and established a dairy.  They kept their home in Logan, and spent the summertime working the farmland and operating the dairy.  Their boys spent some time working on the farm and dairy.   Some of the children of Johannes and Martha did work on the dairy.  Their family had settled in Clarkston, Utah.  They would walk the three miles from Clarkston to the dairy, do their assigned work, and then walk home.

Now, let us take a broader look at work availability in Northern Utah and in the territories of Idaho and Montana.   Communities had settled along the Wasatch Front, some to Southern Utah and Southeastern Utah and even into Northern Nevada.  The California Gold Rush in Northern California had occurred almost 15 years earlier.  Copper has discovered in the Salt Lake City valley and the Bingham mine brought more employees to the valley.   Copper was discovered in the Anaconda, Montana area.  Mining in the Idaho Territory and the Territory of Montana provided an opportunity to work the mines and the Anaconda smelter.

In the Montana Territory copper had been discovered along with many other mining claims having been filed. Copper was discovered and a smelter was built in Anaconda, Montana.  The mine was called the Anaconda Mine. With all the people working in the mine and smelter a town was established and was called Anaconda.

As time passed the dairy and farming made enough money to support John and Janetta.  About this time the UAC (Presently Utah State University) offered training in Mining with specialization as an assayer.  This provided higher education training and increased employability in mining.

Seven of Twelve brothers worked in Mining at some time during their life.  Following is a more detailed description of where these brothers worked in mining:

1. Joseph Dahle

In the spring of 1882, after his seventeenth birthday, he left home to work in the mines at Anaconda, Montana.  He was not married until he was 32 so he may have worked longer in the Anaconda Mine in, Montana.   He also herded cattle in the Idaho Territory and Montana Territory.

Sources:

• DAHLE: The Johannes and John Dahle families, Compiled by Eric N. Dahle, Second Edition, 1998, 246. (Additional sources from this book will use the “Dahle Book” as a source)
• Family History included in Family Tree

2. Hyrum Dahle

Hyrum worked in mining in Anaconda, Montana.   Being one of the older children he felt a necessity to work and supplement the family income.  For a period of time, he worked in mining in Anaconda, Montana with his brothers, Albert and Joseph, and perhaps others, also worked in mining in Montana. The 1910 United States Census lists his occupation as a machinist and worked in mining.   It appears that Hyrum worked there for a longer time.

Sources:

• United States Census, 1880
• Family History included in Family Tree

3. Albert Henry Dahle

Albert worked with his brothers in mining in Anaconda, Montana.  At some point, he had likely attended the Brigham Young Academy in Logan, Utah. His occupation throughout his life was in mining.  About 1910 he was employed as a foreman in a Copper Mill in the Salt Lake County area began when copper was discovered in the Bingham Canyon.  The Utah Copper Company was formed in 1903.  A smelter was also started in Garfield, Utah by the American Smelting and Refining Companies.  These companies were eventually merged with the Kennecott Utah Mining Company.

He also was employed in mining in Beaver County, Utah west of Milford, Utah. There were two mines.  One is the Newhouse Mines and the other is the Frisco Mine.

At some point he was living in Logan, Utah listing his occupation as a mining engineer.  Tradition is that he attended the University of Montana to receive additional training in mining engineering. He moved to Brandon, Madison County, Montana working as a mining engineer in a quartz mine. In 1940 he moved to Hot Springs, in Madison County working in gold mining. Albert worked in mining from the time he was in his twenties until he was past 60 years of age.

Sources:

• United States Census: 1920. 1930, 1940
• Wikipedia: Mining in Montana
• Family History included in Family Tree

 

4. Norman Edward Dahle

After he returned from a mission in Scotland, the Alaskan gold experiment was at its height and seemed to offer a tempting field for an expert mineralogist and assayer.  He attended the U.A.C, (presently Utah State University) where he majored in Chemical Engineering.

He then accepted employment at the Knights interests as an assayer for the Colorado and Beck tunnel mines at Knightsville.  This was about 1907.  A mining engineer working for Knights and a competent judge as an assayer said that Norman was an especially competent assayer, capable of running reliable quantitative tests for gold, silver, lead, copper, iron, silica, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and molybdenite.  In fact, he could analyze and assay any and all ores for all of their contents.

About 1909 he was promoted to the main office of the Knight Mines and Smelter Co. in Eureka, Juab County, Utah.  He was so expert that, in a year’s test, he won eighty-two percent of the “umpire tests” in which fifty percent was considered a fair average.  He was certainly a thorough chemist and assayer.

In April 15, 1919 he passed away in Silver City, Juab County, Utah.  At the time of his passing he was 39 years of age.

Sources:

• Dahle Book, p. 289-292
• Herald Journal, Logan, Utah, article, April 5, 1919
• Family History included in Family Tree

 

5. Ernest Edwin Dahle

He went to U.A.C. (Presently Utah State University) and graduated from college as an assayer.  He went to Goldfield, Nevada for several years working as an assayer.

Sources:

• Dahle Book, p 293.
•  Family History included in Family Tree

 

6. Roy Leland Dahle

Roy acquired a gold mine and he worked very hard for many years trying to stake a claim, but it just wasn’t to be.

Sources:

• Dahle Book, p. 293-296, Family History included in Family Tree

 

Hans Garrett Dahle

In the Spring of 1884-1885, Garrett moved to Anaconda, Montana with his brothers and a friend.  He hauled cordwood for the Anaconda Mine Company in the summers and worked in Rexburg, Idaho.  He worked there for two years and sent all his earnings to his parents.

Source:

• The Life History of Hans Garrett Dahle, by LaDawn Thain Porter, Contributed by Kaylene Harding

 

 

Children Of Johannes And Johanna Dahle

Five Brothers, One Brother- In -Law, And Two Grandsons Worked In Mining For A Total Of Eight        

Johannes and Johanna had 13 children, 6 boys and 7 girls. One of their children died young. Johannes left Martha, his first wife and their family, in Clarkston, Utah and took his second wife Johanna Dahle, and their family and moved to Rigby, Idaho. They moved to Rigby because of pressures related to Plural Marriage including the passage of the Edmunds Act and the Edmunds-Tucker Act.  After Johannes passed away, most of the children moved back to Utah.

Moses Dahle and some of his brothers operated a successful business in Utah.  Three flouring mills were built in Cache Junction, Utah; Trenton, Utah; and Weston, Idaho.  Grain was being shipped locally as well as internationally.  In addition Moses (Mose) operated a farm in Petersboro, which is about five miles south of Cache Junction, Utah.  Other brothers worked with Mose on the milling business and the farm.

In 1917 and 1918 their company, the State Milling and Elevator Company, extended loans to help farmers in the Cache Valley to open up new land to increase their wheat production. At the end of World War one, there was no market for the wheat.  Other factors occurred and the Milling Company closed.

Another brother, Norman Grant Dahle, worked in mines in Utah for a period of time also, Donald Gordon Dahle, a son of Mose and Cynthia graduated from the University of Idaho as a mining engineer.  He worked in mining for a number of years in the Blackbird Mine and in the Cobalt mine. With his son Elbert joining Moses to keep the mines going, that made seven in the Dahle family working on these ventures

Following is a more detailed description of Johannes and Johanna’s descendants working in mining:

Moses Malmberg Dahle 

In 1922 Moses and Edward decided to go into Metal mining.  His brothers, Frank, and Gilbert, also moved to Idaho in 1923-24 to work on the mines. Albert, a cousin, who is the son on John and Jonetta Dahle had done well in mining and this may have influenced their decision.   What they did was certainly a family venture with Mose working with his three brothers and other Dahle Relatives. Delanie Dahle Perry’s husband also worked in mining for a while, but later returned to Idaho Falls, Idaho.  The brothers decided to take over a group of mining claims on Champagne Creek, about 18 miles west of Arco, Idaho. This property was known as the Horn Silver Mine, and had been discovered in the early 1800’s and for a very brief period produced some high-grade silver.

Mose and his brothers constructed log cabins near the mine which became family homes for several years.  The brothers drove a tunnel or drift into a mountain to intersect a zinc vein that looked promising.  The vein, when they cut across it, was disappointing low grade.  A few months later the country sank into the Great Depression and one by one, the brothers left the mine pursuing other ventures. Moses stayed on for several years trying hard to keep the mine and the company alive until the country’s economy improved.  Moses moved his family to Arco during the school months and back to the mine in the summers.  Elbert later joined his father in one final effort to make something of the Horn Silver Mine.  Work started in the summer of 1936 and ended in 1937.  At that time the mine was closed.

Not long after the closing of the Horn Silver Mine, Mose became involved in another mining venture on Badger Creek, fifty miles from Arco on the Little Lost River.  Mose and Bill Barnes began work on Badger Creek.  In 1939 they organized the Diamond Peak Mining Company.  For the next fifteen years they searched off and on for high grade ore.  The search was unsuccessful, no ore was every found. Moses passed away in 1954 at the cabin by his mine.

Source:

• Dahle Book, pp. 167-173.  Additional sources from this book will use the” Dahle” Book as the source.

Edward Dahle

In 1923 Edward, and his brothers organized the Horn Silver Consolidated Mines.  Edward did the blacksmithing and timbering.  They drove a 1,500 foot tunnel straight into the mountain.  When they cross cut the old Last Chance vein it wasn’t wide enough or rich enough so Edward moved out.

Source:

• DAHLE: The Johannes and John Dahle families, compiled by Eric N. Dahle, Second Edition, 1998, p. 149. –

 

Henry Elisha Perry (Husband of Delanie Dahle Perry) Brother- in- law worked in mining)

They moved to Milan, Idaho where Henry worked in the silver mines. Milan is in the Silver Valley, in Shoshone Country in Northern Idaho.  They found the winters too cold and returned to southern Idaho and finally settled in Idaho Falls. Idaho.

Sources:

• Dahle Book, p. 158
• Darrell K. Loosle Archive

 

Niels Franklin (Frank) Dahle

When Mose and Ed went to Idaho to organize the Horn Silver Mine Co. His brother Frank moved to Idaho to work with his brothers.  His wife, Fannie, couldn’t stand the country living, so they went back to Utah.

Source:

• Dahle Book, p. 94

 

Gilbert Leroy Dahle

He went to Arco, Idaho with his brothers Edward and Frank, He worked there for about five years. He got rheumatism working at the mine and moved to Los Angeles, California and worked for some contractors.

Source:

• Dahle Book, p. 214

 

Norman Grant Dahle

Norman Grant Dahle and his family moved to Tulelake, California.  Norman homestead land through a government homesteading project.  On page 210 of the Dahle book it states:  As a way of community service, every Fourth of July, for many years Norman lighted the fireworks display in Merrill, Oregon.  He was qualified as he had experience with explosives while working in the Utah mines.

Source:

• Dahle Book, p. 208

 

Donald Gordon Dahle (Grandson)

Don was the ninth child of Mose and Cynthia Dahle.    He graduated from the University of Idaho in 1950 as a mining Engineer.  A few months later he was employed as an underground miner at the Blackbird Mine in Idaho’s primitive area.  After being recalled to active duty by the Air Force for a period of time he returned to the Blackbird Mine on the engineering staff.  They lived in Cobalt, a new town on Panther Creek built to support the Cobalt mine.  He then moved to Arco, Idaho to take care of his ailing father.  He worked as an engineer for the NRTS.  Dahle Book, pp. 179-182

Note: The compiler of this document knew Don and Jackie, and their family, when they lived in Arco, Idaho.  Don was working at the NRTS. I, (Darrell K. Loosle) was Principal and teacher of the LDS seminary In Arco. (Two years before Lynn Dahle) We enjoyed our association with them.  At that time Don was a counselor in the Stake Presidency.  We also were able to visit Don when he was living in Fruitland, Idaho.

 

Elbert Dahle

He is the son of Mose and Cynthia Dahle.  He worked on the Horn Silver mine in an attempt to help his father keep the mine open.

Source:

• Dahle Book, p. 166

 

JOHANNES DAHLE AND MARTHA DAHLE

Johannes and Martha Dahle, after arriving in Salt Lake City, moved to Bountiful (It was called Sessions at that time). They moved to Logan, Utah for a short period of time and then settled in Clarkston, Utah.

They were the parents of thirteen children.  Ten of their children lived to adulthood. They were among the earlier settlers in Clarkston, Utah which was settled in 1864.

The compiler of this information has carefully studied the lives of Johannes and Martha Dahle, their children, and some of their grandchildren, as well as a few of the next generation.   The compiler is not aware of any who were involved in mining. The four brothers settled in Clarkston, Utah.   All of the four boys, Hans, John Helge, David and Joseph Dahle were farmers. They assisted their mother in operating the farm and continued to farm.

 

DESCENDANT OF HILLIARD (HELGE) DAHLE WORKED IN MINING

HILLIARD GRIEBER

A nephew of Hilliard (Helge) and Gertrude Greiber Dahle worked in the Blackbird mine.  His name was Hilliard.  He was named after Hilliard (Helge Dahle).

Source:

• Family History of Hilliard and Gertrude Greiber Family, By Darrell K. Loosle, Family Tree

 

SUMMARY NUMBERS OF DAHLE’S WHO WORKED IN MINING

 

SIXTEEN PERSONS FROM THESE DAHLE FAMILY WORKED IN MINING

• John and Jonette Dahle- 12 boys and 2 girls-one child died at birth.

SEVEN OF ELEVEN BROTHERS WORKED IN MINING

 

• Johannes and Joanna Dahle-7 boys and 6 girls-one child died at birth

FIVE BROTHERS, ONE SON, ONE BROTHER- IN- LAW, AND TWO GRANDSONS

***NINE WORKED IN MINING

 

• Johannes and Martha Dahle- 4 boys and 6 Girls- 3 girls died young

NO CHILDREN WORKED IN MINING

 

• Hilliard (Helge) and Gertrude Dahle- No Children

ONE NEPHEW, HILLIARD GRIEBER, WORKED IN MINING

 

 

TRIBUTE TO ANNA JOHANSEN DAHLE “She was sixty years old when she made the trek and lived only two years and two months before she left this mortal life.  She was buried in the Logan Utah Cemetery.  Could she have known that she would become, very literally, the mother of thousands and tens of thousands as the years pass?  Could she have predicted that the example and training she gave her children would be passed on to so many people?”   May we remember her?  It is now 158 years since this Dahle family arrived in the United States and made their way to Utah.  They were truly pioneers”

Source:  Dahle Book, p. 17

Anna Johansen Dahle is the Great-Great Grandmother of the compiler of this document.

 

*****SOURCES FOR THIS DOCUMENT*****

• DAHLE: the Johannes and John Dahle families, compiled by Eric N. Dahle, Printed by Strange Printing Service, Fruitland, Idaho Second Edition, 1998
• United States Census, 1880, 1920, 1930, 1940
• Family Histories in Family Tree
• Wikipedia, Mining in Montana
• Darrell K. Loosle Archive

 

For Additional information please contact Darrell K. Loosle

xxxxx@xxxx.com

 

 

 

***FOUR PICTURES ARE ATTACHED TO THIS DOUMENT

 

 

              

 

 

                                             

 

***See the picture on the previous page- This is one of the very few

pictures we have of HELGE (HILLIARD) DAHLE.  This is taken after his wife, Gertrude Greiber Dahle, passed away.  He sold his ranch and house and moved back to Cache Valley to live with relatives until he died.  A detailed Life History is included in FAMILY TREE

 

 

 

 

 

THIS IS THE SAME PICTURE, BUT IS A BETTER PICTURE.  IT SHOWS HELGE IN THIS PICTURE,

 

BETTER PICTURE- L TO RIGHT- HELGE (HILLIARD) DAHLY, KATE DAHLE RASMUSSION, ALICE PINKHAM. IN THE BUGGY- LARS RASMUSSION, HERBERT THOMPSON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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