Mercur Utah Ghost Town: Land for Sale and History | UTLocal

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Looking for land and properties near Mercur, Utah? The listings below search active MLS properties around this historic gold mining ghost town in the Oquirrh Mountains, refreshed every morning at 9:00 AM.

Where Is Mercur, Utah?

Mercur sits at the head of Lewiston Canyon on the west side of the Oquirrh Mountains in Tooele County, about six miles west of Cedar Fort. The townsite is on private mining land today, making it one of Utah's harder-to-reach ghost towns.

Mercur History

Gold was discovered here in 1870, and the first settlement, Lewiston, saw a brief gold rush that peaked around 1873. Silver brought a second boom, producing over a million dollars in bullion before the ore gave out and the town went quiet by 1880.

The area was reborn when Bavarian miner Arie Pinedo found cinnabar deposits containing gold and mercury in 1879. By 1891 Mercur was the site of the first successful use of the cyanide gold extraction process in the United States — a breakthrough that changed gold mining across the country. The town was later destroyed by fire, rebuilt, and eventually abandoned as the ore played out.

Barrick Gold reopened the nearby Mercur Gold Mine in 1985, and the site has since gone through reclamation. The surrounding Oquirrh terrain offers open land and mountain scenery for buyers looking for remote Tooele County acreage.

Buying rural land near Mercur? Access, water rights, and mining claims matter more than square footage out here. Olivia Pelton sold 120 acres in Duchesne County in 2025 and can help you check a parcel before you commit. Ask Olivia about a Mercur-area property.

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Mercur Area MLS Listings, Updated Daily

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