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Lark, Utah is a former small mining town next to the Oquirrh Mountains, which run along the west side of the Salt Lake Valley. The settlers who established Lark in 1866 chose the area specifically for its timber and constructed a sawmill near the mouth of Bingham Canyon. In December 1977 Kennecott Copper Company notified the residents that they had purchased Lark. As a result, all residents, many of them Hispanic, were required to vacate Lark because the town would soon be covered by a tailings pile. By 1978 the town of Lark no longer existed.

This digital collection provides access to the recordings and transcriptions from the Lark Interview Project directed by Paul Ganster in 1978. These oral histories contain information about the Hispanic residents of Lark, Utah, including their backgrounds, moving plans, and financial options. Some of the interviews also address issues of ethnicity and minority treatment.

Additionally, this collection contains interviews from the Ogden Minority/Utah State University (USU) Student Collection project conducted in 1978 which addressed feelings on prejudice and treatment of Hispanics in Utah.

There is a finding aid available for this collection.

Interviewees:

• Maria Barrera
• Clyde Crump
• Michelle Gallegos
• N.L. Garcia (transcript only)
• Lee Gatton (transcript only)
• Helda Grabner
• Clarita Martinez
• Jeanie Martinez (transcript only)
• Rudy Martinez (transcript only)
• Abby McGill
• Dolores Montanez
• Marco Montanez
• Janet Montoya
• Jessie Nielsen
• Louise Roberts (audio only)
• Richard Rubright
• Julius Sandstrom (partial transcript only)
• Lillis Sandstrom
• Timothy Tafoya
• Robert Tincher
• Lucy Tinsher
• Elaine Trujillo (transcript only)
• Ruth Trujillo (transcript only)
• Elaine Coones Varney