Robert C. Chambers
(1832-1899)

5th District Senator

Democrat

No

63

January 16, 1832

Lexington, Richland, Ohio, United States

April 11, 1899

Eudora T. Tolles (1848-1897) Married August 17, 1884

Mining Superintendent

Robert Craig Chambers left Kentucky as a young man to seek fortune out west. He began mining in Sacramento, California, in July 1850 before moving to Plumas, where he lived for the next eighteen years and served two terms as sheriff. While there, Chambers met and befriended C. C. Goodwin, editor of the Salt Lake Tribune. Chambers began merchandising and combined that with quartz and placer mining until 1869 when he closed the business and moved to Nevada. He continued moving around the west before coming to Utah in 1870. For a time, Chambers managed the Webster and Bully Boy mines in southern Utah for George Hearst. When the Ontario Silver Mine was discovered in Park City, Chambers took hold of it in 1872 and developed it into a profitable enterprise. Chambers died from appendicitis three years after his time as a senator, “in which capacity he served with honor and distinction” (Drumm 1896, 90).

Drumm, Mark. "The Bee Hive State." Drumm's Manual of Utah, and Souvenir of the First State Legislature, 1896. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Salt Lake City, Utah: M. Drumm, 1896. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hx4jb7.

Image of Robert C. Chambers by courtesy of HathiTrust Cropped from page 34 of Drumm, Mark. "The Bee Hive State." Drumm's Manual of Utah, and Souvenir of the First State Legislature, 1896. Hathi Trust Digital Library. Salt Lake City, Utah: M. Drumm, 1896. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hx4jb7?urlappend=%3Bseq=42