106 UTAH INTERNATIONAL: A BIOGRAPHY OF A BUSINESS destiny. Given their view from the valley floor of modest profits, however, Utah executives could not know that, by the decade’s end, earnings would begin a climb, eventually leading to the summit of a financial Everest. Although prior to 1951 the company had dabbled in mineral extraction, often in conjunction with other firms, the 1950s would see a dramatic expansion in both the variety and number of Utah’s mining enterprises. Its move into copper, for example, exemplified the enthusiasm management held for this new emphasis. In the beginning, its copper mining work followed the traditional pattern of joint ventures and contract stripping. Such efforts led the firm into Arizona in the mid-1950s, where it joined Stearns Rogers Manufacturing Company in a joint venture. The San Manuel Copper Corporation awarded a $60 million contract, to design, engineer, and construct mine surface structures, including mills and a smelter. The project included erecting head frames and hoisting In 1965, the company acquired a 25 percent interest in the Pima Mining Company near Tucson, Arizona. Here, Edmund W. Littlefield and other company officials tour the site.