the successful commercial mining of precious metals and minerals transformed utah's economy from basically an agrarian base to a more industrialized state. within this development the tintic mining district, located approximately thirty miles southwest of provo, was founded in 1869 and by 1899 became the leading mining center in utah with a value of output placed at $5 million. a central figure in tintic success was jesse knight and the knight family who resided in provo. jesse knight attained wealth with his humbug mine in the mid-1890s. the large silver producer allowed knight to develop other mines in the east tintic area. knightsville grew around the workings and became touted as the only saloon-free, prostitute-free, privately owned mining camp in the u.s. his strict adherence to doctrines of the lds church made the town one inhabited primarily by mormons.