A miner in the early days of Bingham Canyon, who struck it rich was said to have struck pay dirt. Those miners would take a mule, shovel, pick and dynamite along with a drill bit and double jack and work hundreds of hours drilling, blasting and shoveling. With a combination of hard work and little bit of luck a miner might find a rich vein of gold silver of copper ore. This was “dirt” that paid him money or pay dirt. Striking pay dirt symbolizes a successful miner. Because of this, Bingham High School’s Hall of Fame is called the Pay Dirt Club. Craig Burton (Class of 1969) and Carmen Freeman (Class of 1972) were formally inducted into the Bingham High School Pay Dirt Club at the homecoming assembly on September 16, 2014.

Craig Burton grew up in South Jordan and attended Bingham when the school was in Copperton, graduating in 1969. During his years at Bingham High, he was involved in student government serving as Junior Class President and Senior Class President. He participated in sports as a member of the football and track teams. He was also a member of the A’Cappella Choir, the Lettermen, Medical Career and Engineer’s Clubs.

After graduation from Bingham High, Mr. Burton attended the University of Utah where he graduated with a degree in Business Finance. At the University of Utah he participated in student government where he represented the College of Business in the ASUU Assembly. He was also a member of Phi Delta Kappa, a professional business fraternity. He has been an active member of the real estate industry since 1975 and was a founding partner of EquiMark Properties which specializes in the acquisition and development of multi-family real estate properties nationwide. His company has transacted over four billion dollars in multi-family sales in the Greater Salt Lake area and over 30 cities throughout the United States. He is currently a founding partner of Chartwell Capital Partners, a real estate investment company. In his business activities, he has served as the National Vice President of the National Association of Realtors and was awarded the Utah commercial real estate investor of the year in 1999.

He has been active in his community serving as the chairman of the Murray High School Redevelopment project and as a special projects consultant for the Murray School District. He has also served as a member of the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, an LDS Stake President and a Mission President in Seoul, Korea.

He is married to Linda K. Burton who is currently serving as the General President of the Relief Society for the entire LDS Church. The Burtons have one son, five daughters and 24 grandchildren.

Carmen Freeman grew up in Herriman where he has lived 55 of his 60 years. He attended Bingham High School when the school was in Copperton and graduated in 1972. While at Bingham High he developed attributes and skills that would serve him well for the rest of his life. He continued his education at Brigham Young University where in 1980 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management with a minor in Accounting and Economics. He has since worked for over 34 years as an accountant, business administrator and paralegal.

He was elected to the Board of Education for the Jordan School District in 2008 during a season of extreme fiscal and political difficulty. He has also worked on the Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation Board assisting in the planning and development of property for public use.
In 2013 he was elected as mayor of Herriman City and currently serves in this position. As mayor he works on a number of boards and committees in relation to this appointment.

In addition to his public service, Mr. Freeman has served in church leadership capacities as a stake president and others during a time of unprecedented growth in the Herriman area. He also served a LDS Mission to the Alaska-British Columbia Mission. He enjoys running, hiking, serving others and spending time with his family. He married the love of his live, Madeline in 1976. They are the proud parents of five children and grandparents of ten grandchildren