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Show RESOURCEFUL AMERICAN FORK The Pnrk Record Rlnn Graphically Graphical-ly Describes an Interesting Trip Over Treacherous Trails and , Precipitous Paths to the Hujf-Ked Hujf-Ked Mountain Fastness of Am. Fork Canyon, Where Nature Has Stored Away Wealth Untold. Un-told. In company with Wm. II. Miller, who is quite largely interested in that district, dis-trict, a Rkcuiid reporter visited In the American Fork conyon country on Wednesday nnd Thursday of this week. To the uninltated such n trip proves somewhat of a revelation; tho sublimo ruggedness of the landscape en route is Inspiring, the dilllculty of travel is bb great as can bu imagined and the vast in ncral resources found to exist in the mounta'nous American Fork section aro far greater than is generally believed by those unfamiliar with it. The writer nnd companion left Wednesday Wed-nesday morning early, on horseback, bound for their debt'nat on via Silver King road, Brighton, nnd Alta, nnd from the grent Silver King on, tho road h Pned with mines nnd piospccts for practical y the entire distarcc, and all iiiong the route grent activity is the mott notable feature of nil. Commencing Commenc-ing at the Silver King, whero extensive improvements nnd alterations are ,beii g inudo at the mill, while the mine gets bigger and better every day, the roaa leads up past the old Crescent, where leasers are extracting fine ore, on to the Jupiter and fur above thoThuynes canyon can-yon district, where n great deal of prospecting pros-pecting unrl development work Is being done. On the divide to the right are the Copper Apex nnd Scottish Chief, while further down in tho gulch may be heard the pounding of a single-jack as it.drives the drill on its way to the heart of thu mountain in which the Iowa Copper company is pursuing operations. Still on down in tnu Cottonwood other prospects aro being worked, nnd righ up in beaut. f ul Brighton there are many tunnel portals to speak of the quest for fortune thot Is being carried on there. Leaving Brighton wo followed the narrow burro trnll high up into thd rugged rug-ged bns'n where nestle tho beautjful twin lakes, sparkling with dazzling iridescence ir-idescence in the sunlight. Still on and up nnd up and up leads the trail, flnnll. losing itself in n grent bank of bpow ni the very summit of the divide. Crossing Cross-ing this it is nccessnry to use grea caution in lending the horses over, for a single misstep nnd the chnnces aro, horo nnd rider too will go rolling nnd tumbling to the foot of tho mounta'n, nnd Lo dashed to denth. Standing on this dlvido among entangled en-tangled wires nnd fallen telephone polls which tell of tho winter-storm's fury, one looks down and over into the resurrected. resur-rected. CAMP OF ALTA. To tho right as tho trail is followed down, not a great distance from the summit is tho City Rocks, the portal of whoso tunnel Is in n great copper blowout blow-out which but Indicates the great dc-I dc-I osits of ore lying below, for which th operations are now hend'ng. Up in tin gulch lies thu Continental Alta from which thu aerial tramway lenvcs on its t'relees journey with mineral trcusure. I urlhc r down may Lo seen tho fnmois old Hnima, thu Flagstaff and tho Co lumhutt Con, nnd the trail leads up nasi nnd beyond Albion. In all of ihe Alta properties development is eiiher in pro grcs or preparation for work is beine made, and from one end to the other is manifested the revival of interest which has brought this great old camp inte the limel ght again during the pnstycai or two. Alia operators aro confident that tho camp will yet produce somo ol lis greatest mines, nnd f rom mdicationt n the properties in which work is goine on there is much reason for their faith Leaving Attn the route over tho billt Is n success'on of treacherous trails nnd I reclpituus paths over which it is necessary neces-sary a great part of the way to lead n horse, and progress is slow and somewhat some-what nerve-Bhuking oven to tho most experienced. Still, in the face of iho compulsory slow and dungcrous travel, and tho uncertainty of just whero next step will land you, the trip is most interesting, in-teresting, nnd the wondrous nnd mns sivo beauties of nature aro appreciated .'o the fullest extent. The jagged puss over tho snow-covered summit of some gi.tnntic mountain leuds ton fertile valley val-ley hundreds of feet below, uud n small forest of stately, balm-perfumed pines prot.ct the veil able grrder.s of sweet-scented sweet-scented wildllovvers whlchgrowut their base. Tho descent from tho summit into the Americnn Fork canyon is steep und long, hard alike on man and boast. MILLER HILL. Our first stop in tho canyon was nt tho Surprise mine on Miller hill which bus n n altitude, it may bo mentioned of 10,000 feet above tho level of the sen. Thu Surprise does not belio its name to tho strnnger, for one enn't help but be surprised nt the great bodes I of very rich oro which Ho there. Qu'tu 1 recently n now body of hlgo grade' was ' shot Into, nnd from indications, thu en-tiro en-tiro fnco of the drift is by this time in hlgh-giado galena ore. In the main tunnel thu oro comes in utmost from thu grnts roots, as is characteristic of tlie country, nnd thoso in chnrge do not know as yet just how much there is of it. More than u hundred tons has been taken out and sucked and n road is being be-ing built bo that it cun bo shipped in tho near future. John J. Jones is in charge of ihu work there and his son, .nines, is directing operations jubt nt prvbunt. To nvoid its tolng carried down the mountain side by snow Bhdesduringthu winter, tho company cabin is built between be-tween two lodges or rock, whehpro-jictltso whehpro-jictltso that thu snow slides right over. Last winter nine extra lengths of stove pipe were used to carry the smoko from tho stovo through the jnow, nnd even with theso tho pipe wns often choked up und the fire extingu'sh-eel extingu'sh-eel during n btorm. A hundred foot tunnel wns dug in the snow through whoh tho waste wns taken to ihu dump, r ii iiV i iiiTi t"urti. ?i iiiii to furnish light. This gives nn Idea of tho amount of enow which falls In this rough, country. THE WYOMING. Just down the hili from the Surprise Is tho Wyoming or Tyng mine, the biggest big-gest producer in the canyon at present. Tho owner of this property, the elder Tyng, was killed two winters ago by a snowslido near tho mine, and he was buried where the body was found. His grave on the mountain sido is well kept by his relatives and friends. Two sons of the snowsllde victim arc now operating operat-ing the property and have been made wealthy. Forty teams ard engaged in handling ore from the mine to Amerl-Ican Amerl-Ican Fork, a distance of 23 miles. The teams come up ono day and go down the next. The oro is very rich nnd is all sacked, thousands of loaded sacks . now being ready for shipment, nnd the I bu plus over what can be hauled is increasing in-creasing dally. From tho Surprise property we rode down the hill about three miles to the camping place of the teamsters and from there in nearly every direction ore producing minctf nnd prospects wero pointed out to us, and in nono of them has work been donelat great depth, the surface values annjnntitles, however, being little less -4-1 wonderful. The entire country IfcpUerrd with iron nnd the ore ismadeue(jj,Bort of a rotten lime, Bccompati Tiften by a black sand. The Duff; -nan, Whirlwind, Yankee, Sunday, VJ.je Rock, Cornucopia, Cornuco-pia, Silver Bell, th; Miller, and many other properties which are being worked work-ed are all within a few miles radius und more or less work is being done on them. We were told thot in most cases owners of the properties wero American Ameri-can Fork people who apparently have no interest in their ground, will not work it and cause-trouble for any one who attempts to. Cla'm Jumping is not at nil unusual in tliese parts; not a a great deal of the ground is patented nnd changes of ownership back nnd forth nro frequent. At present, how-over, how-over, somewhat of a revival of interest s manifest, thu country is being advertised ad-vertised and great things nro already predicted for it. Most of the work being be-ing dono is by leasers. DOWN THE CANYON. Toward evening we went still further down tho canyon to the Jones' camp, about four miles below. The canyon along this part Is most beautiful, the wugon road extending along tho side of the mountain on an old railroad grade built thirty-Bx years ago when it wns tho intention ,to haul oro by rail from the Miller properly, Tho idea was a-bfandoncd, a-bfandoncd, however, and tho old grade is now used for several miles by the teamsters. A rushing torrent of water flows noisily at the base of the roadway and below towering mountains und the shifting jeenery changes from colossal ledges of elephantine rocks to thickly wooded groves and romant'c "lovers lanes" whero tho foliage on either side and overhead form an artistic bower fit 'for a poet's fancy. At the Jones' place we camped fbr the night and were royally roy-ally treated by all. 'lircd and sleepy we rolled into blankets and wero lulled to sleep by the murmuring of the pines and the music of the flowing water. MORE PROSPECTS. ThursdoiWriter.brcakfnst In company with John Jpncs,, his fu.her and Joseph Sonderbesg, wo looked into in-to u promis ng prog no A owned by them. Tho formation in tnlslpurt of the enn-yon enn-yon is exactly tho sanw ns it is higher np and iheru is every reason to believe that ore will soon bo found there. In ihe Lone Pine prospect nearby rich oru has been lound, though in small bunches, bunch-es, and h gher up on the hill thcru is n icdge cuiry.ng nativo sliver. Judge Burton and Judge King of Salt Lake are becoming interested in this part ot ihe country. Later wo rode to thu teamsters camp and climbed lo thu top of Dewey Peak, which surrounds a clitt of rock three hundred feet high. O.i lis peak the, jlone and Joo Householder House-holder are interebted in a group of five promising claims and will soon form a company to prospect them on a lurger jcale. Two men are now employed there, fo, lowing stringers of ore which will very probably form an oru body ut no great depth. Tho wages paid In tho Fork district aru from 12.00 to $3.00 per day and board and about 200 men are now employed em-ployed in this section. After lunch wo started for home, wotklng our way "straight up" the mountainside, through n thicket of (making asps nnd underbrush to tho aummit, tiom whero ye could see Ho-ber, Ho-ber, Midway, Charleston and tho valley. Crossing more snow we made n steep descent down into Bonner hollow south of Snake Creek and on through o thu Hot Pots arriving there about U o'cloeUr- After bomcthing to drink, a bath und a delicious trout supper, wu started homo by moonlight, nrr.vlng in Park City about 1 n. m. From tnu summit of tho county divide tho twinkling lights of tho Pnrk looked mighty cheerful, cheer-ful, and wu decided thut after nil it is still Utah's greatest camp and will po for yenrs to como. Tho trip, though rough, was interesting, interest-ing, cnjoyablo and exciting und well worth making if ones enres for tho "strenuous life." Park City Record. |