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Show :tflThe ghosts of "j Utah s past k?fke fcoaWille ) Flaming GoflfiL YCy y - vfca National VjA M agnajrrtVp- Recreation AreaJ Tooele City L . . (' ffh vNciv y Vema! K f frrwej Castle Dal jtfhm,naf I 1 Lia u . ... Na1"oSaf25,Pa3rk """A jBeaverl ZaJSl&r15 Park rW MinersvllleV-T 4 STfCapitol A W-figL I III Junction I A Reef 1 XPan96h Park J-s Monticelloi- y fiV B.andino A fILZl0n 7u9 Bryce Canyon Crossi fjr Q National National Park y" n,.. L-.fi V 9t EiPa,A Glen Canyon v-N Blulf J Vgv zpjational Recreation Ijfrfm' SI-GeorgeVS Kanab .... I jg "'" 1 ' By NANETTE LARSEN f J Utah Travel Council j! Utah ghost towns can tell some J of the best tales in the West. For j.l history buffs, photographers or 1 adventurers, Utah's more than 150 Im ghost towns make fascinating wan-' wan-' jy dering. If someone is expecting a A ghost town catering to tourists, he I will be disappointed. Yet, a few ' ghostly ruins or bleak buildings can i stir the imagination with scenes of tj a rollicking bygone era. I There was the time in Mammoth when a local saloon owner bribed miners to smuggle ore out of the mines in return for drinks. When he had stashed enough away, the saloon sa-loon owner suddenly skipped town and spent his riches unnoticed in Salt Lake City by impersonating a society lady. Mammoth is also known for the time several young boys soaped the railroad tracks just before some steep hairpin curves. The engineer threw on the brakes just as everyone every-one bailed out. As the men raced down the hill after the train, thev town to Salt Lake City," says Carr. "Frisco has many interesting buildings against a stark desert background," says Carr. Frisco, once known as the wildest town in the Great Basin, is 15 miles west of Milford. Not much is left of Silver Reef, another notorious mining town in its day. Located about 15 miles north of St. George, the original townsite is grudually being surrounded sur-rounded by new buildings. The only preserved structure is the Wells Fargo building, listed on the National Historic Register. However, an excellent map of the city allows visitors to wander around the townsite and picture how things used to be when there was a brewery, racetrack, two dance halls, nine grocery stores, Chinatown, and many saloons. Only a huge hole in the ground marks the spot where Ajax once thrived. In the 1870's, William Ajax underground department store did more business than any store in Salt Lake Citv. With most notorious railroad boom town as the transcontinental railroad was being completed in 1869. In laying out the townsite m 1869, promoters had visions of Corinne becoming a great American City. A whole block was laid out for a university. Even with its 28 saloons, sa-loons, two dance halls, Utah's first weather bureau and first non-Mormon non-Mormon church building, and a large opera house, where many leading theater companies stopped over to give performances to packed pack-ed audiences, Corinne's fame was fleeting. It began to decline in the 1870's as other railroads pushed north from Salt Lake City. The present: Corinne is a quiet community of about 450 people with a few ghosts still left. The old church still stands, along with a few false front stores and some abandoned houses. 2. PARK VALLEY How to find it: From the Snow-ville Snow-ville 1-84 exit, Park Valley is 18 miles west on Hwy 42 and then 20 miles southwest on Hwv 30. The past: First settled in 1869 by a cattle rancher, Park Valley became be-came a boom town in the 1890's when gold was discovered nearby. After the boom ended and the town was deserted, a group of Russians tried to settle there in 1914, but gave up in 1920 due to continual ; drought. As the automobile be-came be-came popular, Park Valley became a major stopover and a good hotel was built, but faster, automobiles ' soon began to pass up the little town. The present: There is still a three-room schoolhouse in use along with a gas station and general store. There are many photogenic abandoned homes and also shacks from the gold mine on private property. prop-erty. 3. TERRACE How to find it: From Park Valley, Val-ley, Terrace may be reached by traveling 25.5 miles southwest on Hwy 30 to a gravel road which heads southeast for 5.3 miles to Watercress, another forgotten ghost town with a few ruins. From Watercress, according to Dr. Carr, Terrace is "2.2 miles east along the railroad bed, across several hazardous hazar-dous trestles and dips where trestles tres-tles have been washed out and which may be impassable to automobiles." auto-mobiles." The past: The largest of the last few construction camps for the building of the transcontinental railroad, Terrace and its large Chinatown Chi-natown settled down to become permanent. The large Chinese population lived on the east edge in shanties and dugouts. In 1900, when the main railroad shops were ' moved to Nevada and a large fire Yaged through town, Terrace died. The present: There is still the railroad turntable depression, roundhouse foundation, repair pits and remnants of the railroad yard. Along with many fallen structures throughout town, a large dump at the eastern edge gives evidence of the thousands of Chinese who once resided there. 4. KELTON How to find it: Ten miles east of Park Valley on Hwy 30 is a gravel road leading 7 miles south to Kel-ton. Kel-ton. For adventurous people with a 4-wheel drive vehicle, Kelton may be reached via the old transcontinental transcon-tinental railroad bed road from Promontory or Terrace, although some railroad trestles should be considered dangerous. The past: Kelton was the first big town west of Promontory on the railroad route. As the center for stagecoach and freight lines into Idaho and Oregon, it at one time had a two-story hotel and several saloons. Beginning in 1903with the building of the Lucin cutoff, Kelton Kel-ton gradually dwindled. In 1942, the railroad tracks were taken up and everyone left with them. The present: There are many ruins and rubble, but nothing resembling re-sembling what Kelton once was. From Gold Mines to Pony Express Ex-press Trail (Area II) 5. RICHVILLE (Mills Junction) How to find it: Richville is located lo-cated 9 miles north of Tooele at the juction of Hwys 36 and 138. The Past: In 1849, Bigham Young and Ezra T. Benson built grist, flour, saw and textile mills on several springs. Richville would become one of Utah's earliest settled set-tled ghost towns. It was even the county seat for one year in 1855. The present: From the highway, passersby can still see the picturesque pictures-que Ezra T. Benson knitting mill, which is listed on the National Historic His-toric Register. It is currently being renovated and tours to the public may eventually be given. Other abandoned buildings may also be seen. 6. OPHIR How to find it: Ophir is 19 miles southeast of Tooele. Four and one half miles southeast of Hwy 36 on Hwy 73, a paved road turns northeast north-east 3.5 miles to Ophir. The past: the mining boom for Ophir began in 1870. Lead, silver and zinc were the big moneymakers money-makers in this typical rip-roaring mining town. The population peaked at 6,000 people and the boom was over by 1880. Several mines continued to operate. Even as late as the 1940's, a post office and tiny store continued to operate. op-erate. The present: Ophir is one of Utah's best preserved and most well-known ghost towns. Ancient buildings line the narrow street at the bottom of the canyon. One of the most photogenic buildings is the town hall built in 1870. The few remaining residents of Ophir may even have some good stories to tell. 7. MERCUR How to find it: Mercur is located in the next canyon south of Ophir. Continued Next Pago I f saw it chugging in reverse back up the hill to meet them. V. During the dead of winter in M Alta's mining days, when show I drifted over the houses and people fj , lived in tunnels, the story goes that Lan unscrupulous real estate sales-LrJman sales-LrJman stuck stove pipes in the snow IP and sold them as houses to unsus-Vjpecting unsus-Vjpecting customers. 'il Long before movie actors play- tfJ'"8 Butch Cassidy and the Sund- -f lance Kid roamed Grafton, the little y?town literally began to float away Sjjfl in a terrible flood. A mother about Ajto give birth was floated on a wagon to higher ground, where Marvelous Flood Tenney was born. Stephen L. Carr, author of ' "The Historical Guide to Utah Ghost Towns," has heard many stories from old timers still living in Utah's ghost towns. He has been visiting ghost towns since he was a teenager, teena-ger, spurred by his interest in his-tory his-tory and railroading. : "I liked to follow old abandoned -: railroad grades and sometimes - these grades ended up in ghost " towns," says Carr. Some Utah ghost towns have left hardly a trace, maybe a forlorn "... cemetery or a few foundations. Others have eerie buildings to explore. ex-plore. A few still have small populations popu-lations who are combining a colorful color-ful past with the present. Carr talks about a few of his favorite ghost towns, such as Gold : Hill, Ophir, Frisco, Silver Reff, $75,000 worth of merchandise, the underground emporium totaled 1 1 ,000 square feet. This remote desert de-sert outpost in Tooele County not only carried daily ranching supplies, sup-plies, but also the finest crystal and fabric and other finery for the ladies. Located 10.7 miles north of Vernon on Hwy 36, Ajax has one of Utah's most fascinating histories, according to Can. .'- While most ghost towns in other western states were once mining towns, about half of Utah's ghost towns were orignally settled by farmers far-mers or ranchers. Utah also has many railroad ghost towns. People may catch a glimmer of the great race to complete the transcontinental transcon-tinental railroad in 1869 by following follow-ing the four-wheel drive road along the original railroad bed (some railroad rail-road tressles may be dangerous) and visiting ghost towns such as Kelton and Terrace. Corinne, today to-day a sleepy town of 400, was once a rip-roaring railroad town with 28 saloons and a big opera house where many famous theater stars of the day performed. Since his first visits to Utah ghost towns, Carr has noted many changes. Some ghost towns have deteriorated naturally over time. Others have been burned or vandalized van-dalized or torn down to make way for civilization. Many have fallen victim to relic hunters. Under the Federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act and the Utah Antiquities, Anti-quities, it is against the law to re- ; . and Ajax. "Gold Hill is my favorite heir' he-ir' cause it has been alive three diffe-. diffe-. rent times and still has some good '- dwellings," says Carr. He adds r- that Gold Hill is probably Utah's largest and most intact ghost town. : : This is probably due, in part, to its V remoteness. It may be reached by traveling west from Utah Lake over the original Pony Express H Trail for more than 150 miles on a V; good gravel road, or south from i Wendover 51 miles on paved- graded roads. More accessible is Ophir, 19 zz miles southeast of Tooele. "Ophir r : is the closest fairly intact ghost move things from ghost towns on state and federal land. Some ghost towns on private property may only be viewed from a distance. Carr encourages ghost town visitors visi-tors to take pictures and not touch a thing, so these remnants of the past will remain for others to enjoy. Railroad Boom Towns and Points beyond (Area I) I. CORINNE How to find it: Corinne it on Hwy 83 four miles west of the north Brigham City exit of 1-15. The past: Corinne was Utah's With 23 saloons and nightfy killings, Frisco was known as the wildest town in the Great Basin between 1 876 and 1885. Photo courtesy of Utah Travel Council. Ghosts of Utah's past r- V " 'f;tf' " . - .. From Prevloui Page From the Ophir turnoffon Hwy 73, Mercur may be reached bv traveling travel-ing 3.4 miles further on Hwy 73 and then 3.7 miles east on a dirt road. The past: The first gold rush came in 1870, but all the buildings and people were gone by 1880. . Then a European prospector struck cinnebar (mercury ore). There was also a lot of gold in the cinnebar. In 1890, Mercur became the first place in the nation to begin extracting gold by a new cyanide process. In 1896, the year the town burned down, the population was 6,000. The town was immediately rebuilt. The Golden Gate mill in 1898 became the world's first all-steel all-steel non-ferrous mining plant and the first metallurgical plant in the Western Hemisphere to use transmitted trans-mitted electric power. In 1902, a fire started at a Chinese lunch counter and the town burned again. But that didn't stop Mercur, which was said to have a population of 8,000 to 12,000 by 1910. Then, gold mining profits started falling and by 1917, only ghosts were left. The present: Despite it's colorful past, Mercur's present is drab. There is a visitor center, preserving preserv-ing Mercur's history. But, besides that, there is really nothing left. A new gold mine has started and mining min-ing road criss-cross the valley where the biggest town in Tooele County once was. 1890's copper proved to be the major ma-jor ore. Over $3 million worth of ore had been mined by the time the major vein played out in 1901. The present: Numerous log cabins are scattered throughout the trees. 12. IGNATIO How to find it: Ignatio may be reached by traveling 24 miles east of Vernal on Hwy 40 and turning south on Hwy 45 for 23 miles to Bonanza. Ignatio is 3.3 miles south of Bonanza. The Past: In the early 1900's, Ignatio was the river crossing for shipping of gilsonite north to Vernal Ver-nal from the mining towns of Rainbow, Rain-bow, Dragon and Watson. At Ignatio, Igna-tio, a toll bridge crossed the White River. The present: The old toll bridge is still intact. Several cabins remain. re-main. To the south 18.2 miles in Dragon or 10.5 miles southwest in Watson, there are few remains of these former mining towns. In the Tintic Mining District (Area IV) 13. EUREKA How to find it: Eureka is 45 miles southwest of Provo on Hwy 6. The past: The Tintic mining district, dis-trict, of which Eureka was the center, cen-ter, was one of Utah's biggest and richest. From 1870 to 1910, there In 1862, the original Grafton, located one mile downstream from the present townsite, floated away in a flood after 40 straight days of rain. Photo courtesy of Utah Travel Council. has many interesting buildings from a bygone era. In the WUd Great Basin (Area VI) 18. FRISCO How to find it: from the center of Milford, Fisco is located 15 miles west on Hwy 2 1 and then north on a short dirt road. The past: With 23 saloons and nightly killings, Frisco was known as the wildest town in the Great Basin between 1876 and 1885 when the Siver Horn Mine produced $54 million. Then, in 1885, the night shift had just come out of the mine. By 1886, many of the 30 families began leaving. A handfull stayed on through the 1940's. The present: Several intact frame and log houses may be seen along the highway. 25. UPPER KANAB How to find it: About 33 miles south of Panguitch on Hwy 89, a road turns east 3 miles to Alton. Upper Kanab is about 2.5 miles beyond Alton on a dirt road. The past: A ranching village was established here in 1882 and more homesteaders came in the 1880's. This area was known for its purebred cattle and horses. The ranchers even brought in African antelope and a herd of buffalo. Drought problems in the early 1900's finally caused all the people to desert Upper Kanab. The present: According to Dr. Carr, "one of the most photogenic ghost town buildings anywhere is the half-log, half-frame boarding " house, up the hill from the jroad, . , sitting in the sagebrush backed by . tall dark evergreens." There are also ruins of other buildings. 26. PARIA How to find it: thirty-five miles east of Kanab on Hwy 89, a dirt road turns northeasterly for 6 miles to Paria. The last several miles are quite steep and winding down to the canyon floor. The past: Paria was settled in 1870 on the narrow benches above the Pahreah River (later spelled Paria). Nuts, vineyards, and vegetables veget-ables flourished. The settlers also ran cattle in the canyons. Paria was a popular stopping place for river travelers such as explorer John Wesley Powell and various Indians. Indi-ans. The 47 families built sturdy sandstone houses but many of these were washed away during frequent floods. By the 1890's only 8 families still remained in Paria. The present: set amid some of Utah's most spectacular red rock scenery, the ghost town of Paria was soon discovered by Hollywood. Holly-wood. A movie set about a mile from town should not be confused with the real ghost town. In Paria, a few stone and log houses remain near the river, along with other evidences evi-dences of the town. North and South of the Colorado (Area IX) 27. SEGO How to find it: from Thompson on 1-70, a graded road leads 7 miles north into a canyon. After the sixth trestle crossing, a road forks right , through a cut in the mountain for about a mile to Sego. Four-wheel drive may be necessary when the road is wet. Some trestles may be considered unsafe, so the dry creek bed may be a better crossing. During Dur-ing rain, flash floods may occur. The past: coal mining began in the area in 1893. When a road was built into the canyon in 1909, it required re-quired 13 bridges to cross the stream. The first coal washer west of the Mississippi was constructed in Sego. Sego struggled along through financial difficulties until the 1950's, when the railroad changed from coal locomotives to diesel. The present: only a few buildings remain. 28. MINER'S BASIN How to find it: Northeast from . Moab 16.8 miles on Hwy 128 a dirt ' road turns south 10 miles to Castle-ton. Castle-ton. Miner's Basin may be reached .. by traveling 4.5 miles south from Castleton on the La Sal Mountain Loop Road, and then east for 3.5 miles on a steep 4-wheel drive road to Miner's Basin. The past: Gold was first discovered disco-vered in this area in 1888. The town was established in 1898 above a glacial moraine at the 10,000-foot level. Until the early 1900's, about 75 people lived in Miner's Basin, where there were two saloons and restaurants, a hotel, post office and other buildings. The present: There are several log buildings clustered in the high mountain meadow. The mine is still under lease. Original mine buildings are standing. 29. CISCO How to find it: Cisco is 22 miles east of Crescent Junction on 1-70, then 3 miles southeast on Hwy 128 and about 3 more miles east on a paved road. The past: Cisco was built up around the railroad, and the first post office was established in 1887. In the early 1900's, cattle ranching and mining helped Cisco grow. Cisco Cis-co was the nearest shipping point in the region. A hotel built in the early 1900's was later moved to Moab and for many years was known as the Image. The present: Since the interstate began bypassing Cisco in the early 1970's, it has declined to a mysterious myste-rious conglomeration of old buildings build-ings and corrals. A few people still callit home. Many river runners pass by on the way to boat launch ramp on the Colorado River. 7. FAIRFIELD How to find it: Fairfield is 12.5 miles southeast of the Mercur tur-noff tur-noff on Hwy 73. The past: This "fair" valley was settled in 1855, but Fairfield really boomed in 1858 when Johnson's army built Camp Floyd nearby so they could "keep an eye on the Mormons." By 1859, the fort and town combined had 7,000 people. It was the third largest community in Utah and the largest military in-i stallation in the U.S. and territories. territor-ies. With 12 saloons and gambling halls, Fairfield could have been mistaken for the wildest of mining towns. Then, suddenly, in 1861, all was quiet again. The army had been ordered to return to Ft. Leavenworth. They even razed the fort before they left. The 15 to 20 families who had settled the valley had Fairfield all to themselves again. The present: All that is left of Camp Floyd is a commissary building build-ing and a cemetery. John Carson's Inn, which served as a stage and Pony Express stop in Fairfield, has been restored and is a historical state park. 9. CALLAO How to find it: Adventurous ghost towners can pretend they're riding the old Pony Express trail by driving the original route about 106 miles west from Fairfield to the ghostly town of Callao. The un-paved un-paved road is passable to automobiles, auto-mobiles, except in inclement weather. The past: This area on the eastern east-ern edge of the Deep Creek Range was settled in 1859 because of the good grasslands and because the Pony Express and overland stage could provide supplies. The little town died when the overland stage went out, but later was revived soemwhat by gold discoveries in the Deep Creek Mountains. In the 1930's, when the Lincoln Highway traced the Pony Express Trail, Callao Cal-lao received new life again and even had its own hotel. The present: The well-preserved Pony Express station and adobe hotel have had rooms added to them and are now part of residences. resi-dences. Several picturesque abandoned aban-doned homes line Main Street. 10. GOLD HILL How to find it: Gold Hill is 23 miles north of Callao on an un-paved un-paved road. The past: First known as the Clifton Mining District in 1889, it became Gold Hill in 1892 for the gold mines in the mountain east of town. The town died after the boom, but Gold Hill's real glory came during World War I, when the war effort needed many other minerals, especially tungsten. With 3,000 residents, Gold Hill even had a daily newspaper, along with saloons, hotels, and a pool hall which was the largest building in town. The present: According to Dr. Carr, "Gold Hill today is probably Utah's largest, most complete ghost town. The entire place abounds with excellent subjects for photographers and painters." From Uinta Mountains to Wild Book Cliffs (Area III) 11. BULLIONVILLE How to find it: North of Vernal 23 miles on Hwy 191, the well-graded well-graded Red Cloud Loop road heads westerly 3.3 miles to the East Park Reservoir road, which heads north 1.4 miles to the steep Kane Hollow road. This road winds west for another 1.7 miles to a faint set of tracks leading north off the main track past two collapsed cabins, another .3 miles to the town. The past: At the 10,000-foot level in the Uinta Mountains, gold f.t AlmtumrmA tm 1 SflA In tH was tumiiiuuus nulling piuuuk- tion. In 1909, 80 percent of stocks traded in the Salt Lake Stock Exchange Ex-change were Tintic properties. Known as one of the quietest boom towns in the West, Eureka had theatres, lodges, a band and department de-partment stores, including J.C. Penney's second store, and a library lib-rary with 12,000 books. In 1890, a flash flood destroyed the business district and in 1893 Eureka had its first major fire. The last large mine closed in 1957. The present: Eureka, with its 700 residents, is a very picturesque and explorable semi-ghost town. With its many abandoned false front stores and other ramshackle and -quaint buildings, it has the look of an old mining town. Every September Septem-ber Eureka has a mining town celebration called Depot Days. 14. MAMMOTH How to find it: three miles south of Eureka on Hwy 6, a paved road turns east 2 miles to Mammoth. The past: in 1873, the owners of the Mammoth mine were becoming disillusioned, so when the Mcln-tyre Mcln-tyre brothers came through driving a herd of Texas long-horned steers to market, they traded the mine for the cattle. Soon, the new owners hit a rich ore body which produced gold, silver, lead, copper and bismuth bis-muth for 75 years. Most of the residential re-sidential area was in "Uppertown" and the business area in "Lower-town." "Lower-town." There were four large hotels and one was remodeled into a hospital for the up to 3,000 residents. resi-dents. Mammoth has some interesting in-teresting tales. The Present: The town is forlorn compared to its colorful past. There are a couple dozen dilapidated, dilapi-dated, ghostly houses. Practically nothing is left of the business district. dis-trict. The mine, still under lease, is on private property. In the Coal District (Area V) 15. COAL CITY How to find it: Exactly 4 miles north of the Price underpass on Hwy 6, a road turns west from Spring Glen. It travels 8.2 miles to a dirt road which swings north and slightly uphill for .7 miles into Coal City. The past: The townsite was laid out in 1921 so miners could commute com-mute a mile or two to the mines in the towns of Consumers and National. Na-tional. However, only about 100 miners ever lived in Coal City and the town was uninhabited after 1940. Coal City was nicknamed Dempseyville, because Jack De-mpsey De-mpsey lived and trained there. The present: Photogenic Coal City has two old stores surrounded by numerous houses and outbuildings. outbuild-ings. 16. NATIONAL-CONSUMERS How to find it: From Coal City, it is 2.7 miles to National and 3.0 miles to Consumers. The past: Coal mines in this area began to be established in 1920, ' and in the 1930's the population of the two towns was about 500. Each of the mines produced up to 2,000 tons of coal per day. The Present: In National, there are red tile buildings, along with remnants of the schoolhouse and service station. In Consumers are fallen ruins, deserted garages and mine workings high on the hill. 17. COFIELD How to find it: Twenty-five miles north of Price on Hwy 6, Hwy 96 turns southwest for 17 miles to Scofield. The past: Scofield was established estab-lished in 1879 to serve mining camps in the mountains. This area was one of Utah's richest coal fields. By 1920, the town had 2,000 residents, 12 stores, 13 saloons and four large hotels. The present: This semi-ghost wagon box to higher ground. Her son was named Marvelous Flood Tenney. The settlers rebuilt their homes and planted their crops at the present townsite. Flooding and Indian problems finally got the best of the settlers. By 1920, it was totally tot-ally deserted. The present: Against the backdrop back-drop of Zion Canyon, Grafton is easily one of the most picturesque and intact ghost towns in Utah. Its adobe houses and schoolhouse was ' part of the set for the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." 21. HARRISBURG How to find it: from the southern Leeds 1-15 exit 14 miles north of St. George, old Hwy 91 extends south 2 miles to Harrisburg. The past: In 1862, Moses Harris and other settlers came here, after floods on Quail Creek forced them to relocate further upstream. By 1868, there were 200 people who grew cotton, corn and sorghum or worked in the nearby Silver Reef . Mines and mills. Drought, gras- shoppers, and Indian raids caused the gradual decline of the town. By the 1890's, most people had left their sturdy stone homes behind. The present: Many stone homes have remained intact. 22. SILVER REEF How to find it: from the southern Leeds 1-15 exit 14 miles north of St. George, Silver Reef may be reached by traveling through Leeds to the northern re-entry of the freeway and then west under the freeway for about 1.2 miles. The past: in the 1860's, small scale mining was going on in the area. The townsite of Silver Reef came into existence in 1876. The city was paved with thousands of stream rocks. The town had nine grocery stores, eight dry goods stores, 2 dance halls, a Wells Fargo office, a brewery, a brass band, and many saloons. Silver Reef even had its own thoroughbred and quarter horse racetrack. This town of 1,500 persons per-sons boomed between 1879 and 1881. Its Chinatown had 250 persons. per-sons. Then the mine started giving out, silver prices declined and one of Utah Territory's first unions struck the mine. By 1884, most of the mines were shut down. The present: Although recent years have caused Silver Reef to be surrounded by new homes, there is still plenty of evidence of the old town site. The Wells Fargo building build-ing is listed on the National Historic Histor-ic Register. An excellent map of the townsite allows visitors to wander wan-der through the townsite and picture pic-ture the way Silver Reef used to be. Between Bryce and Powell (Area Mil) 23. WIDTSOE How to find it: as Hwy 1 2 enters Bryce Canyon National Park from the west, a gravel road turns north 12.7 miles to Widtsoe. The past: Widtsoe was first settled set-tled in the early 1900's by ranchers. When Garfield County was opened to homesteaders in 1910 many settlers set-tlers came. In 1920, with a population popula-tion of 1,100, Widtsoe had two hotels, four stores, post office, church, social hall and many homes. In 1936, after severe droughts, the settlers sold out to the Federal Resettlement Administration. Adminis-tration. The present: the community building and a few houses still remain re-main a few hundred yards east of the road. 24. HILLSDALE How to find it: Hillsdale is 9 miles south of Panguitch on Hwy 89. The past: In 1871, about 20 families fami-lies settled the area for farming. . -t t:tt. Toko. UttiH a wtMall The foreman thought he heard tremblings in the ground, so didn't allow the day shift to go back down. Suddenly, the whole mine caved in with such a thunder that it was felt as far away as Milford. Frisco became a ghost town almost overnight. Although a few people stayed to reopen and work the mine, notorious Frisco was never the same. The present: Frisco is one of , Utah's most famous ghost towns. Along with abandoned buildings, the charcoal kilns make an interesting interest-ing site. 19. NEWHOUSE How to find it: From the Frisco turnoff, Newhouse is 4.7 miles west on Hwy 2 1 , then 2 miles north on a good dirt road. The past: thirty years after silver strikes had been made in this area, Samuel Newhouse bought the Cactus Cac-tus mine in 1900 and made it profitable. profit-able. Compared to nearby Frisco, the town of Newhouse was quiet. The one saloon and red-light district dis-trict were forced to locate outside the city limits. The residents even had a city park, opera house and dance hall. The floor of the dance hall was so well-built that it was moved to Milford after the mine gave out and the town died in 1910. The present: Newhouse has many stone and concrete ruins. Between Zkm Canyon and Silver Reef (Area VII) 20. GRAFTON , How to find it: About 8 miles north of St. George, Hwy 9 turns northeast for about 27 miles to Rockville. At Rockville, Grafton may be reached by crossing an old bridge to the south side of the Virgin Vir-gin River and driving 3.5 miles west on a fair dirt road. The past: In 1862, the original Grafton, located one mile downstream down-stream from the present townsite, floated away in a flood after 40 straight days of rain. A woman giv- |
