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Show SALOON ROW LEADS TO MINE DISCOVERY The camp of Silver Reef was founded by Jonh Barbee, a former form-er resident of Ogden and a well known prospector, who with pick and shovel and scraped the mountains In Utah and Nevada for precious metals. The discovery discov-ery of the site of the camp as a great silver bonanza was due to a row in a saloon in Pioche, Nev., the "Glory Hole." Pioche then being in the height of its glory. Barbee, who had been prospecting around Pioche, appeared ap-peared in- the vicinity of the saloon a few moments after a miner and prospector had been knocked through the door of the drinking place. As he fell through the doorway, door-way, in his effort to catch something some-thing that would lessen his fall, he caught a grindstone and frame standing by the door, pulling pull-ing it down with him and breaking break-ing the grindstone to fragments. Barbee struck one of the fragments frag-ments of stone and mechanically picked up the piece. In his examination ex-amination of the fragment he made a discovery, one that set aside the theory of all geologists and scientists, in that the grindstone grind-stone was filled with silver a geological phenomenon. Ascertaining whence the grindstone grind-stone came, he loaded up his burros with supplied an in four days had reached the site of the sandstone ledge from which the grindstone had been quarried. This was Silver Reef. He staked out his claim, also one for his partner, whom he had left in Pioche and who declined to accompany ac-company him because silver could not be found in sandstone. Silver Reef was founded. When the camp was abandoned abandon-ed several years later, due to the tumble in the price of silver, there had been taken from this sandstone reef more than $12,-000,000. $12,-000,000. A petrified forest had been uncovered and along the branches of the limbs of these petrified trees pure sulphide of silver was taken. It is from this reef that the stone to construct the Temple at St. George was taken. In later years the reef was again worked, and a company now has control of a large area and is working the claims again, as also the dumps from the old mines and mills. |