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Show Oquirrh Circle Tour, 145 Miles Round Trip GREAT ANTELOPE iL LAKE Jyf I SALT LAKE V jJI AIRPORT , I CITY, SAITAIRtm fl J1 1 -J BEACHPa"' i5rxi MSEsERACCHUS f t.a.d.dXrefinerjsJ Jgup tooeleX fiu2!iNr fffaofc bingam" lf? Jf 9i COPPER -? 0 u MINE (68)2 STOCKTON VCVLEHI gjP MER (FK (RUSH VALLEYXCAMP FLOYD I HISTORICAL J T4l. J FAIRFIELD STATE PARk UTAH fc Torn it This may shows route of Oquirrh Circle Tour and points of interest alone the way. (Editor's Note: This is one in a series of articles on "21 Tours Through the Different World of Utah." These Tours have been planned by the Utah Tourist and Publicity Council to show you Utah's most outstanding attractions attrac-tions with the least amount of driving, in the shortest time, and over the best roads available. By taking each one of the tours, a person could conceivably see the entire state on week ends within a year.) Ghost towns of yesteryear and modern mining operations tell the story of Utah's mineral wealth on tl.e Oquirrh Circle Tour southwest of Salt Lake Valley. The tour begins and ends in Salt Lake City and covers 143 miles of paved highway, with almost al-most 40 miles of side trips. It takes about one to two days and can be taken anytime of the year, although Middle Canyon near Tooele is closed during the winter. And as an added hint, take along a basket lunch to eat along the way. Though not as spectacularly rugged as the Wasatch, the Oquirrh Range forms a striking western horizon for Salt Lake Valley. The range is hardly-known hardly-known outside of Utah, but it has produced more mineral wealth than mountains of far greater fame. Since the huge Bingham Copper Cop-per Mine is the high point of this iuui , It la wtr to icaVr tiit attraction at-traction till last as a fitting climax. cli-max. So the tour Is described In that order. U. S. 40 skirts the new International Inter-national Airport one of the nation's most modern and heads westward across the almost al-most completely flat bottom of Bonneville Basin toward Great Salt Lake. From the highway, can be seen large salt p.-oducing plants, and a short distance west rise the curious shapes of old Saltair, a one-time popular lake resort no longer in use. The highway high-way curves around the lake, which can be seen not far away, also visible are huge mills, smel- . ters and refineries at Magna and Garfield, which process ores from I Bingham. If you care to swim I in the lake, Sunset Beach is open op-en during summer months. (It is impossible io sink in Great Salt Lake.) The tour route leaves Highway High-way 40 at Mills Junction and passes through Tooele Valley. Note sprawling Tooele Army Dc-pot Dc-pot to the west, and Tooele Smelter Smel-ter against the mountain to the east. Detour at Tooele for a thrilling 12-mile climb up Middle Canyon to the Oquirrh summit overlooking Bingham Mine, Salt Lake Valley, and Utah Valley in one of the state's most impressive impres-sive panoramas. (This drive is not for those having fear of heights.) South of Tooele the highway enters vast Rush Valley and passes through Stockton, a historic his-toric mining town. Short detours lead east to Ophir, one of Utah's colorful old mining communities (still almost intact), and the ruins of Mercur, anoUier mining town of yesteryear. At Fairfield, visit the military cemetery, Old Stakecoach Inn, and Army Commissary (all three comprising Camp Floyd Historic State Park). Then drive on to State 68, turn north into Salt Lake Valley, and follow State 111 along the Oquirrh foothills to Bingham Canyon, locale of the largest open-cut mine in the world an immense hole which nation's copper. Continuing on northward, pass the huge Hercules Hercu-les missile installation at Bacchus Bac-chus (where stages of the Min-uteman Min-uteman and Polaris rockets are prodnced). At Magna, view the great ore processing mills, then return to Salt Lake City via U. S. 50 (21st South), which affords a grand panoramic sweep of the Wasatch peaks. Those wishing to obtain on illustrated il-lustrated copy of all 21 tours In the series can do so by ending 25 cents to the Utah Tourist and Publicity Council, Council House, Stat Capitol Salt Lake City 14, Utah. |
