Ogden Daily Standard | 1919-08-25 | Page 10 | La Plata, Once Famous Camp Where Great Excitement Prevailed, to be Reopened

I LA PLATA, ONCE FAMOUS CAMP I WHERE GREAT EXCITEMEMNT I PREVAILED, TO BE REOPENED IJ If II Announcement was made this morn ing of the incorporation of the J I lena V.iTk Mining compan lr the pur pose of taking over and developing the mining properties at La Plata, near the I head of Beaver canyon. The resurrection of La Plata wouh. ! hi .1 fit ending to ;i lone unfiniahedi ll , -ior ui .i mininc rush ronipai L 1 n tha"i which attended the founding of many a silver and gold camp in the early days of the west. For La Plaia. I f 'nown onh to a few p.ople, and known 10 them only as the site of a ft n d I rj I strted and decaying unpainteil shackfl II ( the melancholy abode of mountain I .J 1 1 at-, gophers. and ureal w Is was I fd I once a "boom"town with stores, Bfl I , loorts. gambling halls and dance hall f going full blast, with the rush and bus I Jfl ' tie of new "openings." the bllSJ trade of stocks, and the flare of new and fab-I fab-I 'j ulous "projects" father back in the In j For a year or two, La Plata flou - II 4 ished. The streets, now barely outlined by crumbling walls of buildings long Hi I since fallen in, re-echoed to the shout of teamsters by day and the variegated,! traditonal eamp-lif. by night Present ly the town incorporated, new peupi. came, there was even a minister and a graveyard. But soon began a series of endless litigation involving the cwn-i rlup of the land, injunctions were issued is-sued restraining the further removal of ore, and life departed from La Plata. The exodus was as rapid and as complete com-plete as the influx had been. Miners were off to other camps where prospects pros-pects were more rosy and as fabulous; and all the parasites were off with them. By silent, steady encroachment, the I mountains again possessed La Plata j Tall weeds grew up in the streets; owls nestled in ih buildings and gath rt d under their shadow ; and the slow, Irresistible proeess of decay began. And so for thirty years La Plata has in en but a monument to th' romance and tragedy of western mining historj a silent reminder of mutability to the occasion passer-by. pressing each year otojei to otter decay and oblivion. The company which will take over the properties and seek to develop them is composed of Ogden men. Tha officers are: Fred . Thackwell, presi dent; W. J. Critchlow. vice president; J. E. Beeson, treasurer; Samuel C. Powell, secretary, and William W Wilson Wil-son director. The company'? princi pal place of business will be ogden Samuel Powell is legal adviser to the new company.