Ghost Towns of Southern Utah
By
Claudia Hensel and Shawn Pearson
Service Learning Project
History 2700
Dr. Mulderink
December 6, 2002
Throughout Southern Utah there lie the remains of many places that live to tell history’s story in a ghostly manner. As voices speaking from the past to the present, our ancestors tell their story through lasting impressions upon the lands in which we presently live. Ghost towns play an important role in discovering the heritage of Old Western culture. Because of the importance of preserving these incredible masterpieces of time, we felt it important to educate the public about their existence, their stories, and their locations. We feel the more people know about them, the more support there will be to preserve them. Above all, there exists a high demand for informational brochures and maps to inform both local and tourist populations of ghost town whereabouts. By providing an informational brochure with an included map, we feel that the public will benefit in many ways. The benefits will be economic, social, and, most importantly, historical.
With a high interest in Southern Utah history, we wanted to apply our time and efforts towards a service learning project that would directly educate people about its history. We both had an interest in ghost towns and old mining towns. Growing up on a ranch in Piute County, I had the privilege of living within mere miles of three of them. Alunite, Bullion, and Kimberly have always interested me since my childhood. I remember many occasions on which my grandfather told me about the rich history of the mining towns, along with some of their folklore. To this day there still exists many remains of old buildings, mine shafts, and rusty equipment. Due to the increasing popularity of all terrain vehicles (ATV’s) there has also been an increased interest in the mountains where these three ghost towns lie. Because of this, trails like the Paiute ATV Trail have increased the demand for informational brochures about these ghost towns.
National Parks such as Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Arches draw millions of visitors each year. These visitors often travel by automobile, driving hundreds of miles between the parks, often passing ghost towns that are located within minutes of the main highways and local towns and cities. It is a shame that so many of these tourists miss out on some of the most amazing stories of our Western culture and history.
We also believe that many visitors of the Utah Shakespearean Festival would visit these sights if they knew a little about their history and close proximity. For reasons such as these, we have had a satisfying experience in our service efforts in providing these audiences with the necessary information needed to visit these sights. It is our hope that visitors may enjoy their time in Southern Utah to the fullest.
Technology-related Resources
Though we were able to visit some of the ghost towns in our brochure, such as Grafton, Silver Reef, Harrisburg, and Bullion, we could not travel to all of the sites. Luckily, many people have, and we were able to use their accounts of these visits as published on the Internet. There are many excellent sites with fabulous pictures, some of which I put into the brochure. The history of many of these sites is obscure and hard to find, so we have more information on some towns than on others. Directions to some of these were even more difficult to find than the history, since most are located on unpaved roads and are not marked by road signs or on maps. Also, many websites chose not to publish the directions to these ghost towns, since the authors feel that only those that are truly interested and will respect the sites will do enough research to find the towns on their own (In other words, because so many of these sites have been vandalized and have had artifacts removed from them, they didn’t want to publish directions for those who would only abuse the sites). Luckily, some of the sites are found right off of the I-15 (Grafton, Silver Reef, and Harrisburg), so they were easily accessible for our visits! After doing the research, the brochure was put together using Microsoft Word, with pictures and a map taken from the internet. The main websites we used for our research are listed on the back of the brochure.
Contact Person/Agency
Once Shawn and I talked about working on a ghost town project, I went to the Iron Mission State Park to see if I could find any additional information or ideas for the project. I spoke with Todd Prince, the park manager at Iron Mission. I asked him that, if we were to create a brochure highlighting some of the ghost towns in Southern Utah, if we would be able to leave it for distribution at the park. His response was immediate and extremely positive. Mr. Prince said that there would be a huge demand for a brochure like this—people often come to the park wanting information on ghost towns (where they are, the history, what can be found at the sites, etc.), but the Iron Mission workers just didn’t have the time to complete one themselves. He let me know that he would be more than happy to hand out a brochure if we were willing to put one together.
Timetable
Upon completing the initial outline for this service project we knew good planning would be a key to our success. As college students we quickly realized that we would not have the means necessary to visit each individual ghost town in person. Because of the demands of school, work, time and money, we chose to visit only a few of these sights. We split up some of the towns and made plans to visit them individually; by doing this we could further utilize our available time to reach as many towns as possible. After we visited our assigned towns, we met and discussed the atmosphere and appeal of the towns we visited. We were fortunate enough to have enjoyed all of the towns we visited; for this reason we decided to put the most emphasis on these towns in our brochure. After all, if they appealed to our interests, we felt they would also appeal to the interests of our audiences. With a brief outline and vision in our minds we set out to create one of more detail. Being college students we decided to set aside one hour a week to meet and work on our project. However this was very difficult because we needed to visit some of the towns which we would highlight in our brochure and that was impossible to do within an hours time. After noticing this difficulty, we decided to work according to our own time schedule. We each visited towns and conducted research on our own. However, we met frequently during the two history classes we had together and discussed our progress. Meetings were also held on October 17, November 7, and November 21, 2002. Our final work was done on December 4, 2002, during which we met and formulated our information into a final paper and brochure. The brochure was distributed to Iron Park State Mission and will also be distributed in the spring of 2003, to stores and hotels along the route of the Paiute ATV Trail. With the combination of time spent on travel, research, and paperwork we spent a total of twenty-five to thirty hours on our service learning project.
While we were unable to include all of the information on all of the ghost towns we researched due to the limited space of a brochure format, the information is still interesting and pertinent to our project. Following is a list of the ghost towns we researched, as well as a final copy of the brochure that was brought to Iron Mission.
Piute County
Bullion
Nestled in the midst of towering peaks and breathtaking scenery Bullion exhibits many remains of a once lively and vivid mining town. Founded in the 1870’s due to the discovery of gold, Bullion quickly boomed. Many shafts were dug and buildings and mills were erected. Many of these buildings still remain in fairly good shape. While visiting this old town one will find many informative exhibits with old mining equipment and information. Located just up the canyon west of Marysvale, one can find easy access to this one-time county seat of over 2,300 people. Also located in Bullion Canyon is what historians believe to have been a Spanish arasta, suggesting that the Spaniards were the first to discover the precious metals of Bullion.
Beaver County
Frisco
Located near the town of Beaver in the San Francisco Mountains are the remains of Frisco. An old mining town, Frisco was founded in the 1870’s after silver was discovered. The town quickly flourished due to the demand of the quality ore it produced at the time. In fact, Frisco reached the population of nearly 6,000 in a little more than a decade. The town was very functional, with a railroad, churches, schools and a hospital. Upon visiting this town one will find many buildings still standing, including a few beehive-shaped charcoal ovens.
Washington County
Harrisburg
Among the oldest of Southern Utah ghost towns, Harrisburg is located right off I-15. Harrisburg was built in the middle of an arid desert after nearby Harrisville was destroyed by a flood. A little over a hundred people lived there in the 1860’s. They built their houses out of stone, which makes for strong remains that are still standing. Harrisburg was deserted due to flooding and Navajo Indian raids. Harrisburg is a great place to visit with easy access.
Grafton
This is probably Southern Utah’s best-known ghost town. Originally settled in 1859, Grafton was rebuilt one mile upstream after the original town was completely washed away by a flood. By 1864, there were 28 families living in Grafton, building log homes, a church, a post office, a school, and a community hall. In 1866, the town was deserted due to Indian attacks, but the people moved back two years later. By 1920, however, only 3 families remained. The bicycle riding scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed here. The remains include three houses and the church, which is being restored. There is also a cemetery with a historical marker. This ghost town is easily accessible, and is on the way to Zion National Park
Silver Reef
Silver ore was first found in the sandstone in 1866, but William T. Barbee is credited with getting the mining started in 1874. By 1876, Silver Reef was officially established as a town, and its population grew to somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people. Silver Reef boasted 9 grocery stores, 5 restaurants, 6 saloons, and a bank. The old Wells Fargo Station, which is currently being restored, was called the finest stone building in all of Southern Utah in 1878. One website mentioned that some Chinese railroad workers made their way to Silver Reef and set up their own Chinatown. By 1881, however, the mining boom town’s peak was over. Three things occurred to cause the town to dwindle: the world’s sliver market dropped, the mines filled with water faster than they could be pumped, and wages were lowered by mine stockholders until the miners couldn’t afford to stay. The majority of the mines were closed by 1884.
Iron County
Stateline
The town of Stateline was established around 1894, and the Stateline Mining District was organized in 1896, and both gold and silver ore was mined here. The town was abandoned in the early 1900s after the mines stopped producing. Unfortunately, I was unable to find much historical information on this town. Remains include the general store, stone and log cabins, mine shafts, and most impressively, the remains of a gravity-type mill; it was built on a hillside so that ore could be moved and processed from the top of the mill to the bottom. This site is located about 16 miles NW of Modena, UT.
Gold Springs
Also located NW of Modena, this town was established in the late 19th or early 20th century. In 1907, the Jennie Mine built two new cyanide type mills, but unfortunately, there was a financial panic during that same year. Bankrupt, many mining companies couldn’t afford to pay their miners. Local businesses also couldn’t afford to stay open. Unable to afford to bring stockholders to Gold Springs to prove that the Jennie Mine was still full of gold ore, the mine was forced to close. The out of work miners left town, leaving Gold Springs deserted by 1910. Ruins include some cabins, mine shafts, and a mill, but visitors must also look out for open mine shafts.
Garfield County
Widtsoe Junction
This Mormon community was first settled in the late 19th century, the first ranch being built in 1876. This town had many names (including Adair, Houston, and Winder), before it was finally named Widtsoe Junction in 1917 in honor of the Mormon apostle and dry-farming expert (the farming technique used in this area). Widtsoe reached its peak in the early 1920s, when the population reached approximately 365. It was even considered that the county seat be moved from Panguitch to Widtsoe! Severe drought and drastic climate fluctuations eliminated the ability to dry farm, and residents began leaving Widtsoe. In 1934, two residents filed a petition to receive federal aid for the failing community. The Resettlement Administration (a New Deal program) determined that the people should be moved out of the area because the land could no longer support them. Dorthea Lange even visited the town in 1936 to shoot publicity photos for the resettlement project. The last federally assisted families left Widtsoe in 1938, and the town name was taken off of highway signs and maps. Widtsoe is located 16 miles NE of Bryce Canyon, and remains include two houses, some sheds and root cellars, a barn, and the one-room school house.
What we learned
While working on this project we learned a lot of interesting facts about our surroundings in Southern Utah. For starters, we had no idea that there were so many ghost towns located within a two-hour drive from Cedar City. The opportunity to serve our surrounding community and those that visit Southern Utah has been a rewarding experience. The mining and farming history of this area is fascinating, as well as the remains of the places in which Utah’s early settlers lived and worked.