Silver Reef, Utah
Encyclopedia
Silver Reef is a ghost town
in Washington County
, Utah
, United States, about 15 miles (24.1 km) northeast of St. George
and 1 miles (1.6 km) west of Leeds
. Silver Reef was established after John Kemple, a prospector from Nevada, discovered a vein
of silver in a sandstone
formation in 1866. At first, geologists were uncertain about Kemple's find because silver is not usually found in sandstone. In 1875, two bankers from Salt Lake City sent William Barbee to the site to stake mining claim
s. He staked 21 claims, resulting in an influx of miners, who came to work Barbee's claims and to stake their own. To accommodate the miners, Barbee established a town called Bonanza City. Property values in Bonanza City were high, so several miners settled on a ridge north of Bonanza City and named their settlement "Rockpile". When the silver mines in nearby Pioche
closed, businessmen came to "Rockpile". Soon after, the town was renamed Silver Reef.
By 1879, about 2,000 people were living in Silver Reef. The town had a mile-long Main Street with many businesses, among them a Wells Fargo office, the Rice Building, and the Cosmopolitan Restaurant. Despite being adjacent to many Mormon settlements, Silver Reef never had a meeting house
for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, only a Catholic Church. In 1879, a fire destroyed several businesses, but the residents rebuilt the businesses that had been destroyed and continued mining operations. The mines began to close for various reasons in 1884, and many people left Silver Reef as a result. The last mine closed in 1891. By 1901, most of the buildings in Silver Reef had been sent to Leeds or sold to be used as scrap material.
In 1916, mining operations in Silver Reef resumed under the direction of Alex Colbath, who organized the area's mines into the Silver Reef Consolidated Mining Company. These mines were purchased by the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) in 1928, but the company did minimal work as a result of the Great Depression. The Western Gold & Uranium Corporation purchased Silver Reef's mines in 1948, and in 1951, they began mining uranium in the area. These operations did not last long either, and the Western Gold & Uranium Corporation sold their mines to the 5M Corporation in 1979. Today, the Wells Fargo office, the Cosmopolitan Restaurant, the Rice Building, and numerous foundations and walls remain in the town site, while a few dozen homes have been constructed in the area.
The sandstone formations from which Silver Reef gets its name were formed when geologic pressures forced a long, longitudinally aligned section of Navajo Sandstone
to buckle and stand on its side, giving it the appearance of an ocean reef. Over long periods of time silver ore
, sediments, and vegetation were carried in water run-off from the Chinle Formation
to the White, Buckeye, and East reefs. The ore settled as deposits and the vegetation became petrified. The Silver Reef Mining District's geologic resources consist mainly of silver deposits, with smaller deposits of copper
, gold
, lead
, and uranium
oxide. Iron oxide
deposits in the soil rocks cause a red coloration, and dinosaur tracks
from the early Jurassic
period have been found in the area.
Silver Reef is located at 37°15′10"N 113°22′04"W, close to the western border of the Colorado Plateau
. It is about 15 miles (24.1 km) northeast of St. George and 1 miles (1.6 km) west of Leeds. Dixie National Forest
, Leeds Creek, the White Reef, and the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness
lie directly west of Silver Reef. The Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness contains several different plant species, including sage steppe
, mountain brush
, pinyon pine
, coniferous
trees, and ponderosa pine
. Interstate 15
and Toquerville
are 1 miles (1.6 km) and 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Silver Reef, respectively. Pintura is 9.5 miles (15.3 km) north of Silver Reef, and Quail Creek State Park
, the ghost town of Harrisburg, the Buckeye Reef, and Red Cliffs Recreation Area are south of Silver Reef. The average elevation of Red Cliffs Recreation Area is between 2000 feet (609.6 m) and 3000 feet (914.4 m).
Silver Reef, and by 1980 this had been accomplished. At the time of the Census of 1990, fifty people lived in Silver Reef.
Native Americans between about 200 AD and 1300 AD. The Anasazi were nomad
s who followed the migration of the animals they hunted, which were typically deer
, mountain sheep
, elk
, and jackrabbits. They were also farmers and gardeners, growing corn, wheat, rye, and barley. Many were potters, and pottery
can be found in abandoned villages. The Anasazi usually constructed temporary dwellings out of sticks and leaves, often using bark for the roofs. Occasionally they built more permanent dwellings out of rocks, usually along the side of a mountain, often large enough to accommodate several families. Storage pits were often placed behind the rock dwellings. Settlements were typically small due to a limited amount of food. A group of Virgin Anasazi
lived in what is now the Red Cliffs Anasazi Site in Red Cliffs Recreation Area.
Silver was discovered in the area in the 1860s. Although the circumstances behind the discovery of silver at Silver Reef are uncertain, a commonly accepted story is that a prospector
named John Kemple came to the area in 1866 from Montana
. Needing a place to rest, he stayed with Orson B. Adams in the settlement of Harrisburg
. While in the area, Kemple decided to do some prospecting, and soon located a vein of silver a few hundred yards southwest of Orson B. Adams's home. He did not find enough ore to remain in the area, so he left for Nevada. Five years later, Kemple returned to the Silver Reef area, staked a few mining claims, and organized them under the Union Mining District. For reasons unknown, the Union Mining District was abandoned, but in 1874, Kemple returned with a group of miners, reorganized the claims under the Harrisburg Mining District, and began developing a mine. Kemple later became discouraged with his claims and sold them.
According to a less accepted story, a man known as "Metalliferous" Murphy, an assayer
from Pioche, Nevada, who was known for finding ore in everything given to him, was brought a piece of a grindstone
made of sandstone from the Silver Reef area by miners in Pioche. After performing tests on the sample, Murphy stated that it contained over $200 silver per ton. After some investigation, Murphy discovered that the samples had come from the area that was to become Silver Reef. There is no record of Murphy ever staking a claim, but he did attract the attention of miners. Silver was later confirmed to be in the area.
When geologists and other miners heard of Kemple's discovery, they discredited it on the grounds that silver could not be found in sandstone. When brought an actual sample from the area, the Smithsonian Institution
called it an "interesting fake". In 1875, news of the silver discovery reached the Walker brothers, well-known bankers from Salt Lake City. They hired William T. Barbee, who had previously staked mining claims in Ophir
, to stake claims on their behalf. He staked 21 claims and published an article on the claims in The Salt Lake Tribune
. In the article, Barbee mentioned that the area had "an abundance of rich silver mines". This set off an almost immediate silver rush
, and by late 1875, Barbee had established a town called Bonanza City. Several businessmen then came into the area, inflating property values. Many miners and businessmen looking for inexpensive land set up a tent city
north of Bonanza City and called it "Rockpile". When the mines in nearby Pioche were closed in November 1875, many of the miners and business owners who had worked there came into the area of "Rockpile" in what is known as the "Pioche Silver Stampede", and the name of the settlement was changed to Silver Reef. As construction of the St. George LDS Temple
ended in mid-1877, labor opportunities for the workers became available in Silver Reef. Pine Valley Mills and Mount Trumbull in the Arizona Strip
supplied most of the lumber used to construct the buildings. During its first year, Silver Reef did not have a smelter
; as a result, the silver ore mined in Silver Reef was taken to Pioche and Salt Lake City for smelting.
Immediately following the initial silver rush, a town site was plat
ted and the town was built. The first permanent business building established in Silver Reef was a store at the intersection of the roads from Buckeye, White, and East Reef. By 1878, the town's business district consisted of a hotel, boarding houses, nine stores, six saloons, five restaurants, a bank, two dance halls, a newspaper called The Silver Echo (which later became the Silver Reef Miner), and eight dry goods stores. Two cemeteries, one Catholic and one Protestant, were located south of Silver Reef's business district. Most of the businesses in Silver Reef were situated along a mile-long Main Street. The mining district consisted of 37 mines and five stamp mill
s: the Christy Mill, the Stormont Mill, the Barbee & Walker Mill, the Leeds Mill, and the Buckeye Mill. Although it was surrounded by Mormon settlements, the town never had a Mormon meeting house. A Catholic Church was the only church located within the town. After the First Transcontinental Railroad
was completed in 1869, many of the Chinese workers who had been hired to build it had nowhere to go. Some returned to China, but others remained in Utah. A group of 250 of these workers set up a Chinatown
in a level area just south of Silver Reef. Silver Reef's Chinatown had a Chinese mayor and several businesses, and most of the Chinamen continued to practice their Chinese customs. By 1879, Silver Reef's population had reached 2,000, and the town also had a horse race track, a brewery
, and a brass band. Shooting matches among members of the Silver Reef Rifle Club and sometimes residents of nearby towns took place on the horse race track.
Although most of the residents of Silver Reef were not Mormon, they had good relations with residents of the nearby Mormon settlements. A lot of the cotton and other agricultural items produced in the area were transported by wagon to Silver Reef. Many of the town's buildings were constructed by Mormon labor workers
. Reverend Lawrence Scanlan
was invited to say Mass in the St. George Tabernacle
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before the Catholic Church in Silver Reef was constructed. To assist Scanlan, the Mormon choir learned Latin chants. When politics were involved, however, these good relations were forgotten. The Mormons were members of the People's Party
, and the Gentiles in Silver Reef were members of the Liberal Party
. As Silver Reef grew, the townspeople wanted to change the county seat
of Washington County from St. George to Silver Reef. This alarmed the members of the People's Party, the main figures in the territorial legislature. The legislature moved the county line eastward in 1882; this maintained the People's Party majority in Washington County by transferring such Mormon farming communities as Grafton
, Rockville
, and Springdale
from Kane County
to Washington County.
Although it had good relations with other towns, Silver Reef still had the usual mining camp problem of labor disputes
between wage laborers and mine owners. After a major dispute with the Stormont Mining Company, the Silver Reef Miners Union was formed to help ensure that the daily wages of the miners did not fall too low. Gambling, prostitution, and shootout
s were also commonplace. One shootout involved Town Marshal Johnny Diamond and mine guard Jack Truby. Tensions between Diamond and Truby formed during a mine dispute, in which the Kinner mine was temporarily shut down. Truby was hired by Colonel Enos Wall, foreman and owner of the Kinner, to guard the mine until told otherwise. Diamond went to the Kinner mine to serve the closure warrant, and upon arriving, he asked Truby if he could go into the mine. Truby refused to allow Diamond into the mine, and told Diamond to leave the property immediately. Diamond complied, but tension had formed between the two men.
The gunfight started during court proceedings in the back room of a saloon. Diamond was present, and when he saw Truby enter the room with his hat on, he told him to remove his hat. Truby refused, and told Diamond to give him the order outside of the saloon. Once outside, Diamond and Truby began arguing about the matter. When Diamond asked for Truby's gun, Truby responded by shooting at Diamond. A short gunfight ensued, resulting in the deaths of both men. An inquest
held on both men in the saloon found that the bodies each contained bullet wounds from the .41 caliber revolvers that were used, and powder burns caused by the proximity of the shootout. Truby also had .45 caliber bullet wounds in his back, indicating that somebody else had shot at him during the shootout.
Another shootout occurred between Henry Clark and Sykes Griffen on December 1, 1878, at Cassidy's Silver Reef Saloon. Although it is not known exactly what happened, it is believed that Griffen, a faro
dealer at the saloon, and Clark, a regular patron, had previously argued over gambling matters. The shooting began when Griffen argued with Clark about a bet they had made. After arguing for several minutes, Griffen pulled a pistol on Clark and shot him. Several witnesses said that Clark pulled a pistol on Griffen and shot him, while other witnesses said that after Clark was shot, other patrons in the saloon, including Clark's father, beat and shot Griffen.
reported that Silver Reef had been "Chicagoed", and that a state of panic was felt even after the fire had been extinguished.
Silver Reef's residents rebuilt the businesses that had been destroyed, but the town soon began to decline. In 1881, the Stormont Mining Company had to decrease wages from $4 per day to $3.50 per day for financial reasons. They did not, however, decrease the wages of miners working in the Savage mine, who continued to receive $4 per day. In response to the decrease in wages, the Silver Reef Miners Union was formed, with Matthew O'Loughlin as president. As word of a potential strike spread, the Stormont Mining Company discharged those of its miners who were part of the Miners Union in February 1881. In response, the miners escorted the company's superintendent, Washington Allen, out of Silver Reef. Allen immediately went to the Second District Court in Beaver
and filed a lawsuit against the miners. Before the Miners Union went to court, they held a meeting in which the members decided to shut down the Savage mine. They walked through Silver Reef in rows of two, and, upon arriving at the Savage mine, O'Loughlin and nine other men went into the hoisting works and ordered the engineer on duty to shut down the pumps that kept water from the water table
out of the mine. After he shut the pumps down, the group of ten went into the Savage mine and ordered everyone out of the mine.
A few days after the Miners Union shut down the Savage mine, the sheriff of St. George, accompanied by a posse of 30 men, arrested 25 members of the Miners Union, including Matthew O'Loughlin. As Silver Reef's jail was too small to hold all 25 of the prisoners, most of them were jailed in the Rice Building. The Rice Building could not hold all of the prisoners, so a line was drawn around the building, and anyone who crossed the line was threatened with shooting. The Miners Union members were transferred to Beaver, where they were tried for riot, conspiracy, and false imprisonment. Thirteen of the members were sentenced to imprisonment; three were bailed out, while ten were sent to the Utah Territorial Penitentiary. Matthew O'Loughlin was sentenced to twenty days in prison and was charged a $75 fine.
A few years after the strike, the world's silver market dropped, causing the foreclosure of many of the mines. To compensate for the drop in prices, the mine's stockholders
reduced the wages of the miners. Instead of striking again, the miners accepted this. In addition, the miners inadvertently dug below the water table
, and the mine shafts began filling with water faster than it could be pumped out. By 1884, most of the mines were idle or closed; the last mine was officially closed in 1891, although lessees of the mines continued to operate them past 1891. Many merchants went bankrupt and left town. The Silver Reef mines produced about $8 million worth of silver ore. Between 1891 and 1901, another $250,000 worth of silver ore was mined. Several people attempted to restart mining operations in 1898, 1909, 1916, and 1950, but none of these attempts were successful. After Silver Reef's mines were closed, many of the buildings were purchased for their lumber and building stone. One buyer dismantled the building he bought and discovered $10,000 in gold coins. News of the find spread quickly, and most of the buildings in Silver Reef were demolished in hopes of discovering more gold; however, nobody else found any.
The Silver Reef Consolidated Mining Company, which owned most of the area's mines, was organized in 1916 by Alex Colbath. In 1928, American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) purchased its mines, and in 1929 they sank a three-compartment shaft on the White Reef. This new mine was connected with the flooded Savage mine, and the water was pumped out. Minimal work was done after that, however, as there was not enough ore to keep the operation profitable during the Great Depression. Ownership of the mines was then passed back to Alex Colbath, but in 1948 the Western Gold and Uranium Corporation purchased the claims from Colbath, and in 1951 they mined the sandstone for uranium oxide deposits. The first shipment of uranium oxide came from the Ann's Pride mine. In total, they shipped 2500 pounds (1,134 kg) of uranium oxide out of the region. These claims were bought in 1979 by the 5M Corporation, but the company did not operate in Silver Reef for long.
until it was closed in 2010. There are many remnants of houses and other buildings, and there are also markers indicating where some buildings once stood, such as the Elk Horn Saloon. Some of the area has been preserved for its history.
Behind the Wells Fargo office is a powder house
which currently contains models of the town, the town's major mills, and its Catholic church. The Catholic and Protestant cemeteries were restored by the Leeds Lion Club in 1998 and can be visited. Several other original buildings remain, including the Clancy Market, McCormick Store, the two-story Harrison House Hotel, and some of the mining buildings. Main Street, once a mile long, is now only a few hundred yards long and is surrounded by private homes.
Besides exploring the ghost town, visitors can explore the red rock country surrounding Silver Reef. Backpacking, camping, fishing, mountain biking, birdwatching, and hunting are among the activities available. Visitors to Red Cliffs Recreation Area, located south of Silver Reef, can picnic in a designated area with cottonwood trees. A half-mile hiking trail leads to the Red Cliffs Anasazi Site, the remains of an Anasazi
habitation. The 6 miles (9.7 km) Red Reef Trail leads to the Cottonwood Wilderness Study Area. Dinosaur footprints that date back to the early Jurassic period can be found in the area, and the Orson Adams House in nearby Harrisburg
allows visitors to study the pioneer
history of Washington County.
Silver Reef has appeared in American films since the late 1960s. The area was scouted by corporate executives from Twentieth-Century Fox
for use in the 1969
film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
and served as a backdrop in the 1979
film The Electric Horseman
. Silver Reef was featured in the 1998 documentary Treasure House: The Utah Mining Story.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
in Washington County
Washington County, Utah
As of the census of 2000, there were 90,354 people, 29,939 households, and 23,442 families residing in the county. The population density was 37 people per square mile . There were 36,478 housing units at an average density of 15 per square mile...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, United States, about 15 miles (24.1 km) northeast of St. George
St. George, Utah
St. George is a city located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Utah, and the county seat of Washington County, Utah. It is the principal city of and is included in the St. George, Utah, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is 119 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 303 miles ...
and 1 miles (1.6 km) west of Leeds
Leeds, Utah
Leeds is a town in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 547 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Leeds is located at ....
. Silver Reef was established after John Kemple, a prospector from Nevada, discovered a vein
Vein (geology)
In geology, a vein is a distinct sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation...
of silver in a sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
formation in 1866. At first, geologists were uncertain about Kemple's find because silver is not usually found in sandstone. In 1875, two bankers from Salt Lake City sent William Barbee to the site to stake mining claim
Mineral rights
- Mineral estate :Ownership of mineral rights is an estate in real property. Technically it is known as a mineral estate and often referred to as mineral rights...
s. He staked 21 claims, resulting in an influx of miners, who came to work Barbee's claims and to stake their own. To accommodate the miners, Barbee established a town called Bonanza City. Property values in Bonanza City were high, so several miners settled on a ridge north of Bonanza City and named their settlement "Rockpile". When the silver mines in nearby Pioche
Pioche, Nevada
-External links:*...
closed, businessmen came to "Rockpile". Soon after, the town was renamed Silver Reef.
By 1879, about 2,000 people were living in Silver Reef. The town had a mile-long Main Street with many businesses, among them a Wells Fargo office, the Rice Building, and the Cosmopolitan Restaurant. Despite being adjacent to many Mormon settlements, Silver Reef never had a meeting house
Meeting house
A meeting house describes a building where a public meeting takes place. This includes secular buildings which function like a town or city hall, and buildings used for religious meetings, particularly of some non-conformist Christian denominations....
for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, only a Catholic Church. In 1879, a fire destroyed several businesses, but the residents rebuilt the businesses that had been destroyed and continued mining operations. The mines began to close for various reasons in 1884, and many people left Silver Reef as a result. The last mine closed in 1891. By 1901, most of the buildings in Silver Reef had been sent to Leeds or sold to be used as scrap material.
In 1916, mining operations in Silver Reef resumed under the direction of Alex Colbath, who organized the area's mines into the Silver Reef Consolidated Mining Company. These mines were purchased by the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) in 1928, but the company did minimal work as a result of the Great Depression. The Western Gold & Uranium Corporation purchased Silver Reef's mines in 1948, and in 1951, they began mining uranium in the area. These operations did not last long either, and the Western Gold & Uranium Corporation sold their mines to the 5M Corporation in 1979. Today, the Wells Fargo office, the Cosmopolitan Restaurant, the Rice Building, and numerous foundations and walls remain in the town site, while a few dozen homes have been constructed in the area.
Geology and geography
Navajo Sandstone
Navajo Sandstone is a geologic formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah; as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States...
to buckle and stand on its side, giving it the appearance of an ocean reef. Over long periods of time silver ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
, sediments, and vegetation were carried in water run-off from the Chinle Formation
Chinle Formation
The Chinle is a geologic formation that is spread across the U.S. states of northern Arizona, Nevada, Utah, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. The Chinle is controversially considered to be synonymous to the Dockum Group in eastern Colorado, eastern New Mexico, southwestern Kansas, the...
to the White, Buckeye, and East reefs. The ore settled as deposits and the vegetation became petrified. The Silver Reef Mining District's geologic resources consist mainly of silver deposits, with smaller deposits of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
, and uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
oxide. Iron oxide
Iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...
deposits in the soil rocks cause a red coloration, and dinosaur tracks
Trace fossil
Trace fossils, also called ichnofossils , are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings , urolites , footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities...
from the early Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
period have been found in the area.
Silver Reef is located at 37°15′10"N 113°22′04"W, close to the western border of the Colorado Plateau
Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. The province covers an area of 337,000 km2 within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico,...
. It is about 15 miles (24.1 km) northeast of St. George and 1 miles (1.6 km) west of Leeds. Dixie National Forest
Dixie National Forest
Dixie National Forest is a United States National Forest in Utah with headquarters in Cedar City. It occupies almost two million acres and stretches for about 170 miles across southern Utah. The largest national forest in Utah, it straddles the divide between the Great Basin and the Colorado River...
, Leeds Creek, the White Reef, and the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness
Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness
Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the Dixie National Forest in the U.S. state of Utah. It is the fourth-largest wilderness area located entirely within the state...
lie directly west of Silver Reef. The Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness contains several different plant species, including sage steppe
Artemisia tridentata
Artemisia tridentata is a shrub or small tree from the family Asteraceae. Some botanists treat it in the segregate genus Seriphidium, as S. tridentatum W. A. Weber, but this is not widely followed...
, mountain brush
Shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity...
, pinyon pine
Pinyon pine
The pinyon pine group grows in the southwestern United States and in Mexico. The trees yield edible pinyon nuts, which were a staple of the Native Americans, and are still widely eaten...
, coniferous
Pinophyta
The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being...
trees, and ponderosa pine
Ponderosa Pine
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...
. Interstate 15
Interstate 15
Interstate 15 is the fourth-longest north–south Interstate Highway in the United States, traveling through the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana from San Diego to the Canadian border...
and Toquerville
Toquerville, Utah
Toquerville is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 910 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Toquerville is located at ....
are 1 miles (1.6 km) and 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Silver Reef, respectively. Pintura is 9.5 miles (15.3 km) north of Silver Reef, and Quail Creek State Park
Quail Creek State Park
Quail Creek State Park is a state park of Utah, USA, featuring a reservoir. The park is located west of Hurricane and south of Harrisburg. Quail Creek State Park offers camping, boating, swimming, and fishing....
, the ghost town of Harrisburg, the Buckeye Reef, and Red Cliffs Recreation Area are south of Silver Reef. The average elevation of Red Cliffs Recreation Area is between 2000 feet (609.6 m) and 3000 feet (914.4 m).
Climate
Silver Reef is located in one of the driest and hottest parts of the state of Utah; summer temperatures can often rise above 100 °F (37.8 °C). Temperatures of 50 °F (10 °C) or above can occur during the winter, but nighttime winter temperatures can occasionally drop below 0 °F (-17.8 °C). Silver Reef receives about 12 inches (30.5 cm) of precipitation annually. It is not unusual to see an inch or more of snow in the winter. On average, July is the warmest month, when the average temperature is 99 °F (37.2 °C), and December is the coldest, when the average temperature is 53 °F (11.7 °C). The highest recorded temperature was 114 °F (45.6 °C), in July 2001, and the lowest recorded temperature was -2 F, in January 1963.Demographics
Silver Reef was first settled in 1875, and by the Census of 1880, 1,046 people were living in Silver Reef. A local census taken in 1884 showed that 1,500 people were living in Silver Reef. By 1890, after most of the mines had been closed, the population had dropped to 177, and by 1900, only lessees of the mines were living in Silver Reef. In 1916, Alex Colbath organized the Silver Reef Consolidated Mining Company. Several miners moved to Silver Reef to work for Colbath, who lived in the town with his wife, Mayme, until the 1950s. After the Colbath's departure, Silver Reef was completely abandoned. In the 1960s, plans were made to subdivideSubdivision (land)
Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop, usually via a plat. The former single piece as a whole is then known in the United States as a subdivision...
Silver Reef, and by 1980 this had been accomplished. At the time of the Census of 1990, fifty people lived in Silver Reef.
History
The Silver Reef area was first inhabited by AnasaziAncient Pueblo Peoples
Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral Pueblo peoples were an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and southern Colorado...
Native Americans between about 200 AD and 1300 AD. The Anasazi were nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
s who followed the migration of the animals they hunted, which were typically deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, mountain sheep
Argali
The argali, or the mountain sheep is a wild sheep, which roams the highlands of Central Asia . It is the biggest wild sheep, standing at the shoulder, measuring long and weighing , with a maximum known weight of...
, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, and jackrabbits. They were also farmers and gardeners, growing corn, wheat, rye, and barley. Many were potters, and pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
can be found in abandoned villages. The Anasazi usually constructed temporary dwellings out of sticks and leaves, often using bark for the roofs. Occasionally they built more permanent dwellings out of rocks, usually along the side of a mountain, often large enough to accommodate several families. Storage pits were often placed behind the rock dwellings. Settlements were typically small due to a limited amount of food. A group of Virgin Anasazi
Virgin Anasazi
The Virgin Anasazi were the westernmost Ancestral Puebloan group in the American Southwest. They occupied the area in and around the Virgin River and Muddy Rivers, the western Colorado Plateau, the Moapa Valley and were bordered to the south by the Colorado River. They occupied areas in present day...
lived in what is now the Red Cliffs Anasazi Site in Red Cliffs Recreation Area.
Silver was discovered in the area in the 1860s. Although the circumstances behind the discovery of silver at Silver Reef are uncertain, a commonly accepted story is that a prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
named John Kemple came to the area in 1866 from Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. Needing a place to rest, he stayed with Orson B. Adams in the settlement of Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Utah
Harrisburg is a ghost town in Washington County, Utah, United States. Established as Harrisville in 1859, the town was flooded by the Virgin River in 1862, causing the residents to move farther up the river. Soon after, the town's name was changed to Harrisburg...
. While in the area, Kemple decided to do some prospecting, and soon located a vein of silver a few hundred yards southwest of Orson B. Adams's home. He did not find enough ore to remain in the area, so he left for Nevada. Five years later, Kemple returned to the Silver Reef area, staked a few mining claims, and organized them under the Union Mining District. For reasons unknown, the Union Mining District was abandoned, but in 1874, Kemple returned with a group of miners, reorganized the claims under the Harrisburg Mining District, and began developing a mine. Kemple later became discouraged with his claims and sold them.
According to a less accepted story, a man known as "Metalliferous" Murphy, an assayer
Assayer
An assayer is a person who tests ores and minerals and analyzes them to determine their composition and value. They may use spectrographic analysis, chemical solutions, and chemical or laboratory equipment, such as furnaces, beakers, graduates, pipettes, and crucibles.An assayer separates metals...
from Pioche, Nevada, who was known for finding ore in everything given to him, was brought a piece of a grindstone
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
made of sandstone from the Silver Reef area by miners in Pioche. After performing tests on the sample, Murphy stated that it contained over $200 silver per ton. After some investigation, Murphy discovered that the samples had come from the area that was to become Silver Reef. There is no record of Murphy ever staking a claim, but he did attract the attention of miners. Silver was later confirmed to be in the area.
When geologists and other miners heard of Kemple's discovery, they discredited it on the grounds that silver could not be found in sandstone. When brought an actual sample from the area, the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
called it an "interesting fake". In 1875, news of the silver discovery reached the Walker brothers, well-known bankers from Salt Lake City. They hired William T. Barbee, who had previously staked mining claims in Ophir
Ophir, Utah
Ophir is a town in Tooele County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 23 at the 2000 census, a decrease of two from the 1990 figure of 25.-History:...
, to stake claims on their behalf. He staked 21 claims and published an article on the claims in The Salt Lake Tribune
The Salt Lake Tribune
The Salt Lake Tribune is the largest-circulated daily newspaper in the U.S. city of Salt Lake City. It is distributed by Newspaper Agency Corporation, which also distributes the Deseret News. The Tribune — or "Trib," as it is locally known — is currently owned by the Denver-based MediaNews Group....
. In the article, Barbee mentioned that the area had "an abundance of rich silver mines". This set off an almost immediate silver rush
Silver rush
A Silver rush is the silver-mining equivalent of a gold rush.Notable silver rushes have taken place in Mexico, Argentina, the United States , and Canada...
, and by late 1875, Barbee had established a town called Bonanza City. Several businessmen then came into the area, inflating property values. Many miners and businessmen looking for inexpensive land set up a tent city
Tent City
A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents. Informal tent cities may be set up without authorization by homeless people or protesters. As well, state governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house refugees, evacuees, or soldiers...
north of Bonanza City and called it "Rockpile". When the mines in nearby Pioche were closed in November 1875, many of the miners and business owners who had worked there came into the area of "Rockpile" in what is known as the "Pioche Silver Stampede", and the name of the settlement was changed to Silver Reef. As construction of the St. George LDS Temple
St. George Utah Temple
The St. George Utah Temple is the first temple completed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after the forced exodus of the body of the Church from Nauvoo, Illinois, after the death of its founder Joseph Smith, Jr.-Description:The building is located in the SW Utah city of St....
ended in mid-1877, labor opportunities for the workers became available in Silver Reef. Pine Valley Mills and Mount Trumbull in the Arizona Strip
Arizona Strip
The Arizona Strip is the part of the U.S. state of Arizona lying north of the Colorado River. The difficulty of crossing the Grand Canyon causes this region to have more natural connections with southern Utah and Nevada than with the rest of Arizona....
supplied most of the lumber used to construct the buildings. During its first year, Silver Reef did not have a smelter
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
; as a result, the silver ore mined in Silver Reef was taken to Pioche and Salt Lake City for smelting.
Immediately following the initial silver rush, a town site was plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
ted and the town was built. The first permanent business building established in Silver Reef was a store at the intersection of the roads from Buckeye, White, and East Reef. By 1878, the town's business district consisted of a hotel, boarding houses, nine stores, six saloons, five restaurants, a bank, two dance halls, a newspaper called The Silver Echo (which later became the Silver Reef Miner), and eight dry goods stores. Two cemeteries, one Catholic and one Protestant, were located south of Silver Reef's business district. Most of the businesses in Silver Reef were situated along a mile-long Main Street. The mining district consisted of 37 mines and five stamp mill
Stamp mill
A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation....
s: the Christy Mill, the Stormont Mill, the Barbee & Walker Mill, the Leeds Mill, and the Buckeye Mill. Although it was surrounded by Mormon settlements, the town never had a Mormon meeting house. A Catholic Church was the only church located within the town. After the First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
was completed in 1869, many of the Chinese workers who had been hired to build it had nowhere to go. Some returned to China, but others remained in Utah. A group of 250 of these workers set up a Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
in a level area just south of Silver Reef. Silver Reef's Chinatown had a Chinese mayor and several businesses, and most of the Chinamen continued to practice their Chinese customs. By 1879, Silver Reef's population had reached 2,000, and the town also had a horse race track, a brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
, and a brass band. Shooting matches among members of the Silver Reef Rifle Club and sometimes residents of nearby towns took place on the horse race track.
Although most of the residents of Silver Reef were not Mormon, they had good relations with residents of the nearby Mormon settlements. A lot of the cotton and other agricultural items produced in the area were transported by wagon to Silver Reef. Many of the town's buildings were constructed by Mormon labor workers
Wage labour
Wage labour is the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer, where the worker sells their labour under a formal or informal employment contract. These transactions usually occur in a labour market where wages are market determined...
. Reverend Lawrence Scanlan
Lawrence Scanlan
Lawrence Scanlan was an Irish Roman Catholic missionary and the first Bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah .-Early life:...
was invited to say Mass in the St. George Tabernacle
St. George Tabernacle
The St. George Tabernacle is a historic building in St. George, Utah. It opened in 1876 to serve as a public works building, originally hosting church services and court hearings. Today, it is open to the public and hosts many public events, such as concerts....
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before the Catholic Church in Silver Reef was constructed. To assist Scanlan, the Mormon choir learned Latin chants. When politics were involved, however, these good relations were forgotten. The Mormons were members of the People's Party
People's Party (Utah)
The People's Party was a political party in Utah Territory during the late 19th century. It was backed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its newspaper, the Deseret News. It opposed Utah's Liberal Party.- Beginnings :...
, and the Gentiles in Silver Reef were members of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (Utah)
The Liberal Party, like the People's Party, flourished in Utah Territory as a local political party in the latter half of the 19th century—before Democrats and Republicans established themselves in Utah in the early 1890s....
. As Silver Reef grew, the townspeople wanted to change the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Washington County from St. George to Silver Reef. This alarmed the members of the People's Party, the main figures in the territorial legislature. The legislature moved the county line eastward in 1882; this maintained the People's Party majority in Washington County by transferring such Mormon farming communities as Grafton
Grafton, Utah
Grafton is a ghost town, just south of Zion National Park in Washington County, Utah, United States. Said to be the most photographed ghost town in the West, it has been featured as a location in several films, including 1929's In Old Arizona—the first talkie filmed outdoors—and the...
, Rockville
Rockville, Utah
Rockville is a town in Washington County, Utah, United States. It is located along the Virgin River near the mouth of Zion Canyon. The city lies just outside of the park boundary for Zion National Park; the park entrance is located approximately 5 miles northeast of the town.-Geography:Rockville...
, and Springdale
Springdale, Utah
Springdale is a town in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 457 at the 2000 census. It is located immediately outside the boundaries of Zion National Park, and is oriented around the resulting tourist industry. It was originally settled as a Mormon farming community in 1862...
from Kane County
Kane County, Utah
As of the census of 2000, there were 6,046 people, 2,237 households, and 1,628 families residing in the county. The population density was 2 people per square mile . There were 3,767 housing units at an average density of 1 per square mile...
to Washington County.
Although it had good relations with other towns, Silver Reef still had the usual mining camp problem of labor disputes
Labor unrest
Labor unrest is a term used by employers or those generally in the business community to describe organizing and strike actions undertaken by labor unions, especially where labor disputes become violent or where industrial actions in which members of a workforce obstruct the normal process of...
between wage laborers and mine owners. After a major dispute with the Stormont Mining Company, the Silver Reef Miners Union was formed to help ensure that the daily wages of the miners did not fall too low. Gambling, prostitution, and shootout
Shootout
A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups. A shootout often, but not necessarily, pits law enforcement against criminal elements; it could also involve two groups outside of law enforcement, such as rival gangs. A shootout in a military context A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups....
s were also commonplace. One shootout involved Town Marshal Johnny Diamond and mine guard Jack Truby. Tensions between Diamond and Truby formed during a mine dispute, in which the Kinner mine was temporarily shut down. Truby was hired by Colonel Enos Wall, foreman and owner of the Kinner, to guard the mine until told otherwise. Diamond went to the Kinner mine to serve the closure warrant, and upon arriving, he asked Truby if he could go into the mine. Truby refused to allow Diamond into the mine, and told Diamond to leave the property immediately. Diamond complied, but tension had formed between the two men.
The gunfight started during court proceedings in the back room of a saloon. Diamond was present, and when he saw Truby enter the room with his hat on, he told him to remove his hat. Truby refused, and told Diamond to give him the order outside of the saloon. Once outside, Diamond and Truby began arguing about the matter. When Diamond asked for Truby's gun, Truby responded by shooting at Diamond. A short gunfight ensued, resulting in the deaths of both men. An inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
held on both men in the saloon found that the bodies each contained bullet wounds from the .41 caliber revolvers that were used, and powder burns caused by the proximity of the shootout. Truby also had .45 caliber bullet wounds in his back, indicating that somebody else had shot at him during the shootout.
Another shootout occurred between Henry Clark and Sykes Griffen on December 1, 1878, at Cassidy's Silver Reef Saloon. Although it is not known exactly what happened, it is believed that Griffen, a faro
Faro (card game)
Faro, Pharaoh, or Farobank, is a late 17th century French gambling card game descendant of basset, and belongs to the lansquenet and Monte Bank family of games, in that it is played between a banker and several players winning or losing according to the cards turned up matching those already...
dealer at the saloon, and Clark, a regular patron, had previously argued over gambling matters. The shooting began when Griffen argued with Clark about a bet they had made. After arguing for several minutes, Griffen pulled a pistol on Clark and shot him. Several witnesses said that Clark pulled a pistol on Griffen and shot him, while other witnesses said that after Clark was shot, other patrons in the saloon, including Clark's father, beat and shot Griffen.
Decline
On May 30, 1879, a fire destroyed several businesses along Main Street. It was discovered under a restaurant and soon spread to several other businesses. Soon after its discovery, hundreds of Silver Reef's residents took buckets to nearby Leeds Creek for water. They also put wet blankets on the business buildings adjacent to the fire to stop it from spreading. Despite these efforts the fire soon spread to the Harrison House Hotel, one of the town's most prominent buildings. The fire spread to several other businesses before it was finally extinguished. The Salt Lake TribuneThe Salt Lake Tribune
The Salt Lake Tribune is the largest-circulated daily newspaper in the U.S. city of Salt Lake City. It is distributed by Newspaper Agency Corporation, which also distributes the Deseret News. The Tribune — or "Trib," as it is locally known — is currently owned by the Denver-based MediaNews Group....
reported that Silver Reef had been "Chicagoed", and that a state of panic was felt even after the fire had been extinguished.
Silver Reef's residents rebuilt the businesses that had been destroyed, but the town soon began to decline. In 1881, the Stormont Mining Company had to decrease wages from $4 per day to $3.50 per day for financial reasons. They did not, however, decrease the wages of miners working in the Savage mine, who continued to receive $4 per day. In response to the decrease in wages, the Silver Reef Miners Union was formed, with Matthew O'Loughlin as president. As word of a potential strike spread, the Stormont Mining Company discharged those of its miners who were part of the Miners Union in February 1881. In response, the miners escorted the company's superintendent, Washington Allen, out of Silver Reef. Allen immediately went to the Second District Court in Beaver
Beaver, Utah
Beaver is a city in Beaver County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,454 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Beaver County.Settled by Mormon pioneers in 1856, Beaver was one of a string of Mormon settlements extending the length of Utah...
and filed a lawsuit against the miners. Before the Miners Union went to court, they held a meeting in which the members decided to shut down the Savage mine. They walked through Silver Reef in rows of two, and, upon arriving at the Savage mine, O'Loughlin and nine other men went into the hoisting works and ordered the engineer on duty to shut down the pumps that kept water from the water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...
out of the mine. After he shut the pumps down, the group of ten went into the Savage mine and ordered everyone out of the mine.
A few days after the Miners Union shut down the Savage mine, the sheriff of St. George, accompanied by a posse of 30 men, arrested 25 members of the Miners Union, including Matthew O'Loughlin. As Silver Reef's jail was too small to hold all 25 of the prisoners, most of them were jailed in the Rice Building. The Rice Building could not hold all of the prisoners, so a line was drawn around the building, and anyone who crossed the line was threatened with shooting. The Miners Union members were transferred to Beaver, where they were tried for riot, conspiracy, and false imprisonment. Thirteen of the members were sentenced to imprisonment; three were bailed out, while ten were sent to the Utah Territorial Penitentiary. Matthew O'Loughlin was sentenced to twenty days in prison and was charged a $75 fine.
A few years after the strike, the world's silver market dropped, causing the foreclosure of many of the mines. To compensate for the drop in prices, the mine's stockholders
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
reduced the wages of the miners. Instead of striking again, the miners accepted this. In addition, the miners inadvertently dug below the water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...
, and the mine shafts began filling with water faster than it could be pumped out. By 1884, most of the mines were idle or closed; the last mine was officially closed in 1891, although lessees of the mines continued to operate them past 1891. Many merchants went bankrupt and left town. The Silver Reef mines produced about $8 million worth of silver ore. Between 1891 and 1901, another $250,000 worth of silver ore was mined. Several people attempted to restart mining operations in 1898, 1909, 1916, and 1950, but none of these attempts were successful. After Silver Reef's mines were closed, many of the buildings were purchased for their lumber and building stone. One buyer dismantled the building he bought and discovered $10,000 in gold coins. News of the find spread quickly, and most of the buildings in Silver Reef were demolished in hopes of discovering more gold; however, nobody else found any.
The Silver Reef Consolidated Mining Company, which owned most of the area's mines, was organized in 1916 by Alex Colbath. In 1928, American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) purchased its mines, and in 1929 they sank a three-compartment shaft on the White Reef. This new mine was connected with the flooded Savage mine, and the water was pumped out. Minimal work was done after that, however, as there was not enough ore to keep the operation profitable during the Great Depression. Ownership of the mines was then passed back to Alex Colbath, but in 1948 the Western Gold and Uranium Corporation purchased the claims from Colbath, and in 1951 they mined the sandstone for uranium oxide deposits. The first shipment of uranium oxide came from the Ann's Pride mine. In total, they shipped 2500 pounds (1,134 kg) of uranium oxide out of the region. These claims were bought in 1979 by the 5M Corporation, but the company did not operate in Silver Reef for long.
Tourism and popular culture
Following the closure of the district's mines, the Wells Fargo office was used as a residence by Alex and Mayme Colbath until the 1950s. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 11, 1971, and currently serves as an art gallery and a museum. A fire in the Rice Building caused it to burn down, but it was rebuilt in 1991. The Cosmopolitan Restaurant was reconstructed to appear as it did in the 19th century, and it served European cuisineEuropean cuisine
European cuisine, or alternatively Western cuisine, is a generalised term collectively referring to the cuisines of Europe and other Western countries...
until it was closed in 2010. There are many remnants of houses and other buildings, and there are also markers indicating where some buildings once stood, such as the Elk Horn Saloon. Some of the area has been preserved for its history.
Behind the Wells Fargo office is a powder house
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
which currently contains models of the town, the town's major mills, and its Catholic church. The Catholic and Protestant cemeteries were restored by the Leeds Lion Club in 1998 and can be visited. Several other original buildings remain, including the Clancy Market, McCormick Store, the two-story Harrison House Hotel, and some of the mining buildings. Main Street, once a mile long, is now only a few hundred yards long and is surrounded by private homes.
Besides exploring the ghost town, visitors can explore the red rock country surrounding Silver Reef. Backpacking, camping, fishing, mountain biking, birdwatching, and hunting are among the activities available. Visitors to Red Cliffs Recreation Area, located south of Silver Reef, can picnic in a designated area with cottonwood trees. A half-mile hiking trail leads to the Red Cliffs Anasazi Site, the remains of an Anasazi
Ancient Pueblo Peoples
Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral Pueblo peoples were an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and southern Colorado...
habitation. The 6 miles (9.7 km) Red Reef Trail leads to the Cottonwood Wilderness Study Area. Dinosaur footprints that date back to the early Jurassic period can be found in the area, and the Orson Adams House in nearby Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Utah
Harrisburg is a ghost town in Washington County, Utah, United States. Established as Harrisville in 1859, the town was flooded by the Virgin River in 1862, causing the residents to move farther up the river. Soon after, the town's name was changed to Harrisburg...
allows visitors to study the pioneer
American pioneer
American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...
history of Washington County.
Silver Reef has appeared in American films since the late 1960s. The area was scouted by corporate executives from Twentieth-Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
for use in the 1969
1969 in film
The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...
film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...
and served as a backdrop in the 1979
1979 in film
The year 1979 in film involved some significant events.- Major events :* March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.* May 25 - Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released....
film The Electric Horseman
The Electric Horseman
The Electric Horseman is a 1979 adventure and romance feature film starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and directed by Sydney Pollack. It was the third time Redford and Fonda starred together in a feature film, having previously teamed on The Chase and Barefoot in the Park .-Plot:Sonny Steele ...
. Silver Reef was featured in the 1998 documentary Treasure House: The Utah Mining Story.
See also
- List of ghost towns in Utah
- Silver mining in the United StatesSilver mining in the United StatesSilver mining in the United States began on a major scale with the discovery of the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1858. The industry suffered greatly from the demonetization of silver in 1873 by the "Crime of 73," but silver mining continues today....
External links
- Silver Reef at Washington County Historical Society
- Silver Reef at GhostTownGallery.com
- Silver Reef at GhostTowns.com
- Silver Reef at LegendsofAmerica.com
- Historical Silver Reef, Utah!