04 Wednesday May 2016
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Christmas City, historic, Provo, Provo Canyon, utah, utah county
There’s not much left of Christmas City in Provo Canyon, on the old township maps, a Christmas City graveyard is located on the south side of the entrance to Provo Canyon. It was an old mining area and is now a gravel pit.
03 Tuesday May 2016
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Cisco, Ghost Towns, Grand County, historic, Railroad, utah, Westwater
Westwater is a ghost town site near the west end of Ruby Canyon on the Colorado River. The Colorado border is eight miles east. After mining and railroad construction in the region declined, the town was abandoned and the area was used for grazing. The name indicates where the railroad exits into the valley at the west end of Ruby Canyon.(*)
03 Tuesday May 2016
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Dewey is a ghost town. Originally named Kingsferry, it began in the 1880s when Samuel King built and operated a ferry across the Grand River (now considered part of the Colorado River). A small community soon developed around the ferry. The town served as a ferry crossing until the Dewey Bridge was constructed in 1916.
03 Tuesday May 2016
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Elgin is on the east side of the Green River across from Green River. In 1905, Elgin was established as a siding on the Denver Rio Grande Western Railroad, and a post office was granted on March 5, 1898. The town quickly became a fruit-growing center, but over the years unexpected freezing periods and the cost of pumping water from the river caused the community to decline. Today the town has been revitalized by the addition of motels and tourist activities. Elgin has now been absorbed into Green River.(*)
Here are some photos I recently took at the Elgin Cemetery.
03 Tuesday May 2016
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Richardson is a nearly forgotten town named after its founder, Professor Richardson, who in 1879 settled at the mouth of Professor Creek (also named after him). He built a cabin which later became a store when he built his home in nearby Professor Valley. Professor Creek was a strategic waterway used by early residents to float supplies from the railroad stop at Cisco down to Castle Valley. Richardson had an official post office from 1886 until 1905. Today, only a couple of ranches remain in the area.(*)
03 Tuesday May 2016
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Castle Valley, Grand County, Moab, Pinhook, utah, Wilson Mesa
East from Moab, on Wilson Mesa in the La Sal Mountains, was the little village called Mesa. The Town of Pinhook, also in the La Sal Mountains, was a tent village. On June 15, 1881 a bloody battle was fought between the village and a hostile band of Indians. Eight white men were buried at the site in 1 large grave. A historical marker has been erected on this spot.
Wilson Mesa, also known as simply Mesa, was located on the western slope of the La Sal Mountains. It actually consisted of two mesas, North Mesa and South Mesa, which were separated by a small canyon called Left Hand. These mesas, which still contain ranches, are accessible from the present-day La Sal Mountain Loop Road. Wilson Mesa was first settled by Joseph Burkholder and Herbert Day in 1891. Other early settlers included the Shafers, the Johnsons, the Diffendorfs, and the Fillmores. Wilson Mesa took its name from cattleman A.G. Wilson, who grazed about 500 cattle in Spanish Valley, the Sand Flats, and on the mesa itself. A post office existed in Mesa from 1907 to 1923. One notable accomplishment by Mesa settlers was the construction of an impressive tramway to lower 1,200 pounds of produce at a time from South Mesa to the Mill Creek area some 2,000 vertical feet below. The Murphy brothers built the tram around 1916. Supplies could also be hoisted up the tramway, provided that the down-going load was heavier.
Historic Marker:
In memory of those who were massacred by Indians June 15, 1881, buried here
Erected 1940 by Grand Co.(*)
History on the Pinhook Draw Fight: http://digitallibrary.utah.gov/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=34837
Pinhook Battleground
The Pinhook Battleground Site on the Manti-La Sal National Forest encompasses an 80-acre area and features a 20-foot square plot, which is the location of the common grave of eight men who were killed in the Pinhook confrontation. The Pinhook Battle, one of the largest and bloodiest battles between Anglo Americans and American Indians to occur in southeastern Utah, took place in 1881. The fight resulted in the death of eight Colorado posse members, two Moab cattlemen, and an unknown number of American Indians. The dispute was fueled by competition over the land and resources of southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado. The National Register nomination and early commemoration efforts of the site were udnertaken by the Moab Lions Club.
25 Monday Apr 2016
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Plainsfield was located just south of the Grand-San Juan County line in the “Poverty Flats” area of southern Spanish Valley, somewhere near or in between the Old Airport hanger and Ken’s Lake. Virtually no evidence remains of the town’s existence. One of its earliest residents was noted pioneer John Henry Shafer, who settled the Plainsfield area in 1878 along with fellow rancher C.M. Van Buren. A petition for a post office was granted in 1879, but was discontinued the following year. Problems with hostile Native Americans caused the first Plainsfield settlers to close the fort and move closer to town. However, in 1883, four other families (Somerville, McConkie, Newell, and Johnson) moved from elsewhere in San Juan County to the Plainsfield area. Jennie Somerville, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Somerville, was reportedly the first baby ever born in the fledgling community. Throughout the 1880s, school was taught and LDS church meetings were held at the McConkie home in Plainsfield. Because water was scarce, Plainsfield residents had to go down the valley three or four miles to the Boren Ranch (now the George White Ranch) to obtain drinking water from the springs. By the early 1900s, however, Plainsfield was nothing more than a memory.(Thanks for moabhappenings)
18 Monday Apr 2016
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Sego boasted a population of nearly 500 people more than 80 years ago. Located in Sego Canyon five miles north of Thompson Springs, Sego began its existence as a coal mining camp for American Fuel Company workers who had begun working Henry Ballard’s coal mine in the Book Cliffs area around 1912. The coal from the mine was loaded onto railroad cars and transported down a five-and-a-half mile railroad spur to Thompson. The town was originally known as Neslen at first, and was notable for its racially segregated housing. In 1918, the town’s name was changed to Sego (in honor of Utah’s state flower) when Chesterfield Coal Company bought out AFC. The mine, which struggled financially throughout much of its existence, closed for good in 1947. Today, a few ramshackle buildings remain, including the old store, a two-story wooden boarding house, along with a few dugout cabins, an explosives bunker, and several old foundations.(*)
08 Friday Apr 2016
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Castleton was a bustling mining supply center located not far from the present day town of Castle Valley. It was reportedly first settled by Doby Brown, a prospector, in the early 1880s. A post office was established in Castleton in 1882, and numerous other buildings soon followed. Castleton not only boomed along with Miner’s Basin, it also died along with it when the mines closed in 1907. Today, the remains of Castleton can be seen some 10 miles southeast of the Castle Valley turnoff of state highway 128.(*)
At its peak in 1895, the population exceeded that of Moab. In fact, when Grand County was organized in 1890, Castleton vied with Moab for the chance to be county seat.
07 Thursday Apr 2016
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Miners Basin, also known as simply Basin, was a mining town at over 10,000 feet elevation on Mt. Waas in the La Sal Mountains. With a peak population of about 75 or 80, the town flourished for about 20 years after gold was discovered there in the late 1880s. The first claims were staked in the area around 1888, and a formal mining district was organized 10 years later. Silver and copper were also mined in limited quantities, in addition to gold. At its heyday, the town boasted a hotel, a store, two restaurants, a blacksmith shop, a post office, and two saloons. However, the mines were closed in 1907 as a result of a nationwide financial panic, and the town died shortly thereafter. Even so, a few diehard miners remained on the mountain for decades afterward. A few log cabins and other structures still remain in the area.(*)