Honerine Mine Area

**Stuart** · 06-11-2008, 10:09 AM

Mines!

I see the adits you are talking about. We will make sure to check those out when we head up there next week. Too bad you can't come along with us, but no worries, we will be going again soon. I really want to go look at those maps! I think I will try and schedule a time within the next couple of weeks to go check them out along with many other mine maps that I have been dying to go look at. I would love to be able to get a digital copies that we can post.

To answer your question, we have wandered around for about eight-ten hours inside the crystal mine, but we have not formally surveyed it yet. Feel free to go up and survey the mine, but when you do post it on here so others can follow along and learn about the process.

I love google earth!

-Mojave

**UnderUtah** · 06-14-2008, 09:36 AM

Well it looks like the travel gods are smiling upon me - looks like I will be back in town Monday and would love to go up with you guys. I should have time Tuesday to check-out the Historical Society too. If the trip is still a go, are there any other details regarding the trip than those posted (meeting place / time)? It looks like an overnighter so I would assume a compliment of overnight gear is in order. Would you let me know Stuart?

Thanks!

**Stuart** · 06-14-2008, 05:49 PM

Thats great news! We would be glad to have you along, especially if you gather some good information at the Historical Society

The trip will be overnight so pack your gear. It looks like we will either be staying up at Jacob city around the hidden treasure, or we will camp at our usual site up Ophir Canyon. Where we camp will depend on the weather, Jacob city is hell when the wind picks up. Judging from your location in Bountiful it may be more economical for you to meet us somewhere out around where we plan to camp.

I look forward to meeting you.

-Mojave

**Mike** · 06-14-2008, 07:28 PM

We are planning on leaving around 3pm from Orem. Probably be 4 by the time we get there.

**UnderUtah** · 06-14-2008, 08:49 PM

Sounds great! I think I will drag my ATV and trailer out there and park at the bottom of Ophir canyon - that will leave Jacob City and Ophir open as campsite options. I will PM Stuart with a few more questions.....

**geogeek88** · 06-16-2008, 11:10 AM

Cool

**UnderUtah** · 06-16-2008, 05:51 PM

Honerine Mine and surrounding area

I made a trip to the Historical Society today to research the area. They had a number of maps of the Honerine drawn between 1925 and 1930. These were originals sandwiched between sheets of plastic. There were also a number of maps of the New Stockton. or Ben Harrison Mine, a site located in an isolated canyon north of the Honerine. There are a number of leads that I have not fully investigated in that canyon; the most notable being the main vertical shaft of the Ben Harrison from which all levels appear to be served (as the map indicates.)

Unfortunately, the center had no large format scanner; only a small xerox machine. One could veiw the artifacts, but forget quickly obtaining a full sized copy. Apparently you can order copies, but it was unclear if they would be full-sized copies or something an intern or volunteer sloppily generated from the lone xerox machine. More investigation is needed - I would gladly pay for them to be fed through a blueprint scanner - FedEx Kinkos? "...but the grail cannot pass beyond the seal..."

I took the maps into the back room to avoid the intense glare from the overhead lights on the shiny plastic to try to get a few good pictures. They turned out so-so, giving a general sense of what lie underground but no fine detail. If you have never examined maps from this era, hold on to your hats....they are somewhat confusing and have numerous symbols and annotations that are not clearly defined in a legend. Shafts and stoping, winzes, and inclines are pretty straight-forward as are some maps in which they colored the different levels to help distinguish them. The difficulty is that most are drawn from the top down but include multiple working levels and in this view many things overlap, yet they appear to draw a forced perspective (on shafts, for example). Many are annotated in pencil, then ink, then colored and often become jumbled. I was also not able to put the maps in a puzzlepiece format and match connections, but I assume there are more missing maps that would create an entire picture. I was able to trace but one to the surface shaft or main portal, with the exception of some maps from the Ophir side; the Buffalo Tunnel assay maps of a more recent era. (not photographed due to lack of time) Overall the experience was very intriguing but left me with more questions than answers.

As I said, there were a number of maps of the Honerine, the Ben Harrison, an overview (of the exact type one may find in an Indiana Jones diary) of Jacob City and Dry Canyon, but it was sketched in such an artful and interpretive manner that it may fit better on the back of a cereal box whose front featured an animated frog than in an archive. There were many named mines, but the print on the copy was so tiny and so swallowed-up by the surrounding topography and ink-bleed it made distingushing names extremely difficult at best. The accuracy of the map also left a great deal to be desired, as it was only 12" x 12" and only vaguely reflected the real geography of the area. Beyond the Hidden Treasure I could not accurately put names to my mental map of the exisitng workings. Xeroxing this would have done nothing but exaggerate the already illegible text, so I took a crappy photo.

No maps for Ophir Hill, or any other Ophir-side workings; perhaps these reside in the offices of the local authorities or in someone's attic. Again, more research is required. Perhaps I will just have to work on making my own maps.

SolidWorks will do a mean 3D representation if I can gather the raw data...

The staff was tepid at best, and annoyed with my requests at worst. "Are ALL of these MAPS???...(sigh) This will take me about ten minutes...." As they trod off into the bowels of the collection. If you go, do so right at 9:00 AM before all the blue hairs and walker jockeys arrive and clog the foyer with their electric scooters and other mobility acoutrements.

I have put the photos on a website that I began four hours ago...Just follow the link to the Maps section and you should find them. I will work more on this as I find the time.

http://home.earthlink.com/~jereches/miahweb/

**Stuart** · 06-16-2008, 11:23 PM

Wow, sounds like you had quite the adventure in there!
I'm glad they have the maps that they do, but man do they leave a lot to be desired. I'm dying to be able to read all of that "artistic" map of dry canyon! I blew it up really big on my screen and leaned in really far, but I could only pick out a few words like "Ophir Hill and "Treasure Hill".

Good work!!!

-Mojave

**Mike** · 06-17-2008, 12:44 AM

Wow really good job Jeremiah. Impressive work. Nothing gets me more excited than some good mine maps and history. Sounds like you had an adventure today. That indiana jones commentary definatly sounds good to me. We'll have to make a trip over there and view some of those maps.

Thanks for the hard work and very informative post. Keep it up!

**UnderUtah** · 06-17-2008, 09:57 AM

Sorry I couldn't gather more or better content, if I could have smuggled a large format scanner in there things would be different. Pretty neat to examine them in person and definately worth the trip. The Dry Canyon map is not much better in person than in the photo, though there are a few more things that you can pick-out from between the bleeding pen strokes. Again, good luck placing the names on the map to the actual existing mines... Where was Google Earth when we needed it 100 years ago!
In my spare time I will be gathering survey information either from the maps or (for some) in person, then digitizing the data into 3D maps using SolidWorks and hopefully publishing a few flash fly-thrus if I can become a web genius in the next few months

or mabey just isometric views of the workings. I am very competent in many programs but web development and publishing is not something I am familiar with....

**Derek** · 07-25-2008, 04:23 PM

Re: Honerine Mine Area

Originally posted by UnderUtah

Thanks for the warm welcome! I would love to visit the Honerine and local area, but I am on a marathon business trip and won't be back until the 21st.

You may want to visit a somewhat hidden mine above the Honerine in the same canyon. It has a number of little adits all over the hillside, as well as a very deep shaft that follows the fault line deep below the hillside. There is a small headframe and pulley that has almost totally fallen into the shaft. Pretty neat site off the beaten path. It is approximately 1/2 mile up from the Honerine. Take a good look at the area on Google Earth and you should find it, as well as being able to map-out a route as it is a bit tricky and you end-up walking down from the end of the trail.

If you have any free time during the week I know that the Utah State Historical Society Division of State History has listings for maps of the Honerine 600, 1000, 1200, 1400, and 1600 foot levels from the Combined Metals Reduction Co. published in 1927. (wish I had the URL) These are apparently copies of the originals. I found these in a map database search, but my printout of the listings dosen't have the URL and I don't remember exactly where to direct you to other than to the Division if State History. I have not had a chance to view these maps in person - state agency only open M-F 10:00 to 5:00.

These are suposed to be at 300 S. 455 W. (Rio Grande St.) ph. (801) 533-3500. Mabey worth the reaseach.

If that area dosen't pan-out, there are always the sites in Jacob City and at the mouth of Dry Canyon. Did you say that you had formally surveyed the "Crystal" mine? I would like to run up there sometime with my roll-a-tape and compass and make a cusrory map if you guys haven't already done that.

Take lots of pictures, and above all be safe!

UnderUtah,

I thought the deep shaft and collapsed headframe that you mention that sits up the canyon from the Honorine tunnel is actually part of the Honorine mine operation? My map lists both the shaft and the lower tunnel as the Honorine. Hmm..I thought that I had this figured out, but now I am having second thoughts. I am familiar with the New Stockton Mining Company name, but was there a mine of the same associated with the company and if so where is it?

Derek

**UnderUtah** · 07-25-2008, 04:48 PM

It could certainly be part of the Honerine. I don't know for sure what it's proper name is - you may have better info than my silly TOPO Utah - that's pretty much what I refer to unless I have a mine map or something else. We have some maps of the Honerine photographed from the Historical Society but I could not really make sense of them - they may be incomplete. I have the pics on my cheeseball starter website where I have been posting a fe little tidbits but nothing else. Here is the link: http://home.earthlink.com/~jereches/miahweb/id6.html

Take a look.

Jeremiah

**Derek** · 07-25-2008, 08:40 PM

Oh I see the New Stockton and the Ben Harrison is the same mine.

**UnderUtah** · 07-25-2008, 09:10 PM

Yep. Hope that helps.

Honerine Mine Area

Honerine Mine Area

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment