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I spent some time in the Henry Mountains last fall (Sept 07'), hoping to get back down there for a long weekend in 2009 thus I'm starting my planning now. My last trip was a little different than most, rather than searching out old mines and ghost-towns, we were following the paths of early Utah outlaws, ie Butch Cassity, the Sundance Kid, etc.
I intend for my next trip to be a bit more mining focused, not only exploring some of the historic and new mines in the Henry's, but possibly a couple of the mines in the Poison Springs, Del Monte Mines and Shootaring Mine. Maps show at least two adits and nearly a dozen prospects in the Bromide Basin area, a half dozen adits in the Poison Springs area, nearly 2 dozen adits in the Shootaring and Del Monte areas. Plenty to explore in a long weekend.
The Henry's had some decent mining efforts. Bromide Basin being the mainstay of the work done in the Henry's proper. We were there on a seperate mission (outlaws) and despite my persistence we didn't get up to the mines in Bromide. At the gate near the head of the canyon we did find some signs regarding the mines, seems their are at least two active claims in the canyon, the sign had contact numbers for both companies, I've got them jotted down in one of my notebooks. I plan to call them one of these days and ask about their mines, hard to say how well I'll be received. We passed several of the mines south of the Henry's and last weekend I passed right by a couple of the mines in the Poison Spring area, next time I'll know whats up there.
Excerpts from an article I wrote on the trip:
The story of Eagle City:
Eagle City was located at the fork of Bromide Basin, two miles from its head along Crescent Creek in the Henry Mountains. John Angrove was the first to discover gold in the steep canyon above the soon to be town sometime in the 1880’s. In 1889 Jack Summer and Jack Butler staked claim on the Bromide Mine. The following year the Oro Mine was opened by Summer and Butler, the pair later built a mill along Crescent Creek to process the gold ore. Soon enough a town was formed to support the mines and house the mine employees. The town consisted of a small mercantile, a hotel, a doctor’s office and even a saloon. Mail was packed in by mule, across the San Rafael desert from Green River. Legend has it that members of the Wild Bunch often spent time in the secluded town, probable given the towns proximity to their know local of Robbers Roost and their San Rafael Swell hideouts. The mine began flooding at deeper depths and the mill burned to the ground in 1911, it was never rebuilt. Many of the miners left for good to serve in World War I… the town soon fell back to the earth.
The Town of Giles:
The town of Giles was settled in 1883, named after Bishop Henry Giles. The bishop was behind the settling of the small agriculture town. Constant floods in the area washed away the fields, and the searing summer heat took what little that survived. A spring flood destroyed the irrigation diversion dam the farmers had built, and with no time to rebuild they lost their crop water for the season. By the early 1930’s most of the original settlers had moved on, some to nearby Hanksville, others to new settlements in the southern portion of the state. Several picturesque buildings mark the site of the once thriving town and a small cemetery marks the final resting spot of a couple dozen souls.
Full Trip Article/Report Here:
Photo Gallery from Trip Here:
Another intersting note about the Henry's, the "Lost Spanish Treasure of Edwin Wolverton in the Henry's" (courtesy of the BLM)
In the early 1900's, Edwin Thatcher Wolverton, a mining engineer from Maine, came to southern Utah to look for gold in the Henry Mountains. Believing he had discovered the location of a legendary Old Spanish Gold Mine, Wolverton tried for nearly 12 frustrating years to file mining claims around Straight Creek on Mt. Pennell only to find each time that others had filed before him. He waited until the others gave up and, about 1915, was finally able to establish his own claims. With the help of his two sons, Norville and Thatcher, the sixty-year-old Wolverton began construction of a mill to crush gold ore about 1921. Knowing that he would need wood for the mine as well as some way of keeping in supplies, Wolverton built a large table saw in one end of his mill. With this, he could cut lumber for his needs as well as those of many of his remotely located neighbors, thereby obtaining supplies and bartered services. This feature made the Wolverton Mill unique because it combined both wood cutting and ore crushing operations under one roof. Besides being unique in function, the Wolverton Mill was also unique in construction. Most log structures of the time made use of some form of log notching and overlapping to tie the walls together. Wolverton cut his logs off evenly, stacked them, and used steel spikes inserted vertically through the ends of the logs to build the mill walls. The walls were built in sections and braced with heavy posts. There were no other mills in the Southwest like this one.
Gold ore was run through the mill for only a short time. It is unlikely that Wolverton ever found his lost mine, but, once in a while, he would show up in town with a little gold. Irregardless of whether Wolverton's dreams were realized, his mill stands as a unique monument to mining, perseverance, and genius. In 1929, E. T. Wolverton died at the age of 67. His grave in the Elgin cemetery near Green River, Utah, is marked by a granite arrastra drag stone his sons brought from the Henry Mountain mill.
When the mill still stood on Mt. Pennell, it was subjected to vandalism and was the source of a variety of problems. Because of this, the Bureau of Land Management moved the mill to its present location in Hanksville during the summer of 1974. Restoration of the mill was completed in 1988.
I've visited the mill a couple of times, its really a neat stop if your ever in Hanksville. Basically a self guided tour through the mechanics of the mill
The Mill in Dec 2006 - We were en route to the Hole In the Rock Trail on the south side of Lake Powell
So, anyone have information on these sites they wouldn't mine sharing? I'm looking for old maps, claim surveys, working maps, etc. on the mines themselves as well as information regarding the towns and early history on the areas. I've got a small collection of books and maps on the area, I hope to have a enough information to really load up for an extended trip next summer/fall.
I intend for my next trip to be a bit more mining focused, not only exploring some of the historic and new mines in the Henry's, but possibly a couple of the mines in the Poison Springs, Del Monte Mines and Shootaring Mine. Maps show at least two adits and nearly a dozen prospects in the Bromide Basin area, a half dozen adits in the Poison Springs area, nearly 2 dozen adits in the Shootaring and Del Monte areas. Plenty to explore in a long weekend.
The Henry's had some decent mining efforts. Bromide Basin being the mainstay of the work done in the Henry's proper. We were there on a seperate mission (outlaws) and despite my persistence we didn't get up to the mines in Bromide. At the gate near the head of the canyon we did find some signs regarding the mines, seems their are at least two active claims in the canyon, the sign had contact numbers for both companies, I've got them jotted down in one of my notebooks. I plan to call them one of these days and ask about their mines, hard to say how well I'll be received. We passed several of the mines south of the Henry's and last weekend I passed right by a couple of the mines in the Poison Spring area, next time I'll know whats up there.
Excerpts from an article I wrote on the trip:
The story of Eagle City:
Eagle City was located at the fork of Bromide Basin, two miles from its head along Crescent Creek in the Henry Mountains. John Angrove was the first to discover gold in the steep canyon above the soon to be town sometime in the 1880’s. In 1889 Jack Summer and Jack Butler staked claim on the Bromide Mine. The following year the Oro Mine was opened by Summer and Butler, the pair later built a mill along Crescent Creek to process the gold ore. Soon enough a town was formed to support the mines and house the mine employees. The town consisted of a small mercantile, a hotel, a doctor’s office and even a saloon. Mail was packed in by mule, across the San Rafael desert from Green River. Legend has it that members of the Wild Bunch often spent time in the secluded town, probable given the towns proximity to their know local of Robbers Roost and their San Rafael Swell hideouts. The mine began flooding at deeper depths and the mill burned to the ground in 1911, it was never rebuilt. Many of the miners left for good to serve in World War I… the town soon fell back to the earth.
The Town of Giles:
The town of Giles was settled in 1883, named after Bishop Henry Giles. The bishop was behind the settling of the small agriculture town. Constant floods in the area washed away the fields, and the searing summer heat took what little that survived. A spring flood destroyed the irrigation diversion dam the farmers had built, and with no time to rebuild they lost their crop water for the season. By the early 1930’s most of the original settlers had moved on, some to nearby Hanksville, others to new settlements in the southern portion of the state. Several picturesque buildings mark the site of the once thriving town and a small cemetery marks the final resting spot of a couple dozen souls.
Full Trip Article/Report Here:
Photo Gallery from Trip Here:
Another intersting note about the Henry's, the "Lost Spanish Treasure of Edwin Wolverton in the Henry's" (courtesy of the BLM)
In the early 1900's, Edwin Thatcher Wolverton, a mining engineer from Maine, came to southern Utah to look for gold in the Henry Mountains. Believing he had discovered the location of a legendary Old Spanish Gold Mine, Wolverton tried for nearly 12 frustrating years to file mining claims around Straight Creek on Mt. Pennell only to find each time that others had filed before him. He waited until the others gave up and, about 1915, was finally able to establish his own claims. With the help of his two sons, Norville and Thatcher, the sixty-year-old Wolverton began construction of a mill to crush gold ore about 1921. Knowing that he would need wood for the mine as well as some way of keeping in supplies, Wolverton built a large table saw in one end of his mill. With this, he could cut lumber for his needs as well as those of many of his remotely located neighbors, thereby obtaining supplies and bartered services. This feature made the Wolverton Mill unique because it combined both wood cutting and ore crushing operations under one roof. Besides being unique in function, the Wolverton Mill was also unique in construction. Most log structures of the time made use of some form of log notching and overlapping to tie the walls together. Wolverton cut his logs off evenly, stacked them, and used steel spikes inserted vertically through the ends of the logs to build the mill walls. The walls were built in sections and braced with heavy posts. There were no other mills in the Southwest like this one.
Gold ore was run through the mill for only a short time. It is unlikely that Wolverton ever found his lost mine, but, once in a while, he would show up in town with a little gold. Irregardless of whether Wolverton's dreams were realized, his mill stands as a unique monument to mining, perseverance, and genius. In 1929, E. T. Wolverton died at the age of 67. His grave in the Elgin cemetery near Green River, Utah, is marked by a granite arrastra drag stone his sons brought from the Henry Mountain mill.
When the mill still stood on Mt. Pennell, it was subjected to vandalism and was the source of a variety of problems. Because of this, the Bureau of Land Management moved the mill to its present location in Hanksville during the summer of 1974. Restoration of the mill was completed in 1988.
I've visited the mill a couple of times, its really a neat stop if your ever in Hanksville. Basically a self guided tour through the mechanics of the mill
The Mill in Dec 2006 - We were en route to the Hole In the Rock Trail on the south side of Lake Powell
So, anyone have information on these sites they wouldn't mine sharing? I'm looking for old maps, claim surveys, working maps, etc. on the mines themselves as well as information regarding the towns and early history on the areas. I've got a small collection of books and maps on the area, I hope to have a enough information to really load up for an extended trip next summer/fall.
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