Mine by Alpine

[Mikezauner]

Ranae and I were exploring Sunday when we came across a few tailings piles on the side of the mountain just east of Alpine. We didn't have gear, so we came back today before I had to go in to work. The first entrance was almost totally buried, and inside the tunnel appears to have been backfilled or otherwise caved in as well. The second entrance seemed to be covered by a rock slide, although it's entirely likely it was backfilled as well. We didn't have time to hike up to the top entrance, unfortunately, but I do have a few photos, which I will post when not subject to the work firewall. I did grab the coordinates for the first entrance before we left, however:

40°28.340'N
111°44.905W
Elevation: 4517Ft

Does anyone have any information on what this was? The first entrance has a rather large tailings pile, and inside the entrance, there's several pieces of 2X6s that could have dated back to the 50s or so, looked fairly modern, and there was a small piece of cable on the tailings pile as well, but again, didn't really have time to get a really good shot.

[Mike]

Looks like you've found the Alpine Galena Mine. It sits on NFS land. Lead was the primary mineral mined from it. Great find! Can't wait to see your photos.

[Mikezauner]

Awesome. Where do you find this information? I'd love to be able to research this stuff myself. Still at work, but here's a few photos I snapped with the cell phone cam. I'll need to go back with a proper camera rig for better shots, as that's all I had with me at the time.


On the first entrance, there's a bit of a cable, unfortunately my cell especially sucks at photos, but you can kind of see the cable. :-/


This is the first entrance, which goes back about 20 feet before ending in a cave in or backfill. Hard to tell which.

The second entrance is totally sealed off, save for a baseball sized hole between rocks, as far as I can tell. I need to go back soon to explore the top entrance I saw from the ground.

[ExpUt]

Those are right by Wadsworth Canyon correct?

Wadsworth Hill/Canyon: You can see these mines on the face of the mountain if your driving up to AF Canyon or near Alpine. The road switchbacks up the face of the mountain to several apparent adits or ore chases. All that we were able to hike to were what looked like naturally caved. Judging by the small amount of overburden, lack of timbering and map data, I can only guess these were minor prospects.

Mine/claim names:
Queen of Sheba (1891)
Fools Claim (Wadsworth Hill Mining Company)
Midnight Bell

[Mikezauner]

yes, that would be the ones. So the top entrance is caved too? Thanks for telling me before I schlepped all my gear all the way up there.

[ExpUt]

yes, that would be the ones. So the top entrance is caved too? Thanks for telling me before I schlepped all my gear all the way up there.

I last visited there a couple of years ago, we hiked to all the adits we could see and all were caved or very shallow. There was some evidence of recent digging so if one is open I wouldn't be too entirely surprised.

Here are some other mines in the Alipine Area:

Fort Canyon: Fort Canyon is a small canyon due north of Alpine. I can't find any reference to a mine on any map in my collection, though it is referenced in some mine heritage resource information? At this point I'm inclined to beleive they are actually referring to the mining in Dry Creek Canyon, a couple miles away?

Mine/claim names:
Baby Mine (1891)

Dry Creek Canyon:

Mine/claim names:
Alpine Lode (head of Dry Creek)
Alpine Tunnel (head of Dry Creek)

Box Elder Canyon

Mine/claim names:
Galena Claim (1903)

Wadsworth Hill/Canyon: You can see these mines on the face of the mountain if your driving up to AF Canyon or near Alpine. The road switchbacks up the face of the mountain to several apparent adits or ore chases. All that we were able to hike to were what looked like naturally caved. Judging by the small amount of overburden, lack of timbering and map data, I can only guess these were minor prospects.

Mine/claim names:
Queen of Sheba (1891)
Fools Claim (Wadsworth Hill Mining Company)
Midnight Bell

Preston Canyon:

Mine/claim names:
Queen Natalie Mine (1891)
Marion Mine (1891)

Unknown Location Mines in the Alpine Area:
Banner Mine (1891)
Queen Mine
Hurricane Lode
Rose Bud (1892)
Utah Marble Claim (1892)
Early Dawn Placer (1892)

Unknown Size, Condition, etc in the Alpine Area:
Lucky Chance
Keystone
Horseshoe
Big Ledge
Copper King
Copper Queen
Maid of the Mist
Gold Dust
Snowflake
Blue Bell
Sego Lily
Hardscrabble
Bald Eagle
Sunnyside
Lucky Find
Midday Bell
Fools Claim
Tip Top
Releif
Silver Bell
Sunday
Paza
Red Jacket
Gold Bug
Leopard
Sultana
Dull Pick
May Queen
Mary Jane
Black Jack
Cinnabar
Rattlers
Cyclone
Devils Cave
Moonshine
Black Diamond
Gray Eagle
Spy
Deer Trail
(many/most of these could be claims only with zero workings)