MU Meetup - AFC/Mary Ellen Gulch - 9/11/10

[ExpUt]

So lets see some pics!

Sorry we didn't meet up sooner. Brent, Jake and I waited until just about 11am at the trail head, we finally decided to head on up thinking you guys might have slipped past us just before 10. There as another gentleman and his wife from MU already up at the Live Yankee, so we parked there and started exploring. I waded through waste deep water in the Live Yankee HO1 adit, meanwhile Brent and the other gentleman checked out LY H02. We hiked up to the buildings to the north of LY HO3. As we were coming back down the mountain we saw the calvary arrive! Several vehicles and a fleet of quads. We spent some time at the Live Yankee and then proceeded up to the Globe Mine and 'Mary Ellen Hilton' (Lloyd Strong's cabin). I had to sneak of early but on our way down we decided to check out some of the minor adits in the gully between the Globe and the Yankee. We found 2 accessible adits, one was ~10 ft deep, the other ~200 ft with several stopes on off-shoots. I'm still trying to figure out the correct names on these adits but everything I've come up with thusfar just calls them 'Globe Mines' plural.

How was the rest of your trip?

[Crystal]

We started out at 10am and went up American Fork Canyon Road to check out Grave Yard Flat. Our group ended up wandering around on that trail for quite a bit, enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery. Eventually we made it up Mary Ellen Gulch and found our way to the Live Yankee.
Thank you Kurt for meeting us up there, it was great to here the history of the area.
I really enjoyed this trip, it was great to see everyone again and do some crazy off-roading.

Mary Ellen photos!!

[ExpUt]

Great pics.

Extremely disheartening to see the recent destruction at the Mary Ellen Hilton, what I would give to stumble across the oxygen thieves doing that.

Interesting side note, the partial cave in the Globe Mine actually happened when myself and a few others from RME were in there ~7 years ago. Crazy scary as you could hear it from 100 yards away and by the time we got there we had to dig it out to squeeze a body through (and I was skinnier then ). It hasn't moved much since that time.

You have a picture of Lloyd Strong's writing, he worked the mine and built the cabin. I didn't think he was around that late in the canyon but he very well could have been mining it that late.

Which mines did you end up exploring?

[btay801]

Our group checked out the Globe Mine which took about a half hour or so. But before we descended Mary Ellen Gulch
(which by the way, does anyone know why it is called Mary Ellen Gulch? A soiled dove's name?) Troy, Brent Henrie and myself (Bobby) made it up to what i think Kurt said is the Silver Bell Mine near the skyline. Huge adit! 12'-15' in diameter in most places. We shot out all the tunnels, all just terminate. The only we did not was a series of ladders climbing at about a 80 degree pitch up a wet ore chute in the main stope. All wood ladders as far as my light would reach except the 2nd which was an aluminum ladder. Cool mine, worth the ride up. One compressor tank in the main stope.
As always a great trip! Thanks Crystal, Shawn, Troy and Kurt for making this possible.

[ExpUt]

As the story goes Mary Ellen was a beloved cook in the boarding house at Forest City, a small town that once resided at the trailhead for Forest City and right near the graveyard. All that is visible now is a few foundations and the guesstimated grave locations (not correct ones).

[RockRacer]

Silver Bell Mine sounds pretty cool. Crystal, did we check that one out? I guess not.

So I thought my father got some fun pictures and video on his little camera. I took the card from him so I could put them on the web. My 4 year old decided he was hungry and bit it and I can't get it to read even though it doesn't look that bad. Let's just say he wasn't happy once I found out.

Anyone know if it's possible to recover any info off those damaged media cards?

[Rubyredvet]

Our group checked out the Globe Mine which took about a half hour or so. But before we descended Mary Ellen Gulch
(which by the way, does anyone know why it is called Mary Ellen Gulch? A soiled dove's name?) Troy, Brent Henrie and myself (Bobby) made it up to what i think Kurt said is the Silver Bell Mine near the skyline. Huge adit! 12'-15' in diameter in most places. We shot out all the tunnels, all just terminate. The only we did not was a series of ladders climbing at about a 80 degree pitch up a wet ore chute in the main stope. All wood ladders as far as my light would reach except the 2nd which was an aluminum ladder. Cool mine, worth the ride up. One compressor tank in the main stope.
As always a great trip! Thanks Crystal, Shawn, Troy and Kurt for making this possible.

My brother and I were at the Silver Bell last Sunday. We didn't go up the ladders but there is an opening farther up the mountain which you can't see from the main adit but as you drop back down the road and look up, you'll see the upper opening. We didn't go back to check it out as it was getting late. We'll check it out next time.