The early days of gold and silver mining in the Tushar Mountains of south-central Utah have come alive again thanks to a historic display in a picturesque canyon five miles west of Marysvale.
The self-guided "Canyon of Gold" tour in Bullion Canyon and Miners' Park, easily accessible by automobile, won geologist Bob Leonard a coveted U.S. Forest Service award for his efforts depicting the legacy of miners of the late 1800s. Leonard was recipient of the Gifford Pinchot Award for excellence in interpretation, in competition with personnel from 155 national forests.The Bullion Canyon Miners' Park and Heritage Trail was established almost entirely through donations and volunteer labor, while most of the competing projects from other forests received funding from the federal government - some as much as $400,000.
The tour includes eight self-guided stops along the road, noting points of interest that can be seen from an automobile. It concludes at Miners' Park and the Historical Heritage Trail. The latter involves a short trek during which visitors can follow a trail through forest trees and see displays of mining equipment, reconstructed workings and a refurnished cabin.
The entire tour can be completed in one to two hours, introducing visitors to the life and times of Bullion Canyon miners. After initially panning for gold, miners dug tunnels into the mountain. This became expensive, and many independent miners sold their claims to small companies that had capital and stockholders.
The first stop on the vehicle tour is near an old toll road, built while rich claims were being worked and gold was hauled out of the canyon. A few enterprising people also struck it rich - not from mining but by providing services to miners. A shovel, for instance, cost as much as $50. Bartenders often made hundreds, even thousands, of dollars' profit on a single barrel of whiskey.
The second stop is at the stables of the Dalton Mill, where mules were used to pull cars full of gold ore from the mines. The bed of a narrow-gauge railroad that was used later can still be seen at this location.
Log buildings are visible on both sides of the road at the next stop. Then, at the fourth stop, the location of a once-thriving boarding house can be seen. The cost of staying in such an accommodation was as high as $11 per week during the late 1800s, while meals ranged from 50 cents to $1. Miners were paid from $2 to $4 per day.
The first American miners to enter Bullion Canyon in the 1860s found rotted sacks of ore, thought to have been left by Spaniards, perhaps during the 1700s. The find was against a boulder still visible at Stop No. 5. Drag stones, or arrastras, were used by early miners to crush the ore and one such stone still lies in and by the creek.
Bullion City was established in 1872, during mining's heyday in the canyon. Dozens of buildings housed more than 1,600 people. The canyon is devoid of people now, except near its mouth, but the site of Bullion City can be seen at Stop No. 6.
Two other communities, Virginia City and Webster City, were also established in the area but long ago went by the wayside. Miners who lived and worked in the canyon found the labor hard, sometimes in knee-deep mud or icy water. Many lodgings were simply crude shelters.
The next stop is at a cabin site where an early Utah journalist, Josiah Gibbs, is said to have lived. While here, he is believed to have written a controversial book called "The Lights and Shadows of Mormonism." Historians say the cabin may have intentionally been burned to the ground.
The tour winds up at the ruins of the Bully Boy Mill and then the Miners' Park Historical Trail. Some antique mining equipment and relics were donated by the Deer Trail Development Corp.
A sidelight to a park visit is breathtaking mountain scenery. The mountains rise steeply on both sides from the canyon floor and are covered with lush vegetation. The town of Marysvale, with a wealth of mining history of its own, is also interesting. It lies in a canyon on the east side of the Tushar Range along U.S. 89, not visible from the Bullion Canyon highway until the traveler tops hills on either side.
Leonard's project also won him the distinction of being the only person to twice win the national Windows on the Past Award. The Miners' Park project was the culmination of a partnership of federal, county and city government agencies as well as private citizens.
About 10 years ago, a Forest Service recreation technician, Cindy Kessler, developed an initial plan for the project and obtained some Forest Service funding. Piute County and the town of Marysvale participated in construction. But much of the credit for inspiring the idea came from Marysvale resident Rell Frederick. He believed there was a need to preserve the mining history and had toyed with the idea of erecting signs before the government agencies, led by Leonard, started the project.
Leonard spent many hours in Bullion Canyon, finding mining artifacts and getting volunteers to help. He developed the self-guided interpretive trail and restored an old miner's cabin. He was instrumental in forming the partnership that proved beneficial in acquiring mining artifacts.
The Marysvale area has long played a prominent role in Utah gold and silver mining. One of the best known early communities in the Tushar Mountains was Kimberly. Many of the buildings there survived into the 1950s, but little is left today.
Uranium mining came onto the scene in the Marysvale area after World War II, but a number of the miners involved later died of lung cancer. A lawsuit filed by their widows said the miners were not warned of the dangers of mining uranium. The plaintiffs won monetary remuneration from the federal government.