How many of you have heard of Silver Reef? I never had. However, the area surrounding this ghost town is the location for the only deposit of silver found in sandstone in The United States. That’s kind of interesting when you consider this area is about 15 miles north of St. George and about 1 mile east of Leeds, a town with less than 1000 people. I say “interesting” because the area was not highly traveled so that would make it even more unlikely as a place to be searched for silver.
In 1866 silver was found in the area. Later in 1868 a few more deposits were found. But, it was not given much attention. Why? Silver is not found in sandstone. Even the Smithsonian, after examining a sample, thought the silver in the sandstone was “an interesting fake.” However, in 1875, this news reached a couple of bankers, The Walker Brothers, in Salt Lake City. They hired William T Barbee to stake claims on their behalf, 21 in total. Barbee reported that there was an abundance of silver in the area. This caused a silver boom that attracted miners from all over.
The Silver Reef area was a high producing silver location from 1875 to 1888, with over $10 million in silver being mined and milled in the area. The miners actually established a town called Rockpile which was later renamed Silver Reef. By 1879 it had about 2000 people. The closest railhead was over 100 miles away as was the closest mill. So, the Walker Brothers and William Barbee established The Barbee & Walker Mill to crush the rock and process the silver. This brought even more miners.
Silver Reef had a mile long main street with a Wells Fargo office, Rice Building, Cosmopolitan Restaurant, Elk Horn Saloon and many other businesses. In 1884 many of the mines began to close due to the drop in the price of silver. By 1901, most of the buildings in Silver Reef had been demolished or moved to Leeds. Over the years the remaining mines changed hands and other minerals, like Uranium, were mined in the area, as late as the 1970s. As of this writing all mines were abandoned. In 1996, The Utah Department of Natural Resources began the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program. They filled in or put bars over the mines to stop people and animals from going in them.
When we heard that there were hundreds of abandoned mines and a ghost town, we, naturally, could not refuse to explore. We went out two different time. Mama Nomad and I journeyed out first. We planned on just walking, not hiking, so we only wore running shoes. I, wanted to explore things a little more close and personal, so I went back with the Nomad Boys for a longer exploration, wearing hiking boots.
The mines are not clearly marked by signs, so we had to get to higher elevations to try to spot them and then hike over to them. We encountered remnants of buildings, some carved animal type totems and dozens of mines. Many of the mines had silver circles on them that designated which mine they were. The boys and I, as boys do, threw rocks down the mine shafts, that were vertical, to see how deep they were. Some of them were 100 to 150 feet deep. We even came to one that was huge. It actually had a plaque on it saying it was 540 feet deep!
We hiked all over the area going up one ridge, down through valleys then up and over other ridges. We had a blast exploring through the abandoned mine territory. The blue skies, multiple shades of orange and red and snow-capped mountains in the background just added to the wonderful views of the landscape. If abandoned mines are your thing, you have to visit this area. Just plan ahead and proceed with caution. They are abandoned mines, after all. Safe Travels.
