Bullion Canyon supported a booming
mining community in the late 1800s, when a large quantity of gold was
removed by panning the stream and working mine shafts.
Today the canyon includes a ghost town
and a few relics from its glory days. It is a pretty canyon with a
sparkling stream, located west of the town of
Marysvale
in Central Utah. One of the most photogenic waterfalls in Utah can by
seen by following the stream up the canyon.
Recently a crew of volunteers from
around the U.S. Completed a project to preserve ruins and improve
facilities in Miners Park, in the canyon. The Forest Service provided
this news release about the project:
The Canyon of Gold Gets a Facelift
Over a two week period from July 23
through August 3, this summer volunteers through the Passport in Time
(PIT) program came from far and wide to renovate Miner’s Park, an
outdoor museum dedicated to the mining industry in Bullion Canyon,
southwest of Marysvale, Utah.
“Geographically, we had people from
Utah, Georgia, Oregon, and Ohio,” said Fishlake National Forest
Archeologist Bob Leonard. “One person owned a bike shop, another
was a machinist, one fellow was an emergency room doctor, and another
a safety officer with a fire department.” Working with a Forest
Service crew, they rebuilt fences, replaced picnic equipment,
surfaced trails, replaced signs and installed solar panels to light
the cabin. The park now looks just about new.
In addition to the work at the park,
Jim Peterson of Marysvale is building an informational kiosk that
will be placed at the Canyon of Gold Trailhead at the bottom of the
canyon.
So how did Miner’s Park get its
start? In the early 1990s, Rell Frederick, a “retired” miner
(they never really retire), proposed that the Fishlake National
Forest sponsor the construction of an outdoor museum dedicated to the
mining industry in Bullion Canyon. He had a wonderful idea but there
were two major hurdles. One was to gather a workforce with the
skills to build such a facility. The second was reconstructing a
history left by miners who were not particularly interested in
recording their own experiences.
Miner/historian Clark Elder provided
specific information, including probate court documents from the late
1860s that solved many of the mysteries of the canyon including the
precise location of a major mining camp. This camp, named Bullion
City was established in 1869 at the mouth of the canyon just four
years after three veterans of the strike at Sutter’s Mill found
color in the creek flowing from Bullion Canyon. Bullion City, from
1869 to the census of 1880, grew in population to 1,651 people and
the canyon, now a part of the Ohio Mining District, was booming.
Building the park, and an associated
driving tour and waterfall trailhead, was accomplished principally,
between 1993 and 1994 by PIT volunteers. As a Forest Service
program, PIT projects are open to volunteers on National Forests
across the United States. During the construction of the Miners’
Park, people came from 15 different states and offered a variety of
skills from carpentry to posthole digging.
“Rosalie Peterson and her sister
Delma Jukes came up from Marysvale to help, and Rell served as our
technical advisor,” offered Leonard. By the end of the summer
session of 1994, the park offered 15 interpretive displays including
an “adit” (mine tunnel) and a furnished miner’s cabin. On the
way up to the park, nine interpretive stops along the Bullion Canyon
Road offer visitors a glimpse of life during the days of the mining
boom. A toll road, the foundations of a boarding house, mine dumps,
and mill sites can be seen. A trail also leads to an overlook above
60 foot waterfalls.
Through the years, the appearance and
condition of Miner’s Park began to sag under the weight of heavy
visitation and the elements. Fishlake Forest Supervisor Allen
Rowley decided to fund a much needed face lift to a facility that has
attracted a large number of visitors including school children, a
lieutenant governor, a US congressmen, and KSL Channel 5. The site
also plays an important role as an interpretive stop in both the
Paiute Trail UTV and Rocky Mountain ATV jamborees.
For more information about Passport in
Time, or if you ever get the hankering to do something interesting
and very rewarding, most anywhere in the United States, visit
www.passportintime.com.
