My day started out early this morning meeting with the "man in charge" of many of the mines in Little Cottonwood Canyon that water is pulled from. We're talking the Emma, Bay City, Wasatch Drain Tunnel, etc. Big mines. He was great to chat with, I took my friend Chris whom has spent a considerable amount of time in Big & Little Cottonwood mines, his knowledge of local mines really helped bridge our new relationship. We spent about an hour discussing mines, mine openings, future plans, etc and he sent us on our way with a couple of "recommendations" 
So part two of the day was driving from Snowbird up and over the ridge divide to American Fork Canyon, down through Mineral Basin. I had hiked it, driven it countless times from the AF side to the divide, but never been able to drive the Snowbird side so it was a real treat for me. We were able to discuss a couple of the mines we passed on the Little Cottonwood side, as well as take a closer look at some previously visited sites on the AFC side. Chris and I spent some time hiking behind the Pacific Mine and Dutchman Mine reclamation sites, I've identified two potential exploratory trips
Part three of the day would have me back at Snowbird. Corey had arranged to meet a couple of his pals that had a plethora of local knowledge on the mines in the Little Cottonwood area. As luck would have it I soon found myself hiking to one of the mines "recommended" earlier in the morning. Too ironic. Amazing mine, I'll let Corey take it from here as he had the camera... I just walked around with my jaw wide open
Special thanks Johnathan for the Snowbird invite and hookup and to Brent, Brett and to Corey Shuman for introducing me and inviting me to join them for part three of the day. Seriously, an action packed Friday. Now to load the truck again as I'm headed to Sunnyside near Price in the morning!
So part two of the day was driving from Snowbird up and over the ridge divide to American Fork Canyon, down through Mineral Basin. I had hiked it, driven it countless times from the AF side to the divide, but never been able to drive the Snowbird side so it was a real treat for me. We were able to discuss a couple of the mines we passed on the Little Cottonwood side, as well as take a closer look at some previously visited sites on the AFC side. Chris and I spent some time hiking behind the Pacific Mine and Dutchman Mine reclamation sites, I've identified two potential exploratory trips
Part three of the day would have me back at Snowbird. Corey had arranged to meet a couple of his pals that had a plethora of local knowledge on the mines in the Little Cottonwood area. As luck would have it I soon found myself hiking to one of the mines "recommended" earlier in the morning. Too ironic. Amazing mine, I'll let Corey take it from here as he had the camera... I just walked around with my jaw wide open
Special thanks Johnathan for the Snowbird invite and hookup and to Brent, Brett and to Corey Shuman for introducing me and inviting me to join them for part three of the day. Seriously, an action packed Friday. Now to load the truck again as I'm headed to Sunnyside near Price in the morning!
. I can't wait to hear more about this amazing mine from Corey! Sounds like we need to get some people together and check some more things out up there.
We honestly spent most of the day driving, we covered nearly 150 miles in the dirt, from Sunnyside to Soldier Summit with some extra miles in Nine Mile Canyon. With the exception of the mines at Soldier Summit and the coal mines in Sunnyside, I didn't see much evidence of historic mining in between, I was hoping to run across some more but nothing. The tram towers and ore buckets are worth the trip to Sunnyside, I've been a time or two in the past and still havn't dedicated some time to hiking up to the towers or the actual mine site. Next time right?
)
Comment