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Show Ghost towns surrounding Eureka preserve Utah's history with falling structures, fading memories THE FOSSILS OF A MINING DISTRICT M.AaC~D.ijytt.nld Dytnc dlatrict: A cemetery. abOve. Is among the last remains of Sliver City. A swing. below. rests In a field of nowers after beinc abandoned In Manwnoth. sionally. Hugh..· baa lived in Mammoth oiDco 1990. "I libel .tha opeDll8l&, the quiet,. nell, • the not,.. .huatle-bultle of Provo," Huiboo IAYO. Huiboo gnw up in Provo. but ""'"'" to Mammo<h in· hi. 300. .. . Hup. paya for thiJo IOlitudo with the effort needed to acquire the euencia1s oflife. Hughea doe'n't have water pumped. to b.iI property, 10 he muat make a 2()..minute trip twice a week to load up "ater and bring it back by the IaDkful for bathinc and cook.ing. "It _ _ lib • big deal. but it really ian't.- he inaiata. Bv ANN POTEMPA . 1k DUty HcrUd EUREKA - Nothing seem. to \'isit Silver City but the rain. '111e mud holding the abandoned. town's cemetery tombstones in place is damp from afternoon showers, The pungent scent of wet sagebrush penetrates the air. as doe. the feeling that nothing and no ODe is to be found for miles. The headstones memorialize young children who died in 1901. 1903. 1911- all thriving years for the former mining town. Silver City joins a series of ghoat towns that span southeastward from e ureka like satellites with no future ..:uurse of direction . The mining industry has. in the .' nd. been unfriendly to the towna tha t it once gave birth to. Lompetition. difficulties pumping water and the finality of draining aU them might be more tall than true. "With. mining town. there'. a lot of facta anu there's a lot of stories.says Bill Morris. who is a member of the ore have caused. the cities to ~o uoder and fall. The Tintic Mining District. an todustrial area that began with an ,Ire strike in 1869. rests hidden behind the hiOs of central Utah. The di strict. named after a Ute indian ·:bier. had gold. silver. copper or lead mines operating until almost five vears ago. Headframes of mines ~ tretch skyward lUI a remembrance of t he days when miners headed j.ily(~' thousands of feet below the " lIrtb'•• unaeel recovering ore that ·xnuld make millions. Eureka rema.in.l the heart of the J istrict that. wu once the moet. proJ uctive center in the state. Now. its population of 100 is sparse compared to its fledgling yean. ILS business dis· trict has been reduced to a Texaco sta tion . convenience stores. a beauty parlor. a ba r. a bank. and a diner. :--lothing much more. except. a commu· oilV that stands behind its city and refuses to let it be plagued by the bar· renness of the 8UtTOunding mining towns. Bigler remembers movie shows twice a week. He recalla going t.o elementary school. He also taJ.k.s of the DepreulOO. the time span when the mines started closing down. Now. Silver City's former residents get together every summer and head out to the town that's hardly recog· ni:table anymore. Bigler says he still know, most. of the people who come ba ck. for the reunion. Bigler doesn·t. t.hink the town will ever come back to life. "It's really bad. I'll s ay,~ Bigler admits. "Nothing there .~ Wealth of storie_ What these towns lack in people lhey make up for with tales. Some of Mammoth mining A few miles north of Silver City lies a town that retains mainly ttte the Tintic Historical Society board of directors. ~But. it wouldn't be a min· ing camp without a lot of stories.An 85-year-old Eurelu. man says there was more to Silver Cit.v t.han the cemetery and the remnanu of the old mill still standing today. Mac Bigler lived in Silver City between 1920 and 1932, years his father spent minir!.ll. leftovers of what it used. to be. but. a few people insiat that's enough. ~..fammoth flouriahw between the years of 1900 and 1910.81. which time it rmaUy became an incorporated city. The town's population is no where near ita one· time peak of about. 3.000 people. ~ L e t me counl here.~ says Ralph Hughes . of ~Iammoth . pausing briefly. His tally comee to 20. give or take. theM 20 people live down the mountai:: f .......... nnp. of the two remain· ing operatmg m...in.es in the distnct. The Mammoth and Burgin min_ remain open for exploration p~ only. Morris 8ays. Mammoth is a mizture of the old and rejuvenated. Those living there now have fixed up their homes. Yet. they live among crumbling founda· tions of old schoolhouses and church· es. A rusted swing bangs idle in shrubbery that hides a st.alrcase leading to no entrance. A grandatand s tarea into the e mpty ballpark where no one steals home anymore. The old churches. hotels. hospital and newspaper. The Mammoth Record . are no more. Despite the lack of attractions and business opportunities. Dew people do move in occa· W• • worriea One gholi town that never matured. ia Diamond. It. too, wa, thirsty for the water that waa diffi· cult to reach. .. Diamond came to life in 1870 to handle several new mines. Pro.pectors at the time claimed they found dia.monda.. but eoon found out their once--tboucht fortunes were only quartz. The town " " named. for its people" miatake. Diamond reached. a population of almoet 1.000 retident.s. but it beca.m.e too apenlive to pump water. The town of aeveral sa..loon.a.. stores. hotels and a weekiy newspaper feU and pe0ple mcw.d away, &a..kiDc their home, and b\Ul~ to Eureka and ~ Tho town luted only half a decade. and All- old cemetery g the .... _ .. i t a _ The oa.ly IOI1VODir .. KDichtaville'. yean .. a mio.i.DI tmm is the CODcrew foundaticm of .1Cboo1 that ,..ts atop • hilbide. juat outlide the city limit.. of Eureka. Knightsville got ill start after Jeue Knight. ODe of the wealtb.ie't Tintic mine owners. ignored the advice of othan and dug for ore in an unpopular location. Knightsville', population crested at 1.000 in 1907. Knight wu an LOS man who wanted. hiI miners putting their money into family instead of liquor. '"'I'hat', the reason that little town up there never bad a woon or any· |
