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Show THE HISTORY BLAZER L\' EI1' S OF I'TAH'S PAST FROAf THE Utah State Historical Societv 300 Rio Grailde Salt Lake Cit17. ITT 84101 ( 801) 333- 3300 FAX ( 801) 533- 3503 A Real Ghost Town- Forest City SOMEO F UTAH'SG HOST TOWNS ARE EXACTLY THAT: ghosts. So little remains of them that it almost takes an architectural historian to discover where they stood. One such ghost town is Forest City, located in the north fork of American Fork Canyon, Utah County, at the juncture of Mary Ellen Gulch and Shaffer Fork. Forest City had a brief life. It was founded in 1871 when the Aspinwall Steamship Company, doing business as Miller Mining & Smelting, began to work its claims on Miller Hill. By 1875 the mines were playing out- although sawmills continued to ship lumber from the site through 1878. Until then, according to some oldtimers, the town boasted as many as 3,000 residents. Judging by the size of the remaining foundations and the terraces on which the houses stood, however, the resident population was probably more like 150. Still, for almost seven boisterous years Forest City contained 40- plus family homes, one or two boardinghouses, a schoolhouse with a lady teacher brought from Salt Lake City, a saloon, several sawmills, the Sultana Smelter, and fifteen charcoal kilns standing on the hillside across the stream. A narrow- gauge railroad came to within a few miles of the town, which was also served by a stagecoach line. In addition, the city had its own small dairy in the form of Kitty Nash and her son Worthy's cattle herd, and crime in the form of rustlers who once absconded with these cattle to Heber City. The smelter wst $ 90,000 to build and consisted of three cupolas with engines, blowers, and a roasting furnace. The charcoal kilns were an experiment in substituting wood for coal, which was not readily available in the canyon. The effort failed, however, for the wood never b u d hot enough to sufficiently smelt the ore wncen trates. In a meadow southwest of town lay the city cemetery populated by victims of mining accidents and disease. The Birk family was an example of the fragility of 19th- century mining town life. Frank Birk was the saloon and boarding house proprietor who sometimes traded liquor for railroad ties which he sold down in the valley for a profit. While he and his wife Sarah " realized a considerable amount of money" in their business affairs, their personal life was less satisfying. Small son James Frank died in the 1872 diphtheria epidemic. Son Albert died two years later. The Birks stayed on long after most townspeople had drifted away as evidenced by the grave of a third son who died in 1881. Alongside the Birk children rest the remains of, among others, a miner killed in a Bay State Mine explosion and a man buried in a snowslide. Forest City seems to have had only one lingering resident, Ed Hines, who had left his girl ( more) in New York City to make his fortune out West. By the time Ed realized he was not going to become rich in mining, his sweetheart had become a nun. He returned to the West, served a stint in the California mines, and then resumed his Forest City work as a smelter assayer. After most of the town had moved away, he stayed to occupy the two- story boardinghouse, later moving to a cabin where he lived out a solitary life, visited by friends who brought food and clothing. Ed was aware of his vulnerability as a recluse. He always swore he would build himself a red pine coffin and at the first indication of impending death climb into it so he would be safe from canyon rats. Instead he died quietly one night after dining on a large steak. His cabin was torn down and the boards used to build a blacksmith shop in American Fork. Forest Service employees have installed a picket fence around the cemetery which, with the roofless kilns, a few foundations, and the smelter slag pile, are the only vestiges of a once- busy " city. " Source: Utah Division of State History Historic Sites Survey Report based on on- site inspection and interviews with former residents and U. S. Forest Service personnel. THEH ISTORBLYA ZERi s produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant ffom the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533- 3500. 9603 13 ( BB) |
