TR: Summerville Mining District

[Udink]

I went to check out some old copper mines in the Summerville Wash area in the San Rafael Swell this weekend. The first set of mine openings that I visited were just shallow adits or prospect pits, but at the second site there was a huge vertical shaft. After checking out those two areas, I headed north to Stove Gulch to see another big vertical shaft.

These were at my first stop. Nothing spectacular there, but I still found it interesting that so much work went into what turned out to be some worthless mine workings.









This is the second mining site, only about a mile north of the first site:





Copper ore found in the tailings:



I dropped a rock down the mine shaft, and it took about 12 seconds to reach the bottom. Turn your volume up for this one. You can hear the rock reach the bottom at 0:14.



This stone cabin was about three quarters of a mile from the mine workings:



After the Summerville Wash area, I rode north about 10 miles to Stove Gulch where there was another mine shaft.







This shaft had an old ladder leading down into it.





Panorama of Stove Gulch from the mine shaft:



I wanted to ride farther down Stove Gulch to see an old cabin near the Price River, but the wash bottom was pretty rough and it was getting too late in the day. The scenery on the way out was nice though:







We got back to the truck just before the sun set. I'll have to come back when the days are longer so I can make the long ride all the way to the cabin next time.



There are a few more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.U...iningDistrict#