Ghost town tour, picture dump...

DAA

Administrator
Staff member
This weekend I lead a dozen 4x4's on what has become an annual trip we call the Ghost Town Tour. We camped a couple of nights, spent a few days, covering over 300 miles on dirt and visiting a bunch of ghost towns and old mine sites in SW Utah. Had a great group again this year, about half had done at least one previous GTT, a couple have done them all with me. But we had a good contingent of first timers too. In previous years I've limited it to ten rigs (including mine) but decided to let a coupe more in this year as there has always been a long list of people who have signed up but not not gotten a spot.

Got through the whole trip without a hiccup. Not a flat tire or failure to start or broken axle or any trouble of any kind. No small feat, for a dozen rigs covering that much ground.

Figured some of you guys would probably enjoy some of the pictures. And I'm just a picture posting ho anyway. So, here's a big bunch of pics...

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- DAA
 
Still going...

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Lid from a tin of blasting caps

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Assay crucible

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Saw blade, we think probably a reciprocating saw, but none of us had seen one of these before and aren't sure

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Check out the drop bracket lift on this truck

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This is what we call a BAB. Big A** Boiler

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1917, so 100 year old Utah license plate

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Do you have Prince Albert in a can? You better let him out!

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Pigs feet anyone?

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Dy-No-Mite!

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That's finally all of 'em...

- DAA
 
That long strap with toothed blades on it almost certainly came from either a hay cutter or a combine. It goes through fixed teeth that have slots in them. That is how the grass is cut.
 
A mower huh? That's bizarre. There's nothing resembling anything that could ever need mowed anywhere for a long ways in any direction from there. No permanent water. Back in the day, they had to have water brought in wagons in barrels to drink. But beer was cheaper, so that's mostly what they drank. But nothing irrigated or planted or in need of mowing in the whole range. Weird!

Those are kilns. Most of them were used to make charcoal. Which was a pretty good business back in the day.

- DAA
 
You'll find a lot of those charcoal kilns around mining towns. A lot of charcoal was used in the smelters and also by thr locals.
Pretty cool Dave.
The guy that runs the Best in the Desert off road racing series does a similar thing here in Nevada. 500 miles I think and all or mostly dirt.
 
Those are kilns. Most of them were used to make charcoal

Charcoal+sulfur+ saltpeter= GUN POWDER
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, used in the mines, and guns. :)Gene
 
The mill pics and the old grocery store are from Stateline. We started at Frisco, then hit Newhouse, Squires ranch, DRES, Kiln springs, Tasso mine, Revenue mine, Stateline, Etna mine, Gold Springs, Jenny mill, Fay, Deer Lodge, Modena, CCC camp, Lady Bird mine, Moscow mine. I'm sure I'm forgetting some
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. It's a fun trip. I'm getting kind of tired of hitting the same places every year though. Think I'm going to change it up some for next year.

- DAA
 
Cool safari, growing up this type of stuff was everywhere. It has been slowly disappearing. They high price of scrap iron helped.
Great pics and can dump, it won't go for scrap iron.
 
It's disheartening how quickly this stuff is all disappearing or being destroyed.

That can dump, believe it or not, is only a shadow of it's former self. Even compared to one year ago, a lot of them have been carried away. None of the cool embossed type cans remain. None! Just a few years ago, there were hundreds upon hundreds of them. All carried away now. And with so many disappearing so quickly, it's not just one or two here and there for souvenirs. Somebody systematically gathered them up and took them. Been watching too much American Pickers or something. Class A jackwagon a-hole butt-hat clowns...

The two neatest buildings on the whole tour have both been completely destroyed within the last three years. One burned down on accident by morons. The other intentionally bulldozed by the state. Utah has a department whose sole purpose for existing is to systematically destroy every old mine site and ghost town in the state. In the name of public safety. Our own gov't is literally destroying our heritage.

So, anyway... Soap box time I guess. But it's just tragic. This stuff is going away folks. Going away FAST! Between the people with no respect and the bureaucrats, It's already too late to see the coolest stuff. Most of it's gone already. What you can see now, is a lot less than you could see even just five years ago. And what you could see five years ago, was nothing compared to what you could see twenty or thirty years ago.

Really, it's way too late, already. On these tours, I have to explain to people and show them (fairly recent) pictures to help them imagine what they will never get to see. Anyone genuinely interested, should have been actively seeking this stuff out more than ten years ago. But, it makes my head spin how fast it's disappearing now. Won't be much longer and it will all be gone, just a memory or a photograph.

- DAA
 
I lived in Colo. Springs in the early 90's, the back country around the old mining towns were littered with old stuff. Went back five years ago and most of it is gone. The state even closed down the shooting range above Garden of the Gods, which was quite a ways up the hill on NF ground.

I had really missed Colorado since I left, when I went back I realized the place I left behind in the 90's was gone anyway.
 
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