"Then lay the gold as dust and the gold of Ophir, as the stones of the brooks."
Job 22:24
About 4 miles up the deep canyon on the western slope of the Ouver Mountains is a city that was too heavy to die, and this city is called Ophir. In this article I will tell a brief history of this place and pay homage to the city, which truly personifies the old west and the spirit of a growing nation. It all started back in 1863, when General Patrick Edward Connor allowed a large number of his soldiers to leave Fort Douglas to go in search of gold in the mountains of Utah.
Mr. Lynbeck, a soldier in Connor's scouting army, placed the first claim about 300 feet from Gulcha Cemetery, from what would become the center of the city. Shortly thereafter, many other claims were discovered by soldiers who had heard stories of demands as rich as the mines of King Solomon in the land of Ophir in the Old Testament. The soldiers were bait in the Oskrh mountains by the fact that the local Indians for many years made lead bullets and raw ornaments of gold and silver from the ores found in the mountains. Mr. Lynbeck, with the help of Mr. Moore, laid out the town of Ophir and continued to work on his claim, and although he never paid the dispute he hoped for, he ended up managing profitable property near the mouth of the canyon where he had several orchards of fruit trees.
Ophir’s population began to swell with miners, prospects, merchants, gambling, women with a bad reputation, and criminals swarm from California, Nevada and Colorado. Many claims were made, and numerous lucrative mines were discovered. The names of these mines were interesting in their own right, some of which were Ofir Hill, Cliff Mina, Chloride Point, Buckhorn, Montana, The Hidden Treasure, The Joy Of Minera, Pocatello, The Wild Prestige And Velocipe.
An ordinary collection of buildings originated in a deep narrow canyon, stretched in a ribbon. Ofir had several salons, 2 general stores, 2 hotels, a post office, churches, a prison, and all kinds of other establishments you can imagine. One miner described the city when he was viewed from above as a fantastic collection of shacks, salons, broths and dance halls. The leading business was Ophir Mercantile, which was said to have the most comprehensive line of general utilities. As the amount of ore increased, it left the mines, and the introduction of a man named Mac Gisborne opened the Stockton toll road to Ophir, and the heavy, loaded wagons hummed back and forth along this road almost all hours of the day and night. Part of the ore went to the Stolton metallurgical plants, and some of them went to Lake Point, where they put it on barges and sailed through Great Salt Lake to Corrin and the Railroad.
In 1873, the traveler and writer John Kodman visited Ophira as part of his research for his book The Land of Mormon — Summer with the Latter-day Saints. As his scene ended in a steep gorge towards the city, Codman was surprised to find the following hidden in the mountains of Utah. "When we approached the city, we saw a French sign in the desert, which says that the cafe and restaurant stores Monsieur Simon and a white hat."
Several prominent people made their fortune at Ophir and became famous. One of these people was Marcus Daly. Dali was for some reason dismissed from the Emma mine in Alta and drifted like miners in those days from camp to camp until he landed in Ophir. The Walker brothers decided to take a chance on Daly and hired him as an overseer of their Zelah claim. With the money received and saved from this rich mine, Dali went to Montana to open up a new perspective, which would later be known as the Anaconda Mine, and he would become rich for his wildest dreams. Daly had once represented the people of Montana as senator of the United States.
The other man who was stuck in this big one and, quite possibly, did more for Ophir than any other man was Mr. William A. Clark. Clark made his fortune from the oldest and oldest producer of Ophir, the Ophir Hill mine, and played an important role in bringing heavy equipment and modern mining technologies to Ophir, including tangled tram systems that carry ore from mines high in the hills to places where it could be processed and shipped through a wagon or train to distant smelting furnaces. Mr. Clark is quite interesting, will also become a US senator in Montana. Even more interesting is the fact that Markus Daley and W.A. Clark both married Mr. Evans Ophir’s children.
While these two gentlemen consolidated their status and fame in Ophir, and then moved on to bigger and better things, some perspectives, even when they were stuck in it, could not leave. The following tale comes from Kodman’s book “A poor German named Hirsch discovered that he would become a unified statement about his work. Finally, he sold his property to Colonel Kelly for a very high price, which would allow him to live luxury for all his remaining days, a hermit for many winters and winters would remain his property because he could not live anywhere else. Here he will stay, looking for another mine. Mines are the idols he joined, he prefers to be alone. ”
Some of the hardest workers in the mines were not miners, but mules. If you visit the Northwest Utah Heritage website, you can read an interesting story about the old Jeff Ophir, who must have been a hard-working mule. Another heavy worker who loved the mines at Ophir was a horse called "Old Charlie." Charlie's story is told by Mary Helen Parsons in "The History of Toele County - Volume I". Charlie used to extract ore machines from the mine to the mill at the Ofir Hill mine. He worked for many years at this job, and only the light of a candle placed in a gallon could light his way. Although the mine was dark, Charlie knew all the stations along the drift. Charlie was very much like a business, and he knew where to go to be loaded, how fast cars had to go, and he would use his hips as breaks if they started to spin out of control. At night, he slept in a shed near the entrance to the mine.
When the company finally installed an electric pump to take over Charlie’s job, the mine manager arranged Charlie to live the remaining days on a green pasture at the bottom of the canyon. The day after Charlie was sent into the past, when the miners arrived at work, Charlie stood high on a mine, ready to go to work. Then he was taken back to the pasture in the canyon. The next day he reappeared at the mine. This cycle was repeated until finally, one day, Charlie died, many of the miners believed in a broken heart, because he loved his work and loved the mines from which he had separated.
However, miners and mules were not the only inhabitants in Ophir. There were a lot of players and card sharks. One of the most notorious stories of the wild days of Ophir was the famous poker game, where the stakes have become very high. One evening, a man named Frank Peyton sat down in a poker game with a miner named Digger Mike. Digger started betting with a bag of gold dust. Payton raised him $ 250. A friendly game is not. Digger saw him and raised Payton 500 dollars in gold dust. This exchange continued until in the middle of the table there was more than 12,000.00 US dollars in different denominations and pledges. Digger, having no money, called for an autopsy. By this time, many people gathered around the table. Payton was bluffing and laid a pair of "4". Digger had an even paler bluff, although he angrily hit two tracks. Payton picked up the pot with joy and a bow. Unfortunately for him, however, Payton was discovered a few days later in a ravine outside the city, where his skull pierced. He was dry and all his money was gone. It is said that not a single criminal was arrested.
As Ophir continued to grow, he calmed down a bit from his crazy days, and people like WA Clark were seriously engaged in improving their properties. His main dream was to build a rail spur at Ophir so that he could mine more ore for processing and make more profit. Finally, mainly due to its hard work and capital, the St. Louis-John and Ophir Railway was completed in 1912. In some areas, its class reached 7% and was very steep. To cope with this type of slope, two locomotives with a climax type were used to carry trains 2 times a day in each direction. This service is rented for 16 years, when in 1928 the railway ceased operations. In 1938, the tracks were picked up, and the old combined car, which was considered unsafe for traveling on rails, remained in place, and skeletal remains can still be seen today on the south side of the road when you enter the city.
Over the life of the mine, Ophir produced about $ 50 million in silver, lead, zinc and gold. In those days, the mountains were a wild place, where magazines told about how the inhabitants heard the cry of a mountain lion at night, when they ventured from a village looking for food. A large number of catamarans who lived in the area, is the reason that Lyon Hill has its own name.
After the railway left the city, Ophir for 70 years plunged into a state of lazy rest with weeds, and the elements returned to the old mountain huts, houses and buildings one at a time. In recent years, however, Ophir is undergoing a revival, due in large part to the hard work and public service of several environmental minded individuals. Through generous donors from local residents and Mr. Leo Aulta, in particular, the picturesque and quaint little historical village revived the city center, not far from the place where Mr. Linbeck made his first demand.
If you go there on Saturday before 3:00 pm, you can usually find there friendly people who are more than willing to walk you through the collection of historical structures that were there, including the original convertible from the St. John and Ophir railway that was donated by Mr. Mr. Aul. A walk through this old carriage is a fascinating step back in time.
On the occasion of my visit, Mrs. Maxine Shields led me through house No. 5 and explained how her family’s generations had lived there for years and years. She then told me a story about how in 1910 her grandmother, Patsy Vario, emigrated from Italy to America at the age of 7. It was a classic story about a boy who could not speak to lick in English, hit one by the shore, and the people he was supposed to meet, never showed up. Somehow he had snuck into Ophir, and since then there have been generations of Varios in Tawey. This story and many others were related to the fact that Maxine spent my family, and I through many other old structures, including the post office. Several other surnames have been living in the canyon since the earliest days of Ophir, including relatives of the pioneer of the early camp George St. Paul. Claire, who worked and worked in the Chloride Point mine on Leo Hill.
I also visited Minnie, which is the only type of store or establishment in the city. He is owned and managed by current mayor Walt Schubert. He is a laid back old man who obviously enjoys life in Ophir and has laid many, many hours of work, making Ophir a wonderful place today. The city council is still found in the building of the old city hall, which dominates the city center. This structure, which was built around 1908, is strange and charming inside. Council members hold their meetings here every Tuesday, as they have done for many, many years, and in the corner there is an old ballot box, and in the corner is an old wood-burning stove. Across the street in the park you can see the old fire apparatus, which used to be located in this building.
One article is not enough to describe the history of this place or interesting things that can be seen today in Ophir. As always, do some research before you go there, and your visit will be much more meaningful. 90% of the Canyon is Private Property, so be respectful of this fact and always ask permission from landowners before entering such places. I found that the people there are friendly and ready to answer questions about their small town.
To get there, take Utah Highway 36 south of Tuelle, via Stockton to the Utah 73 interchange. Turn left onto Highway 73 and about 5 miles you will come to a sign on the edge of the ravine that points east to Ophir. Turn left on this road and follow it about 4 miles from the city. On the way up the canyon, look for the old remains of the train overpass, which can still be seen in the wash.
When you are standing in the middle of the city, looking at the high limestone cliffs covered with pine trees, think about all the stories of Old Ophir. Visit the sites and take it all, remembering the old saying, “do nothing except photos — leave nothing but traces”.
