Ghost Towns
Roads: 2 WD
Best Time to Visit: Anytime
Comments: Off highway 6. Some current residents.
Remains: A few buildings.
Pleasant Valley Junction came to be in 1883. Its name was changed to COLTON in 1898. In 1940 its population was 327. The town died around 1950 when the Railroad operations were ended. The Hilltop General Store building was moved up to the highway UT 6-50 in 1937 and is run by the Finch family. The store was built in 1880. Stop in and see Mr Finch, he has many pictures of the town at its height. He also has pictures of his grandfather with Butch Cassidy! Store closed on Sunday.
Roads: 2WD
Best Time to Visit: Anytime
Comments: Located 7 miles up the North Fork of American Fork Canyon.
Remains: Nothing
Located 7 miles up the canyon on the North Fork where little Deer Creek ran into the American Fork Creek, the town of Deer Creek came into existence. This was more by accident then by intention. The Aspinwall Steamship Company built a railroad into the canyon to bring the ore down from Forest City. The railroad was completed as far as the Deer Creek on November 26 1872 (4 miles below the Sultana smelter at Forest City). From there up was much to steep for the train to run so the town of Deer Creek (named after the creek it was built by) came into existence to service the railroad and lumber jacks in the local area. Exactly what the town consisted of is not known.A train terminus was built here along with its buildings, a Lime kiln was also built here to produce lime for the Saltana Smelter at Forest City. There were also 10 charcoal kilns built here to make fuel for the train (no coal was available). A man named Charles Green and his new bride Mary Ann built and operated a large boarding house in town. It evidently had a very large dinning area where they held dances. There was a small cemetery located here in which accident victim's were buried. A man named James Chipman Sr. built an office by the creek on the side of a hill (he was the recorder for the mining district). During a very bad storm that caused a flash flood to wash down the creek, his office was destroyed and washed away. Many important mining records were destroyed and unrecoverable, this caused a lot of problems over claims. Four other residents of the town were Nick Iverson, John Chadwick, Charley Logie and his wife Laura Webb. It is unknown what the population of the town actually was. The ore from the mines at Forest City was brought down to Deer Creek by wagons and on mules then loaded onto the train. When the railroad closed down in 1878 the town of Deer Creek soon began to disappear.
Roads: 2 WD
Best Time to Visit: Anytime
Comments: A true ghost town.
Remains: Assorted ruins.
This area was first worked in 1907. In 1916 a rich body of ore was struck. The town was named Dividend because of the profits paid out to stock holders. By 1922 over 1 « Million dollars had been paid out in dividends. In 1949 the mine closed. It had paid out over 19 million dollars in dividends.UPDATE:Dividend, Utah. As recently as a few years ago you were free to roam around this fine site. But recently it has been posted No trespassing. From my understanding there is a company considering coming back into the area and reopening the mine. In nearby Burgin mining is still continuing and may be expanded. A nice drivable road goes through Dividend and there is much to see. There is a mural that used to have some pictures of the town and talked about it, but nothing much is left and all the pictures have been stolen by vandals. The old water tanks still sit above the mine and look over the townsite, you can still see the words "TINTIC STANDARD" painted on them. If you follow the dirt road from Highway six south through Dividend and around the corner you can still see what appears to be an old Tipple and a gallows still standing. They are both quite picturesque. Dividend once had a baseball diamond, gold course and tennis courts. It was also one of the first towns in Utah to have indoor plumbing. - Brian Snarr
Roads: 2 WD
Best Time to Visit: Anytime
Comments: On Highway 6
Remains: A semi-ghost town like Jerome, AZ.
Eureka was founded in 1870 when ore was found here. In 1871 the first permanent buildings were built. The TINTIC Mining District had been established in 1869 (named after a Ute Indian Chief named Tintic). A school was built in 1881. Eureka was known as one of the quietest mining towns in the west. In 1910 it was the 9th largest city in Utah. Its population was around 3500. Between 1930 and 1940 most the mines closed down because of water and low prices. The last major mine closed in 1957. Submitted by Bob Bezzant.
Roads: 2 WD
Best Time to Visit: Summer
Comments: A true ghost town.
Remains: Cemetery
Forest City was built up American Fork canyon in 1871. Some figures put the population at between 2 to 3000 people while others say around 150. By 1878 the mines were running out and the Railroad tracks were taken out. By 1880 the people had moved away. This photo is of the Forest City Graveyard. (These Photos were taken May 1985) No one lives here. Submitted by Bob Bezzant.
Roads: 2 WD
Best Time to Visit: Anytime
Comments: A true ghost town.
Remains: A few original buildings.
Homansville came into existence in 1872. The town was developed to produce water for the surrounding mining towns such as Eureka. The population was about 300. No one lives there.
Submitted by Bob Bezzant.UPDATE: Homansville, Utah. Limestone was also mined/quarried near Homansville and the old railroad bed passes right nearby. There were also two charcoal kilns in the town that used the cedar trees on the surrounding hillsides. - Brian Snarr.
Roads: 2 WD
Best Time to Visit: Anytime
Comments: A true ghost town.
Remains: The cemetery
Located in 1896 when ore was struck in the Humbug mine. By 1907 1000 people lived in town. By 1915 the mines played out and the people started to move away. By 1940 the town was dead. This was known as the only town in the United States without a salon. The cement foundation is the old school. Submitted by Bob Bezzant.
Roads: 2 WD
Best Time to Visit: Summer Only
Comments: On the back road to Mercur. You can no longer reach the old Mercur site from this road. A neighborhood is being built about 5 miles from this site and there has been some vandalism.
Remains: All that remains are building foundations and old mining debris, as well as the mine entrance which is now caved in.
Manning was reported to be one of the first mining areas in the U.S. to use the cyanide process for extracting gold from ore. Submitted by: R. BIRCHI t is an old mining site, as well as the sight of a mill used to treat the ore from Mercur. The town was an appendage of Mercur, located here for the good water supply. In 1890 it became the first major cyanide plant in the U.S. All went well until a second cyanide plant was built in Mercur in 1898 called the Golden Gate Mill. It was reinhabited in 1930 when a more modern mill was built to handle Mercur's ore. It finally shut down in 1937, when everything was dismantled and moved to Mercur. - Submitted by Kristine Hale .UPDATE:Manning, Utah was not the site of any serious mining and its only reason for existance was the availability of water for the milling process. Ore was brought down from Mercur by a train. The rail line between Mercur and Manning was 5.3 miles long, though the actual distance was much shorter but the trains needed the gentle grades made possible by a route that snaked back and fourth up the mountain side. In one spot the rail line had four switchbacks where the route climbed higher and higher above itself. It was said that you could sit in the same spot and watch the same train climb the mountain side for 45 minutes. The road is easily passable to any vehicle with a reasonable amount of ground clearance. It’s flat and wide as it is an old railroad bed. At the top of the drivable rail line is a closed gate posted no trespassing since the road continues into the old site of Mercur. - Brian Snarr
Roads: 2 WD
Comments: West side of Utah Lake-approximately 6 miles south of Lehi.
Remains: Nothing but rock house on the point jutting out from point. House is occupied.
Town was evidently a small mining and fishing community one time had over 3,000 residents most noted for the unsolved murders of three boys which took place here. Submitted by: Joan Carpenter
All information taken from www.ghosttowns.com. For more information on Utah County ghost towns, visit http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ut/ututah.html.