3 Days, 2 nights and a whole lot of new things seen: Part 1

 So, after years of talking about it, we finally decided to go south the the Nine Mile Canyon area around Price Utah. We decided on 3 days and 2 nights with the full day dedicated to the infamous Nine Mile Canyon. Day one put us in Scofield Utah in an attempt to visit the abandoned Winter Quarters Mine. This didn't happen due to a parade, but more on that in another blog. So, we changed up the schedule and made our next in line visit the first visit. Outside of Helper Utah is a road named Canyon Road. On this road reside numerous old coal mining towns that have become ghost towns. The first of the bunch was called Peerless. This town, like the rest in the canyon enjoyed some success beginning around 1912 and dying out in the late 40's and early 50's. 

 Moving up the canyon you arrive and the Standardville site. Now I cannot officially say which fotos belong to which town. I can only guess and I could be wrong. The only sure thing is that these towns were close neighbors and where their dividing lines were are unknown to me. I am just documenting their remains and the fact there were towns up here to begin with. Early coal was removed by wagon until a spur line for the rail road was built into the area. I really enjoy looking at old railway bridges. They used he finest timber available and were built to last.

 Everywhere you look in this canyon  you can see remnants of old buildings. Due to being fat and old, I choose not to get to far off the main road on 100 degree temp days. A person could spend days up this canyon and still miss things. I would be willing to say that October would be the best time to visit this area. The temps would be cool and the leaves would be off the trees so exploration could be easier. Noon on a hundred degree day did not add any desire to venture on up some of the side canyons and see what I could find. Someday I will return with more time and better choice of weather.  

 At the end of Spring Canyon lie the last of the towns and mines. Though there were 3 different towns, the eventually blended into a town called Rains. There are some fotos online of this canyon during its heyday and there wasn't a lot of sagebrush to be seen. Now, it's everywhere and slowly reclaiming the entire area. As always, vandals are doing their best to destroy the old structures and keep the rest of us from seeing the past.   

 One common thing we noticed was burned out doors. The frame work around the doors was burned on numerous buildings that were left standing. I have to believe that this was some form of arson, yet I can't quite yet understand the why behind it. By looking inside these buildings, you can see that they were not burned down, or even on fire for that matter. It is only doorways and a few windows that have the fire marked frames and only at ground level. 

During our trip up Spring Canyon we met the up to date local owner of all this wonderful area. He seemed nice enough and answered a few questions about the area we had. I really believe that he has more distrust for explorers like myself than trust. We were given our answers and he made it clear that the end of the road was gated. He was nice enough to show us where one of the mine entrances was. If you look through the doors of this building above you will notice a black hole above the cows head. This was one of the mines and he assured us that this entrance was flooded and we could not pass into it.  I really hate it when assholes go to these areas and treat them with disrespect. This behavior ruins it for the rest of us who just have an odd interest in history and the past. More and more gates are being put up and cool things that are behind these gates wont be seen again. Stay tuned for more on our adventure to Carbon County Utah. Jeep on my friends!