Post by Don on Aug 31, 2012 12:31:35 GMT -5
This ghost town just a few miles north of St George, UT is a geological oddity. It is the only place in the world where silver has been found in sandstone. More than 8 million dollars worth of silver had been mined from the "reefs" (mesa) in this area before 1900, and the mining only stopped because of the decline in the price of silver. Now, the old ghost town has been replaced by luxury private homes and the mining claims are impossibly tied up. I heard about a local detecting in a wash in that area recently and found a 9 oz hunk of silver...wouldn't that be nice!
There are a lot of old "folk" takes surrounding this odd occurrence of silver. There is a lot of petrified wood in the area, and there are stories of miners opening up caverns of petrified, silver trees underground. There are also stories of silver-mummified animals being found. Nobody has ever come up with a silver petrified tree limb that I know of, but it's fun to think about if the stories are true.
It's a fascinating place; if you are ever in the area be sure to stop by the museum run by a private historical society in the old wellsfargo bank at silver reef, one of the few original buildings still standing.
Here's the wikipedia article on Silver Reef:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Reef,_Utah
There are a lot of old "folk" takes surrounding this odd occurrence of silver. There is a lot of petrified wood in the area, and there are stories of miners opening up caverns of petrified, silver trees underground. There are also stories of silver-mummified animals being found. Nobody has ever come up with a silver petrified tree limb that I know of, but it's fun to think about if the stories are true.
It's a fascinating place; if you are ever in the area be sure to stop by the museum run by a private historical society in the old wellsfargo bank at silver reef, one of the few original buildings still standing.
Here's the wikipedia article on Silver Reef:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Reef,_Utah
