Jennie Mine

[mike660griz]

Sadly, the Jennie Mine also known as Gold Springs Ghost Town was destroyed by the Utah Division of Natural Resources sometime in early 2004. The entire structure and all buildings have been bulldozed. Nothing but trash remain. I was there on Sept. 11, 2004 and was shocked at the totality of destruction. I explored the entire area and also up by Stateline Canyon and found all the mines in Utah have been bulldozed closed. All headfreames have been demolished. Many cabins and out buildings have been leveled. Utah is bent on destroying all old mines. It seems that this page of history is now lost.

Michael

[Ghosttown Bob]

This is truely bad news ideed! What the state is doing is illegal!! It is one thing is securing the entrances to old mines to keep the courious from entering, but to wantenly destroy historic structures, even for the state is illegal. Studctures over 50 years old must be evaluated for historical value before being razed. If the Utah Division of Natural Resources has not gone through the proper channels to determine this at Gold Springs or at Statline, they are breaking the law and can be sued for wanton destruction of historic landmarks. Somebody needs to start a class action suit against the state on this.

[caver]

That is sad.

The Jennie headframe had a bad crack in one of the angle supports so it would have fallen within a few years without intervention.
I flew out to Cedar City and explored that area during Thanksgiving Holiday about 2-3 years ago.

Some bulldozing had already occured in another area, in that part of the state. I can't recall what area but it was somehwere in the general vicinity of Modena UT. It may have been up near Stateline.
That's what I get for not saving GPS track-logs and writing a trip report up.

[one_bad_rover]

Hey all,
As some of you may or may not know I run a small expedition company on the side, taking people out and showing them some history. The MAIN premise for this company is to promote awareness of what is out there. I think it would be beneficial to get a list together of "ghost town supporters" who can keep an eye on what is going on around and maybe at some point do some lobbying to keep these towns alive... If anyone is interested in this let me know, shoot me an email and we can start to organzie and hopefully prevent further destruction...

[SuzukiTom]

and found all the mines in Utah have been bulldozed closed. All headfreames have been demolished. Many cabins and out buildings have been leveled. Utah is bent on destroying all old mines. It seems that this page of history is now lost.

This is happening in Arizona and Colorado also. Mostly, the state and private owners are trying to remove "attractive nuisances" that people get hurt in, and then sue for damages. Don't laugh, it happens a lot. It's too bad that historical sites get leveled because of this. Another reason mines get leveled is because of EPA sponsored (or mandated) "reclamation". I was just in the Silverton, CO area a month ago, and a lot of that was going on in the area. Dozens of old mines that I had planned to visit for years were simply gone, with still visible dozer tracks everywhere. So much for the sanctity of historic sites. You and I could be charged with a felony for simply carrying off a rusty mine rail spike, but here they are destroying on a vast scale.

[one_bad_rover]

There is a lot that can be done to prevent this destruction. It just requires some motivation. I have created a new group called the Utah Ghost Town and Mine Preservation Group. The URL is:
groups-beta.google.com/group/UGTMPG
This is not a group about treasure, writings or anything that would be covered in this forum. It is about Ghost Towns and Mines, and the active preservation of both. I have started to make some contacts in state govt. to get the ball rolling but I need as much help as I can get.
I tried to get all of you invited to this group but I know that I missed some of you. I am looking for anyone who can give any sort of support, be it physical or moral. Please take a moment to sign up and keep informed on what is going on. The first battle we are taking on is the Ophir reclamaition. It is going on NOW!!! There is a post on the group about it. Please check it out and let me know if you can help out!! Thanks!!!
--Corey